UNSW Centre for Ideas
Episodes
Who's the Man? (Re-release)
20 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Within today's social media landscape, a finely tuned content algorithm is serving up often unhealthy and sometimes extreme views on masculinity. For ...
Gough Whitlam: The Vista of the New
11 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Hear acclaimed political biographer Troy Bramston in conversation with UNSW’s Verity Firth and delve into his latest book Gough Whitlam: The Vis...
Lesbians are Lovely!
04 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve come a long way since references to lesbians could potentially land you jail-time and lesbian ...
David Cooper Lecture | Ending AIDS: A Global Responsibility
24 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
With Australia on track to be among the first countries in the world to eliminate the transmission of HIV, there is a lot to be optimistic about. Yet ...
Kind by Design with Dr Gabi Nudelman | One Big Idea
19 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In an era of increasing productivity, efficiency and automation it’s important not to lose sight that education – the learning and teachin...
Unpicking the Lock to the Blood-Brain Barrier with Dr Alexis Minchaca Acosta | One Big Idea
12 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The blood-brain barrier prevents 98% of medicines from reaching the brain. This prevents the effective treatment of neurological disorders, from cance...
Grand Designs for our Oceans' Habitats with Ann Flemming Nielsen | One Big Idea
15 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Our coastal marine habitats are suffering from the man-made degradation of climate change. From coral reefs to seagrass meadows, oyster reefs and kelp...
The Power of Light with Dr Alison Goldingay | One Big Idea
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Light has unlocked many technologies over the course of human history. The more we learn about what light is and what it can do, the more applications...
Who's the Man?
16 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Within today's social media landscape, a finely tuned content algorithm is serving up often unhealthy and sometimes extreme views on masculinity. For ...
Rewiring AI with Dr Charu Maithani | One Big Idea
10 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ask any AI image generator to create an image of a garden and you’re likely to receive a very specific type; manicured English or French, colour...
Reframing Rescue with Communities at the Heart with Dr Regina Jefferies | One Big Idea
05 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As natural disasters increase in frequency and severity, we are all at risk of one day having our homes and our lives being in danger from fire or flo...
Tailor-Made Childhood Cancer Treatments with Professor Maria Kavallaris AM | One Big Idea
04 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
More than 400,000 children and adolescents will be diagnosed with cancer worldwide this year. Many treatments that are meant to save a child can leave...
SWF Great Debate: True Friends Stab You in the Front
26 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The scintillating chronicler of human weakness, Oscar Wilde, once said, “True friends stab you in the front”. In this popular eve...
Ivan Coyote: Playlist
19 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ivan Coyote doesn’t fit neatly into one of two gender boxes, they never have. From an early age in the Canadian Yukon, they can remember discove...
Nila Ibrahimi: Song of Rebellion
12 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Nila Ibrahimi posted a video of herself online, singing proudly in protest of the ban on girls over 12 singing in public, she hoped the music wou...
The Business of Beauty
05 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Women’s bodies are a battleground for beauty capitalism with a constant pressure to reach unachievable beauty standards. Writer, presenter...
Philippe Sands: 38 Londres Street
29 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 1998, at the beginning of his esteemed career as an international human rights lawyer, Philippe Sands was invited to advise Augusto Pinochet as the...
STEMMinist Book Club
22 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The STEMMinist Book Club was founded in 2018 and is dedicated to reading and discussing books related to feminism and STEMM (science, technology, engi...
Karen Hao: Empire of AI
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Programs like ChatGPT have become ubiquitous with AI, promising to kick start the next industrial evolution. But the scale of resources needed to supp...
Sherine Al Shallah and Lucas Lixinski on Cultural Objects
08 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Parthenon Marbles. The Benin Bronzes. Grandma's jewellery that she smuggled in her clothes, never to return. What if taking an object is the best ...
Kaliane Bradley: The Ministry of Time
01 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Ministry of Time landed on multiple bestseller lists thanks to its highly original, genre-defying story, which combines elements of time trav...
Psychedelia
24 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Since early 2023, MDMA has been authorised for use in Australia to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. Still, it remains a controversial...
John Valliant: Fire Weather
17 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Black Saturday razed towns, Canada’s Fort McMurray wildfire forced 88,000 people to flee, the LA fires obliterated over 12,000 buildings and Aus...
Luke McNamara on Hate Speech and the Law
11 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As state and federal governments move to criminalise forms of hate speech, it's time to look at what evidence shows about the effect that laws can hav...
Kerrie Davies on Miles Franklin’s Little Known Years
03 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Not two years after making Australian literary history with My Brilliant Career, Miles Franklin fell into obscurity – and when publishers reject...
