What if getting old didn’t mean getting ill? Although we're living longer in most parts of the world, advancing age has been revealed as the major risk factor for serious diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease and dementia. Professor Dame Linda Partridge FRS is Director of the Institute of Healthy Ageing at University College London, and a founding director of the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne, Germany looks into the potential for intervening in the ageing pro...
Feb 13, 2018•1 hr 14 min
What is the position of the translator as cultural mediator? A panel of distinguished scholars explore the significance of translation, its impact on encounters between people, and its contribution to social cohesion, especially in multicultural and multi-faith societies like Australia.
Feb 05, 2018•1 hr 26 min
A forum with Tim Wright, Asia-Pacific director of ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons), winner of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its part in spearheading the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons; the first Treaty to outlaw the development, stockpiling, possession, transfer, hosting, testing, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons. He is joined by Tim Ayres, the National Research Coordinator of the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union; and Tara Gutman, the Acting ...
Nov 30, 2017•1 hr 23 min
Gideon Levy is an Israeli journalist, writing opinion pieces and a weekly column for the newspaper Haaretz often focusing on the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. In 2004, Levy published a compilation of articles entitled Twilight Zone – Life and Death under the Israeli Occupation(2004). His weekly talk show, A Personal meeting with Gideon Levy, was broadcast on Israeli cable TV. Levy defines himself as a "patriotic Israeli". He criticises what he sees as Israeli society's moral...
Nov 29, 2017•1 hr 37 min
The way Pompeii was covered by the eruption material ejected by Mt Vesuvius in 79 CE has made it possible to reveal the forms of organic remains preserved in the hardened ash. Pouring plaster of Paris into the voids created by decomposed soft tissue has created casts that were believed to be faithful renditions of those who died. In theory, the skeletons were embedded within the plaster casts of human victims and those of other mammals. In 2015, Estelle Lazer and her team of experts commenced a ...
Nov 28, 2017•1 hr 4 min
The makers of Venezuela's leading satirical news site El Chigüire Bipolar discuss the politics of satire with the makers of Australia’s in no way leading satirical news site The Chaser. Held as part of Sydney Ideas on 28 November 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/chaser_el_chiguir_bipolar.shtml
Nov 28, 2017•1 hr 14 min
Panel discussion & Launch – The University of Sydney’s 2017 Digital Rights report A panel of leading experts looks under the hood of digital rights, exploring: - What are digital rights? Why do we need them? - What would they look like in Australia? - How should we frame, and do, digital rights policy, law and practice? SPEAKERS: Ellen Broad, Osmond Chiu, Rob Hanson, Associate Professor Nicolas Suzor, Professor Ariadne Vromen. Chaired by Professor Gerard Goggin . This event was held on 27 No...
Nov 27, 2017•1 hr 24 min
Soon individual genome sequences will be a standard part of health records, which will revolutionise biomedical discovery, personal healthcare, and health system management. Millions of genome sequences integrated with millions of clinical records and other information from personal devices and the internet of things will create a multi-dimensional data ecology that will require advanced systems not only to secure the privacy and provenance of the data, but also to enable its analysis by machine...
Nov 21, 2017•1 hr 23 min
The international panellists who are at the forefront of current debate on rational discourse and the post-truth crisis, dissect the current state of public discourse around truth, evidence, and reason, and associated questions including trust, faith, and identity. They discuss their answers to the question “who can we believe?” and show how truth is intertwined with complex questions ranging from knowledge to authority to reality. SPEAKERS: - Sarah Haider is an American writer, speaker, and act...
Nov 20, 2017•1 hr 28 min
Conventional treatment for obesity assumes that all calories are alike, and that to lose weight one must simply “eat less and move more.” However, this prescription rarely succeeds over the long term. According to an alternative approach, the metabolic state of the fat cells plays a key role in determining body weight. From this perspective, conventional calorie-restricted, low fat diets amount to symptomatic treatment, destined to fail for most people. Instead, a dietary strategy aiming to lowe...
