She became the third ever woman to win a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018, and the first in 50 years. This is the story of how Donna Strickland became a "Laser Jock", and why she's now on a mission to restore trust in science. This event was recorded at the Centre for Ideas at the University of New South Wales . Speakers Donna Strickland Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Waterloo, Canada2018 winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics (with Gérard Mourou) Tegan Tay...
Oct 23, 2025•58 min
Ziggy Ramo is an award-winning musician and author whose latest book titled Human?: A lie that has been killing us since 1788 weaves song, visual art and personal history to present a new way of looking at this country’s past. Led by Mparntwe and Alice Springs-based poet Laurie May, Ziggy reflects on the project and where it took him at the Byron Writers Festival . Each chapter of Human? is a multi-media journey, the richness of the art forms matches the depth of the topics covered – both person...
Oct 22, 2025•55 min
2025 is a landmark year for Australian privacy law. The new statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy came into effect in June this year. This could be a breakthrough providing you with a better way to protect your privacy interests through the court system. Big Ideas digs deep into its origins, its inspirations, and its potential future. Presented at the Queensland University of Technology. Speakers Emeritus Professor Barbara McDonald Professor of Law, University of Sydney Law School; led...
Oct 21, 2025•55 min
This rollicking history traces the evolution of the London stock exchange, from the Transatlantic slave trade to modern day missions to Mars, arguing that the financial markets wield the power to bring down governments, and shape our societies, for better and for worse. This lecture was recorded at the Australian National University . Speakers Philip Roscoe Author, How to Build a Stock Exchange: The Past, Present and Future of FinanceProfessor of Management, University of St Andrews , Scotland...
Oct 20, 2025•59 min
She's on a bank note (British 10 pounds), and a bath soap (Suds and Sensibility), and she also wrote some of the most beloved novels in English literature. Why has Jane Austen become such an enduring cultural force, and what makes us return to her works time and time again? This event , celebrating 250 years since Jane Austen's birth, was recorded at the National Library of Australia on 20 August 2025. Speaker Susannah Fullerton President of the Jane Austen Society of Australia, guide, ASA Cultu...
Oct 16, 2025•1 hr 1 min
Is the end of the world nigh, or just the end of the world as we know it? Are we set to doom-scroll our way to apocalypse? Or is this the moment we wake up to ourselves, change course, and save the planet? Don't miss this hilarious battle of brains and bravado when two teams join Big Ideas' host and science journalist Natasha Mitchell at Hobart City Hall for the annual Beaker Street Festival Great Debate. Have our multi-crises of climate change, over-consumption, over-reliance on vulnerable tech...
Oct 15, 2025•53 min
Conflict and great power rivalries are on the rise, democracy is in retreat, and multilateral institutions created to maintain global cooperation appear increasingly toothless. So is the world as we've known it coming to an end? And if so, what will replace it? This speech was recorded at the University of Queensland on 17 September 2025. Speaker Andrew Phillips Professor of international relations and strategy with the University of QueenslandAuthor, War, religion and empire: The transformation...
Oct 14, 2025•56 min
The Democratic Party in America is in an identity crisis. It's shifting priorities to claw back grounds from the Republicans. But is it too little, too late? How can the Democrats respond to a radicalising and increasingly authoritarian-minded Republican Party? The Future of America's Democratic Party presented by the American Academy in Berlin Speakers Jacob S. Hacker Stanely B. Resor Professor of Political Science, Co-Director of the Ludwig Program in Public Sector Leadership at Yale Law Schoo...
Oct 13, 2025•55 min
From Rodrigo Duterte, to Narendra Modi, to Donald Trump, strongman leaders around the world are harnessing big tech to consolidate their power. Social media is also being used to energise and organise resistance movements, but is the bad increasingly outweighing the good? The 2025 Southeast Asia Oration Media Freedom and Democracy in Southeast Asia was held at the University of Melbourne, in partnership with Asialink , the Asia Institute , and the ASEAN Australia Centre . Speakers Maria Ressa Fi...
Oct 09, 2025•56 min
If a stiff dose of medical misinformation is what you're after, look no further than the White House right now. And, on social media and in online forums, countless conspiracy theories reign supreme. In this "post-truth" era, has science lost its authority, or have we lost sight of what scientific proof actually involves? From debates over the origins of our species to conspiracies surrounding the origins of COVID19, Dr Elizabeth Finkel goes where others fear to tread to lift the lid on how scie...