Toby Walsh on the Six Ideas You Need to Understand AI
27 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As one of the world’s leading researchers in artificial intelligence, Toby Walsh has been awarded the Humbolt Research Award and elected as a fe...
Donna Strickland: Laser Jock
20 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 2018 Donna Strickland became the first woman in over 50 years to win the Nobel Prize in Physics, and only the third woman in history. Her award-win...
Adam Bayes on Mind-Altering Mental Health
13 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Adam Bayes is leader in the field of mental health, working as a clinical academic psychologist at UNSW Sydney and a senior research fellow at the Bla...
Business Behaving Badly
06 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Soaring and crashing stock prices, resigning CEOs and out of control labour practices: what is going on with Australian businesses? Award-winning labo...
Anne Summers: 50 Years of Damned Whores and God's Police
30 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Anne Summers’s Damned Whores and God’s Police was first published 50 years ago – a time when sexual harassment, domestic violen...
Andrew Leigh and Richard Holden on Inequality
23 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Economics Professor at UNSW Sydney Richard Holden (Money in the Twenty First Century) and Parliamentarian Andrew Leigh (The Shortest History...
Vanishing Histories
16 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Miles Franklin is a literary legend now, but her story, and those of women like her, were nearly lost to the passage of time. Kerrie Davies unwi...
Climate Warriors
09 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The climate crisis is vast, complex and often feels both imminent and frustratingly out of our control. With global systems slow to change and the sca...
The Art and Science of AI
02 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Artificial intelligence’s collision with human creativity is one of the most important stories of our time. With the accelerating impact o...
Queer Life, Love & Identity
18 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Acclaimed Indonesian author Norman Erikson Pasaribu and award-winning Australian writer Dylin Hardcastle explore the joy, tenderness and triumphs of q...
Colum McCann: The Truth Disconnect
04 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Beneath the ocean’s surface, fibre-optic cables pulse with the entirety of our human existence – memes and messages, stock trades and stat...
The Housing Crisis with Alan Kohler
22 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Richard Holden | Alan Kohler Australia, a land of sweeping plains, has one of the lowest population densities on the planet. So, how did we end up wit...
Dark Technologies
15 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Machines lead the charge on today’s battlefields, but what does this mean for the people caught in the crossfire? Learn from journalist Antony Loew...
History of Sex
07 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How did sex begin? How did it evolve to become so varied and complex in humans? And what could sex look like for future generations? Hosted by ev...
The Fading Dream
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Economist John N. Friedman has made a career researching the causes of inequality and its long-term consequences for children in the US. His findings ...
Ending the 'Tyranny' of Pregnancy
24 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Brigitte Gerstl | Luara Ferracioli | Mianna Lotz | Chaired by Kathryn MacKay Is the emergence of artificial wombs and womb transplants a ‘b...
Counterfeit People
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The late philosopher and scientist, Daniel Dennett talked about ‘counterfeit people’ as one of the great dangers of AI – but are we ...
Deborah Lawrie: The Fight to Fly
10 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Over 40 years ago, Deborah Lawrie broke barriers to become Australia’s first female commercial airline pilot. Her path wasn’t easy —...
Pankaj Mishra: Global Conflicts, Competing Narratives
02 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In a timely and thought-provoking discussion, essayist and author of the recently released The World After Gaza, Pankaj Mishra reflects on the on...
Silenced Women
24 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
More than one in four women in Australia have experienced domestic or family violence, and one in five have experienced sexual violence. Yet, despite ...
Arian Prabowo | AI and Urban Progress
19 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In a world where urban congestion and traffic delays plague our daily lives, Arian Prabowo examines how artificial intelligence can transform urban pr...
Leah Lui-Chivizhe | Why Ancestors Can’t Stay in Museums
12 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In a stirring exploration of history and justice, Leah Lui-Chivizhe delves into the profound impact of colonial practices on Indigenous communities. S...
Nevena Krups | The Hidden Power of Friendship
05 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Despite the rush of technological breakthroughs, we find ourselves drifting into a crisis of connection—profound loneliness and division. Nevena Kru...
Matt O’Kane | Cyber Education: Progress or Peril?
26 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Cyberattacks are fast becoming our biggest global threat - so why aren’t we better prepared? Matt O’Kane takes us on an inspiring journey from ove...
Kate Brady | Disasters are Awful: What Comes After Doesn't Have To Be
19 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In a world increasingly besieged by disasters, Kate Brady addresses whether we are ready for what comes after. She paints a stark picture of the escal...