Nov 14, 2017•1 hr 19 min
Elizabeth Harrower’s writing has engaged and challenged her readers since she began publishing in the late 1950s. Her work is concerned with the moral and existential challenges that arise from experiences of romance, family life, and personal aspiration. Her narratives blend together the private and public, bringing together the shared public spaces of the contemporary postwar world with the intense interior lives of her characters. New Sydney University Press publication celebrates Elizabeth H...
Nov 14, 2017•34 min
Water, energy and food security are fundamental strategic challenges for India and its neighbours. In this Sydney Ideas conversation Professor Brahma Chellaney from the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi and Professor Bill Pritchard from the University of Sydney discuss the contentious politics and economics of water, energy and food in the Indian subcontinent. International and national regulatory regimes play an important role in the way water and energy resources are distributed across Sou...
Nov 08, 2017•1 hr 9 min
A recent report by Deloitte Access Economics found that some 40% of Australians experience some form of inadequate sleep. Sleep disorders, such as obstructive sleep apnoea, insomnia, restless legs syndrome, and shift work disorder, are also highly prevalent but are amenable to treatment. The flow on effects of inadequate or disordered sleep for the individual, society, and the economy are enormous. It is time for everyone to wake up to the importance of sleep. SPEAKER Professor Allan Pack, Profe...
Nov 08, 2017•1 hr 15 min
The just-held 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has conferred President Xi Jinping with unprecedented authority. He is now the Party’s second more powerful leader after Mao Zedong. Xi has solid control over the Party, the State and the People’s Liberation Army. It looks probable that Xi will remain China’s paramount leader at least until 2027, if not 2032. Questions remain, however, as to whether Xi, who is an arch-conservative and unabashed Maoist, will use his powers ...
Nov 08, 2017•1 hr 31 min
Protesting police brutality, mass incarceration and racial disparities in all areas of American life, Black Lives Matter has spanned two very different presidencies, transforming political debate and making visionary demands for justice. The founders of the Black Lives Matter Global Network, in Australia to accept the 2017 Sydney Peace Prize, join the ABC's Stan Grant for an intimate conversation about the birth of the protest movement, the future of black lives under President Trump, and what l...
Nov 03, 2017•1 hr 16 min
The United States, like Australia and other countries with modern economies, gets played by multinational corporations who earn profits in their country, but siphon profits out as tax-deductible expenses – expenses companies pay to themselves. It is as if individuals could get a tax break by moving money from their right pocket to their left. These tax breaks are not based on real expenses, or economic reality, but on shams and faux calculations. They rest on nothing more substantial than moving...
Nov 01, 2017•1 hr 28 min
One of the best kept secrets about mathematicians is that we are often at the tip of the spear in the struggle for social/political causes. We are inspired by the mathematical hell raisers of previous generations, but we are also shaped by their personal tragedies. In 1800 France, Sophie Germain had to publish her works using a male pseudonym. Only recently, Maryam Mirzakhani, an Iranian born mathematician, became the first female recipient of The Fields Medal, the highest honour in mathematics....
Oct 31, 2017•1 hr 2 min
The 2017 Michael Hintze lecture presented by the Centre for International Security Studies At sixteen years and counting, Afghanistan is the longest war for western states of the post-Cold War period, and NATO’s first overseas war. At its height, the US and its NATO allies deployed 130,000 troops in its efforts to stabilise the country. NATO combat forces withdrew by December 2014 having failed to defeat the Taliban insurgency. Professor Theo Farrell explores what went wrong in Afghanistan and t...
Oct 26, 2017•1 hr 26 min
Professor of European Integration at the University of Athens, Loukas Tsoukalis looks into the reasons behind the successive crises in the EU in recent years. Does the European Union suffer from overstretch? Was the creation of the euro a terrible mistake that is now almost impossible to undo, or is the European project just the victim of collateral damage caused by globalisation and the technological revolution? We first need to understand what went wrong in recent years. But we also need to un...
Oct 26, 2017•1 hr 20 min
The forum brings together expert First Nations Community and University speakers to discuss the importance of increasing awareness about mental illness within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Joe Williams, a First Nations mental health campaigner and former elite athlete, shares his story and discusses his current work in the keynote address. He is joined in a panel discussion by University of Sydney and community members Dr Vanessa Lee , Percival Knight and Will Muwadda. F...