Oct 08, 2025•1 hr 1 min
The Beatles shook the world to its core in the 1960's and, to this day, new generations continue to fall in love with their songs and their story. At the heart of this phenomenon lies the dynamic between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Few other musical partnerships have been rooted in such a deep, intense and complicated personal relationship. Ian Leslie uses the songs they wrote to trace the shared journey of these two compelling men before, during, and after The Beatles. This talk is provided...
Oct 07, 2025•55 min
The world feels more dangerous and unpredictable, but with Australia wedged between our traditional ally, America, and our biggest trading partner, China, does our most expensive ever defence project make us more secure, or less? The 2025 Laurie Carmichael Lecture , Australian Sovereignty and the Path to Peace, was recorded on Wednesday 10 September 2025, with thanks to the Australia Institute's Carmichael Centre for Future Work and RMIT University . Speakers Doug Cameron ALP Senator for New Sou...
Oct 06, 2025•54 min
A frank and impassioned plea for peace by Gareth Evans. As Australia's former Foreign Minister and former president of the International Crisis Group, he's spent most of his career forging real paths to peace globally. From Sudan to Gaza, Myanmar to Ukraine - who can we rely on to stop "forever" wars and genocides? Does Australia have a unique role to play? And what about the UN in its 80th year? It was created after the horror of World War 2 to keep the peace. Has it lost its way? The 2025 Bris...
Oct 02, 2025•55 min
Primatologist Jane Goodall once said: "It actually doesn't take much to be a difficult woman. That's why there are so many of us." She spoke up. For all the species who go unheard, or unnoticed by humans. She was a giant in the global environmental movement. She first walked into the wild forests of Tanzania as a young woman with no science training and embarked on what is now the longest-running study of chimpanzees in their natural habitat. Her trailblazing fieldwork changed our understanding ...
Oct 02, 2025•27 min
AI is an incredible tool, but is AI also a new coloniser? Is there actually anything new or artificial about artificial intelligence? Join Natasha Mitchell at the 2025 Now or Never Festival to meet two big thinkers building a bridge between First Nations and Western knowledge to disrupt and reimagine the who, what, and why of AI? This conversation was recorded on 26 August 2025, in partnership with The Wheeler Centre and Now or Never Festival . Discover more talks and bold conversations by follo...
Oct 01, 2025•57 min
Former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice assesses the break-up of globalisation and the world order. The way in which countries such as the United States or Germany focus on sovereign goals is part of the problem. And that's likely not to stop any time soon. But she also comes up with practical ideas for creating a common economic and security future to address the issues that are too big for any single nation to tackle alone. What Comes Next? Imagining a New Economic and Security Commons w...
Sep 30, 2025•55 min
American music journalist Liz Pelly interrogates the ways Spotify and other streaming giants are reshaping music, not just for listeners, but also for the people who make it. This conversation was recorded on 28 August 2025 in partnership with The Wheeler Centre and Now or Never Festival . Discover more talks and bold conversations by following The Wheeler Centre wherever you get your podcasts or at wheelercentre.com . Speakers Liz Pelly Music critic, author, Mood machine: The rise of Spotify an...
Sep 29, 2025•58 min
Australian Indigenous art is celebrated around the world – but how much is understood about its pivotal role in Indigenous culture, country, politics and law? For the Yolngu people of north-east Arnhem Land, art is more than just aesthetic, it is a means of cultural diplomacy, and a respectful assertion of power in its diverse forms, from sovereignty to influence, authority and control, to energy, strength and pride. This episode brings together two significant exhibitions of Indigenous art on n...
Sep 25, 2025•55 min
Join a full house at the Sydney Opera House with Nobel winning scientist Jennifer Doudna and Big Ideas' presenter Natasha Mitchell to discuss the huge social, ethical, and scientific implications of the CRISPR gene editing revolution her groundbreaking discovery with Emmanuelle Charpentier and colleagues kicked off. From curative therapies to gene edited babies - will we use it to hack our own evolution - are we already? This event was presented in 2024 by the Sydney Opera House , Big Questions ...
Sep 24, 2025•55 min
Stories help us to understand what is happening in the world and how it impacts us. Stories help us to relate to the experience of 'the Other' and their suffering building an emotional understanding. Journalist and academic Helen Vatiskopoulos describes the power of stories to share information to the masses and the problems that arise when the narrative is distorted. What is the responsibility of the media? How does media and social media impact on whose stories are being told and whose are bei...
