Sydney Ideas

Professor Esther M Sternberg MD and Professor Ian Hickie AM How do the emotions affect our physical and mental health? What is the science that shows how brain and body interact to make us sick or well? Two of the world’s leading researchers exposed and explored the pathways within the brain through which our emotions connect with our bodies. Professor Sternberg presented the results of her decades of research showing how nerves, molecules, and hormones connect the brain and immune system, how the immune system signals the brain and affects our emotions, and how our brain can signal the immune system, making us more vulnerable to illnesses. She illustrated how these links work and discussed what the implications can be for treatable and chronic diseases. Professor Hickie discussed studies conducted by the Brain and Mind Research Institute that indicate the role the emotions play in the developing adolescent brain and identify, which factors are likely to lead to serious mental illnesses such as schizophren

Michael Oppenheimer was the Lead Author on the Third and Fourth Assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). His scientific understanding of global warming provides a framework for developing response policies at the local, national and international levels. Oppenheimer reviews this evidence in order to present a framework for policies to mitigate emissions and adapt to some level of inevitable warming. He also discuss changes in the relations among nations in the climate arena which were evident at Copenhagen and recent developments related to the public communication of the science of climate change. A Sydney Ideas event on 23 Feb, 2010 : http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2010/professor_michael_oppenheimer.shtml

Paul Gilding argues that we have entered a period of global ecological crisis and economic stagnation that will last for decades. This will lead to an economic and social transformation of significance in the history of humanity. Paul Gilding has been an activist and social entrepreneur for 35 years, his personal mission is to lead, inspire and motivate action globally on the transition of society and the economy to sustainability. A Sydney Ideas talk on 29 April, 2009 http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2009/great_disruption.shtml

Maude Barlow is a Canadian activist and author who travels the world telling a simple and compelling truth: we are running out of water. And with that, comes devastating consequences. The author of Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right of Water explains the phenomena of “hot stains”, where large areas of the earth’s surface are running out of clean, drinkable water and describes this as “the most important ecological and human threat of our time.” Barlow is informed and passionate and gives a frank assessment of the state of water in Australia. “You have a right to be really angry with your governments,” she says. “What we’re looking at here are years and years of mismanagement, collusion with corporate and special interest organisations and industries, ignoring scientific, environmental warnings that were crystal clear at the time when some of these crises could have averted much more easily.” A Sydney Ideas talk on 3 September, 2008 http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas

Environmental laws as presently conceived are incapable of addressing the fundamental challenges of the 21st Century such as climate change and the degradation of ecosystems. Cormac Cullinan makes the the case for an eco-centric approach to law and governance and explore the potential of Earth Jurisprudence and wild law to radically reshape law and society as we know it. He explores the implications of the rapidly emerging global movement for the rights of nature and the potential to use Earth rights as a platform for building the global solidarity necessary to bring about the rapid and far reaching cultural change necessary to ensure a viable future for all. Cormac Cullinan is an author, practising environmental attorney and governance expert based in South Africa. His groundbreaking book Wild Law: A Manifesto for Earth Justice, has played a significant role in informing and inspiring a growing international movement to recognise rights for nature A Sydney Ideas event on 23 September, 2011 http://sydney.edu

The Mexican Revolution (1910–20) gave birth to a radical regime which, during the 1920s and 1930s, innovated in terms of state-building, social reform, and cultural policy, thus becoming a magnet for foreign journalists and intellectual tourists. But while American cultural commentators (John Reed, Frank Tannenbaum, Carleton Beals and others) were often sympathetic, the British – D H Lawrence, Graham Greene, Aldous Huxley, Evelyn Waugh, and Malcolm Lowry – were highly critical. This talk by Professor Emeritus Alan Knight (University of Oxford) focuses on the British, asking why they were so negative, what they objected to, and what they tell us about the Mexican revolutionary project – or about themselves, and the interwar British society to which they belonged. More info: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2016/professor_alan_knight.shtml

Ordinary atoms that make up the visible universe, from the smallest molecules to planets and stars, constitute only 5% of all matter and energy in the cosmos. The remaining 95% is invisible, and comprises two mysterious components commonly dubbed dark matter and dark energy. In this talk Professor Manfred Lindner (Director at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics and a professor at the faculty for physics and astronomy of Heidelberg University, Germany) reviews what we currently know about the 'dark side' of the universe, and discuss the state-of-the-art of the ongoing hunt for the dark matter being pursued in underground laboratories, using satellites in space, and at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. More info:http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2016/professor_manfred_lindner.shtml

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people comprise 27% of the prison population but represent only 3 % of the Australian population. Justice health professionals often grapple with providing culturally competent care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in custody. However these clinical challenges cannot be viewed in isolation without interrogating broader organisational, societal and political structures and attitudes. Efforts to reduce Indigenous prison numbers and provide meaningful correctional health care require a multi-levelled approach across a variety of sectors with an accompanying honest socio-political discourse. This presentation by Dr Stephane Shepherd, Fulbright Postdoctoral Scholar in Cultural Competence will canvas some of the broader societal influences underpinning Indigenous imprisonment and consider potential medico-legal and community responses to address these issues. More info: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2016/NCCC_stephane_shepherd.shtml

Professor Rajesh Thakker FRS FMedSci from the University of Oxford delivers a lecture in the 21st Century Medicine series of public lectures.