Oct 26, 2017•1 hr 15 min
December 2017 marks 45 years since Australia and the People's Republic of China established formal diplomatic relations. In celebrating such anniversaries, it is common for politicians and diplomats to note how the Australia–China relationship has developed over the intervening years – citing trade and investment figures, and tourism dollars, and the growing numbers of Chinese students at Australian universities. But what of Australia–China relations before 1972? Before 1922? Before 1872? In thi...
Oct 25, 2017•1 hr 10 min
There is no word with more purchase in present political discourse than Globalisation. But what does it mean, and why is it so important? This panel surveys the extent of today’s globalisation, and asks: How globalised is the world really? What is the significance of this idea for politics? Is globalisation good for us? Does the European Union represent the past or a future, a world increasingly interconnected and interdependent, or torn apart? Have we arrived at an impasse and begun to fragment...
Oct 25, 2017•1 hr 31 min
Democracy depends on sound public opinion about the major issues of the day. Today these issues are of unprecedented complexity and difficulty, requiring serious deliberation and decision making, and the need to move beyond the factional struggles and attempts to win over key parcels of votes we see dominating politics today. What we need is well considered public opinion to set the agenda for the politicians, and demarchy is a new proposal on how this can be done. Author of The Demarchy Manifes...
Oct 23, 2017•1 hr 35 min
The study of food choice is at the forefront of research in economics today due to its repercussion on nutritional issues for the population and consequently on public health. Consumers display varied preferences towards food, and react sometimes controversially to nutrition information conveyed to them via food labels or other formats. Choices vary according to taste preferences, but are also influenced by factors such as certification of origin, geographical indication, sustainable production ...
Oct 19, 2017•50 min
How do we understand, imagine, visualise and create narratives for 50,000 years of Australian history? As commonly presented, Australia’s past seems to consist of 230 years of European colonisation and over 50,000 years of Aboriginal culture, the former the purview of historians and the latter of archaeologists. Yet it presents striking opportunities for a truly integrated and seamless deep continental history, combining disciplines and methodologies. Such a history would consider the full range...
Oct 19, 2017•1 hr 5 min
The 2017 ASAL Patron's Lecture (with special thanks to the Cultural Fund of the Copyright Agency) Malaysian-Australian author, rapper and poet from Queanbeyan, Australia, Omar Musa combines readings from his own work with his thoughts about his writing process, such key themes as migration, belonging and dreams, and reflections on Australian literature and culture at large. Held as part of the Sydney Ideas on 17 October 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/asal_patrons_lecture_o...
Oct 17, 2017•58 min
Professor of Middle Eastern History at University of California, Irvine, Mark LeVine asks us to engage in the process of thinking outside the box, and move towards enabling Palestinians and Israelis to imagine a shared future that is no longer a zero-sum game or based inevitably on the domination of one group over the other. Chair: Dr Lucia Sorbera, Department of Arabic Language and Cultures, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Discussants: Lana Tatour, School of Social Science at UNSW, and Ant...
Oct 16, 2017•1 hr 43 min
Professor Colin Mackerras surveys how the West has viewed China over time. He notes distinct worsening over the last half decade or so, both in the United States and in Australia, and argues that there is a good deal of politics in the images and that we should see these images not only as a reflection of China, but also of the West itself. Held as part of the Sydney Ideas program co-presented with the China Studies Centre on 16 October 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/profe...
Oct 16, 2017•48 min
Are you addicted to social media? Is this such a big deal? Or can you improve your mental health with technology? Our panel of experts from the Brain and Mind Centre join special international guests to discuss the pros and cons of technology when it comes to mental health. Held as part of Sydney Ideas and the 2017 Mental Health Month on 16 October 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/technology_youth_mental_health_forum.shtml
Oct 16, 2017•1 hr 23 min
Historians these days probably get less sleep than anyone else – kept up by the echoes of the past in the radically shifting world political landscape. The historical allusions of contemporary governments in the US, and in Europe, are driving all manner of comparisons with the 1930s in particular, and the rise of Nazism, Fascism, and Authoritarianism. This panel brings together four University of Sydney academics who specialise in the political cultures of the last century, to discuss the releva...
Oct 11, 2017•1 hr 35 min