Kate Poole | How Can We Better Prepare Our Astronauts For Space Travel?
12 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever wondered why astronauts return from the space station weak and struggling to walk? Kate Poole dives into the physiological challenges fa...
Sebastian Sequoiah-Grayson | Australia and Asia: Working Together for a Prosperous Future
06 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In a reflection that spans centuries, Sebastian Sequoiah-Grayson recounts the tumultuous history and promising future of Australia. He draws us into t...
Jennifer Doudna: The Gene Editing Revolution
16 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Join a full house at the Sydney Opera House with Nobel winning scientist Jennifer Doudna and Big Ideas' host Natasha Mitchell to discuss the huge...
Democracy Reimagined: New Thinking for the 21st Century
11 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Cooperation is our superpower, and democracy is a foundation of human progress. But we take them for granted at our peril. In some of the strongest de...
Facts, Fictions and Critical Thinking
04 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Facts matter. The scientific process matters. The ability to think critically is essential to navigate our world, to make good decisions and to solve ...
The Generation Gulf
02 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Breakneck cultural change means growing up today is a completely different experience from growing up in the 1950s, or the 1980s, or even the 2000s. P...
Fragile Democracy
27 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Australia has been a close ally of the United States since 1940, but what does this mean for contemporary politics when democracy is more fragile than...
Michelle Chase | Making Space Law in the Twenty-First Century
25 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
International space law has a rich history that offers valuable lessons for today's challenges in protecting humanity’s use of outer space. So, what...
Michael Kidd | UNSW and the Future of Australian Health Care
25 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What would a future with better more equitable healthcare look like? Professor Michael Kidd explores the pivotal role of UNSW in shaping the future of...
Genevra Hart | Dopamine Habits
25 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Embark on a journey into the labyrinth of the human brain with Genevra Hart, as she reveals the staggering complexity of our neural networks. Within t...
Toby Walsh | Ministry of AI
20 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What can we expect from a world of deepfakes where anything you see or hear might be synthetic and the output of AI? Scientia Professor of Artificial ...
Megan Evans | (Don’t) Question the Fake Carbon Forests
19 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Carbon markets have been hailed as key pillars in our climate response but in actuality, have turned out to be largely greenwash. Megan Evans, Senior ...
Michael Richardson | Military AI is Even Worse Than You Think
13 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Associate Professor of Media at UNSW, Michael Richardson examines how technology, culture, and power shape knowledge in war, security and surveillance...
Bronwyn Graham | Women, Your Healthcare is Based on a Man’s Body
11 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In a witty and provocative talk, Professor of Psychology at UNSW, Brownyn Graham addresses the longstanding neglect of the female anatomy in medical r...
Writing Letters with Brigitta Olubas and Susan Wyndham
06 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Biographer Brigitta Olubas and journalist Susan Wyndham have edited a collection of the letters of eminent novelists Shirley Hazzard and Elizabeth Har...
Degrowth
23 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Despite rapid technological advancements, increasing affluence and population growth continue to strain our planet. Currently not a single country in ...
Jennifer Gunter: Menstruation, Menopause & Medical Mythology
16 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Why do we know so little about women’s bodies? Over half the world’s population have had a period or could be having a period right now – so why...
Haben Girma: The First Deafblind Harvard Graduate
09 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Haben Girma would prefer not to be called inspiring. But, as the first Deafblind woman to make Harvard history and living in defiance of great social ...
Athena Aktipis: A Field Guide to the Apocalypse
02 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Has climate chaos, the cost-of-living crisis and the threat of AI overlords got you feeling like the end is nigh? Don’t stress. As psychologist and ...
Science Communication in the Age of Misinformation
25 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In today's fast paced digital age where misinformation spreads like wildfire, the importance of science communication has never been more critical. Fr...
Tamara Davis: Dark Energy
18 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From the celestial ballet of exploding supernovae to the cosmic whispers of gravitational waves, acclaimed astrophysicist Tamara Davis’ journey thro...
Preppers Episode 5: A Change of Heart
11 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes to climate change, answers can be difficult to nail down. Will the world reach net zero in time? What does a climate change future even ...
Preppers Episode 4: Meltdown
23 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We. Love. Heat. Bring on the summer! Right? But as each month sees another heat record broken, should we start thinking about heat differently? What’...
Preppers Episode 3: What's It Worth?
23 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As we struggle to reduce carbon emissions, environmental markets are creating a world where money really does grow on trees. But does putting a price ...