Sep 23, 2025•55 min
For 85 years, Meanjin has published the essays of Australian writers. The magazine's founding editor, Clem Christesen, wanted Meanjin's writers 'to reveal and clarify our life by showing it to us though a vision different from ours and deeper." In the wake of the news the magazine is closing, Big Ideas explores and celebrates the essay in all its forms. This conversation was recorded at the Words on the Waves Festival on 28 May 2025. Speakers David Marr Presenter, Late Night Live, ABC Radio Nati...
Sep 22, 2025•55 min
For 85 years, Meanjin has published the essays of Australian writers. The magazine's founding editor, Clem Christesen, wanted Meanjin's writers 'to reveal and clarify our life by showing it to us though a vision different from ours and deeper." In the wake of the news the magazine is closing, Big Ideas explores and celebrates the essay in all its forms. This conversation was recorded at the Words on the Waves Festival on 28 May 2025. Speakers David Marr Presenter, Late Night Live, ABC Radio Nati...
Sep 22, 2025•55 min
It's water and fireproof, versatile, warm and tough wearing. Wool not only expanded the British Empire, and created prosperity in the colonies, it also changed the nature of war and warfare. But wool's fortunes didn't last forever. This is the story of the rise and fall of wool. This conversation was recorded at the National Library of Australia on 31 July 2025. Speakers Trish Fitzsimons Documentary film maker, exhibition curator, adjunct professor with Griffith Film School (Griffith University)...
Sep 18, 2025•55 min
Has your doctor ever told you to go on a diet? Does that conversation put you off going to them in the first place, even if you need treatment for something not related to your weight? Has being in a larger body ever meant you can't access surgery or IVF? Some are pushing for a weight-inclusive approach to healthcare, which de-centres obesity, and focuses on 'health-at-every-size'. But what does that really mean, and why does it matter? This event was held at the 11th Annual Weight Stigma Confer...
Sep 17, 2025•55 min
In a world where rules are increasingly being broken, what role should business play in upholding human rights, international and domestic law, and environmental protection? And what are the rules and responsibilities of business to ensure supply chains, hiring practices, workplace safety, environment and social governance practices abide by global human rights standards? This event was recorded at the inaugural UN Business and Human Rights Regional Forum: Australia and New Zealand on 26 August ...
Sep 16, 2025•55 min
Rock star and maverick Jimmy Barnes celebrates heritage, family, friends, music and the adventure of a grand life on stage. Get up close to the lead singer of Cold Chisel, author of Working Class Man and Working Class Boy. Learn how terrible experiences of family violence, but also a close bond to his brother shaped him into the performer he is now. Get a look behind the scenes of his music world, with wild characters and the occasional tall tale. This conversation was recorded live at the 2025 ...
Sep 15, 2025•55 min
Thirteen years ago, US political journalist Hanna Roisin wrote a book called The End of Men: and the Rise of Women. Since then, there's been President Donald Trump x 2, the manosphere, the broligarchy, and more. So what happened? This event was recorded at the 2025 Women in Media Conference on 15 August 2025. Speakers Hanna Rosin — Senior Editor, The Atlantic, host Radio Atlantic, author, The End of Men: and the Rise of Women Edwina Bartholomew — Host, Sunrise, Channel 7...
Sep 11, 2025•55 min
Nuclear power is banned in Australia, and has been for decades, whilst some countries tilt towards nuclear energy again. Should or could Australia? The politics and power play over nuclear in the Sunburnt country, why the Coalition failed with the nuclear card at the last federal election, and what next? Join Big Ideas host and science journalist Natasha Mitchell and guests Simon Holmes à Court, Geoff Cousins, and Royce Kurmelovs at the Byron Writers Festival. Guess the nuclear nerd in this disc...
Sep 10, 2025•59 min
Meet two men on a lifelong mission. They've ruffled a lot of feathers along the way. Some revere them, others revile them. John Wamsley set up Australia's first wildlife sanctuary, but he's perhaps best known as the "cat-hat-man" (sorry, cat lovers!). World renowned forest ecologist David Lindenmeyer has copped heat from Australia's forestry industry for his science. But these two trailblazing environmentalists aren't afraid of their critics - to them it's a case of life-or-death for Australia's...
Sep 09, 2025•54 min
It's estimated that one third of Australian school children can't read proficiently, and debates about the best way to teach reading have raged for years. Now, for the first time, explicit instruction is official policy in all states and territories - so can it turn things around? This speech was recorded at the Advancing Effective Education Summit hosted by Multilit on 30 May 2025. Speakers Jenny Donovan CEO, Australian Education Research Organisation...
Sep 08, 2025•55 min