Preppers Episode 2: The End of the World As We Know It
23 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Earth is cracking under the weight of our expectations, with growth held up as the economic north star. Meanwhile, wildlife populations are collap...
Preppers Episode 1: Ready Or Not
15 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the popular imagination, preppers are busy hoarding tinned food in their bunkers while they wait for the end of the world. But is this what most pr...
Trailer: Preppers
12 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Get ready to confront the uncomfortable truths about climate change with investigative humorist and climate action enthusiast Dan Ilic in Preppers,...
Joel Pearson on Intuition
08 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Intuition isn’t just hippie-dippie or woo-woo – it saves lives, averts disasters and drives countless innovative business decisions. Apple co-foun...
Great Debate: Artificial Intelligence is Better Than the Real Thing
31 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Humankind stands at a crossroads: will artificial intelligence make us superhumanly productive, liberating us from life’s most mundane tasks? Or hav...
Abraham Verghese: The Covenant of Water
24 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Physician and writer Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone, crafts a masterly narrative of three generations of a family in Kerala, through t...
Australia's Place in the World
17 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the wake of a shift in the global power balance, how can Australia best protect itself?Two of Australia’s most interesting foreign policy thinker...
Richard Holden on Money in the 21st Century
10 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Money in the 21st century is increasingly cheap, digital and mobile. Looking at the risks and opportunities of low interest rates, cryptocurrencies an...
Literary Legends
03 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Explore the literary histories of Charmian Clift, Shirley Hazzard and Elizabeth Harrower.Following her biography The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift,...
Jennifer Doudna: My Life in Science
26 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna made not just any scientific breakthrough, but uncovered a tool that promises unparalleled control over DNA - the c...
Refuge: Viet Thanh Nguyen & Shankari Chandran
18 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The life stories of refugees have all the narrative tropes of myth, replete with world-shattering conflicts, perilous voyages, and courageous heroes w...
Elevating Health in the Climate Debate
12 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As we grapple with the increasing consequences of climate change, experts are warning that it’s not just an environmental issue, declaring it the ‘...
ENCORE: Stan Grant: The Queen is Dead
29 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As we observe National Sorry Day and another great year of Sydney Writers' Festival comes to a close, we revisit one of the highlights of last year's ...
Creative Conversations: Scaling a Creative Business
28 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this Creative Conversation, the second of the series, Vince Frost of Frost*collective discusses Scaling a Creative Business with Shelley Simp...
Scientific Integrity: Eric Rubin
16 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In today’s scientific landscape, artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionising research methodologies and scientific writing, reshaping how we con...
Economy of Algorithms: Marek Kowalkiewicz in conversation with Toby Walsh
14 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Recently listed among the Top 100 Global Thought Leaders in AI, Marek Kowalkieviczas introduces his latest book, The Economy of Algorithms: AI and the...
Polly Toynbee: An Uneasy Inheritance
08 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Is it possible to come from privilege whilst striving for a fierce socialist agenda? Polly Toynbee believes so. The prolific British Guardian journa...
Consent Laid Bare
29 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In a world where female sexuality has been hijacked by forces such as porn, patriarchy, and male entitlement – how can we make sexual consent a prio...
Perumal Murugan: Resurrected Through Writing
17 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Acclaimed Tamil-language author Perumal Murugan’s books were once burned by far-right groups, and now he’s longlisted for one of the most prestigi...
Samuel Moyn: Liberalism Against Itself
17 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Fear of a nuclear apocalypse, despot leaders and a world at war – how did the sharpest minds of the Cold War leave such a legacy of fear? Samuel Moy...
Anjum Hasan: History's Angel
10 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Against the frenetic energy and colour of Delhi, a Muslim school teacher is caught between his love of history and contemporary India. Anjum Hasan’s...
Peter Frankopan: The Earth Transformed
03 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Human existence has always been bound with the health of our natural world. What can we learn from how a changing climate has already, for centuries, ...
Restoring public trust in democratic institutions
27 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This third session of the Accountability in crisis: the rise of impunity as a challenge to human rights explores how to restore public faith in the ...
The rise of impunity as a challenge to democracy
13 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this opening session of the 2023 Australian Human Rights Institute conference, Accountability in crisis: the rise of impunity as a challenge to hu...
The decline of accountability and the erosion of rights
06 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This second session of the 2023 Australian Human Rights Institute conference, Accountability in crisis: the rise of impunity as a challenge to human ...
Women's Day ENCORE | Angela Saini: How Men Came to Rule
04 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Has the patriarchy always prevailed? We tend to see gendered oppression as a universal truth, but in her radical book, The Patriarchs: How Men Came t...