The educational landscape today is marked by numerous texts for teachers that identify ‘what works’ in the classroom and ‘best practices’ for bolstering student achievement in different subjects. Although these guides may provide valuable information for educators, they frequently ignore a central imperative of critical studies in education to situate educational knowledge within the contexts in which it is produced. This lecture by Professor Frances Vavrus (Program in Comparative and International Development Education at the University of Minnesota) draws upon research at the intersection of postcolonial studies, anthropology of education, and global and comparative education to address a vital question: How do different epistemologies and material conditions of teaching affect educators’ conceptions of ‘good teaching’ and its potential enactment in their schools? A Sydney Ideas event for the Education and Social Work Dean's Lecture Series http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2016/ESW_deans_lecture_

For our 2016 Chaser lecture we bring you Indonesia’s first female Muslim stand-up comedian and freedom of expression advocate, Sakdiyah Ma’ruf (winner of the 2015 Vaclav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent). In conversation with Julian Morrow from The Chaser, Sakdiyah talks comedy, religion and where to draw the line. MORE ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Sakdiyah Ma‘ruf is a standup comedian based in Jakarta who has become known in her country and around the world as one of the most distinctive voices of Indonesian Muslim women. She was named one of the Laureates of Vaclav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent for her work in comedy, joining various unknowns such as Ai Weiwei, Pussy Riot and Aung San Su Kyi. She holds a Masters Degree in American Studies and does research and academic writing with specific interests in women, identity, minority, comedy, humor, and pop culture. Her work as an interpreter has gained her trust from international organisations such as UNFPA, ICRC (International Committee for Red Cros

Australian of the Year David Morrison AO leads a panel of researchers, students and academics in this topical debate. Some of the questions they explore include: - Is this model of change the key to accelerating gender equality? Or are we just perpetuating a traditional male power-based, approach to the issue of gender equality? - Why are we failing to have the important public debate about the role of men in caregiving which many believe is critical to achieving true gender equality? For decades now we have seen surveys of younger men wanting to spend more time with their children with little change. - Is the business driven male CEO advocacy model really working to increase inclusion? - Does it work in all sectors including for example culture, arts and education? - Is a gender alliance model a more effective approach to deliver real change? Globally we have also seen the very successful UN He for She campaign emerge from the NGO sector that engaged men of all ages across the world. PANELLISTS: - David M

Professor Corinna Hawkes, Director of the Centre for Food Policy, City University London The keynote lecture in the Food Governance Conference hosted by Sydney Law School and the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney ABSTRACT Everybody eats. Food is a lived experience. It inspires us, fills us with dread, brings us joy, and stress. It sustains us, and kills us. At the same time, food is distant, hails from the food system, out there, somewhere, causing “abstract” problems. Drought. Climate change. Obesity. Undernutrition. Foodborne disease. Exploited workers. To open the first Food Governance conference at the University of Sydney, Professor Hawkes will contend that making connections between these ‘big’ food systems outcomes and the ‘small’ intimate ways that we all experience food is key to the solutions. She will present a new vision of a people-centred approach in which problems are addressed by starting with the reality of people’s everyday lives and then working back into the food system

A forum held as part of the University of Sydney Innovation Week 2016. How can today’s research inform tomorrow’s public policy, drive technological innovation and inspire our creative sectors? For this special forum we brought together diverse voices from the fields of biology, politics, food security and energy production, and ask them to project into the future. What does their research tell us about the possibilities for our world in 25 years? Will the obesity epidemic reach a tipping point where government intervention in individual freedom is inevitable? Are there any signs the next generation of voters in representative democracies will soon challenge intergenerational inequality? When will research in health and agriculture come together to empower local communities to take control of food production and ensure their own food security? How soon will shifting global economics force the transition of the world’s economy from fossil fuels to a renewable energy era?

Carolyne Larrington, Professor of Medieval European Literature at the University of Oxford, talks about watching and writing about HBO’s Game of Thrones as a medieval scholar. She explains some of the medieval history and literature from which George R. R. Martin chiselled the building blocks for the construction of his imaginary world. Game of Thrones has now become the most frequently streamed or downloaded show in TV history. Carolyne suggests some reasons for its enormous international success as the medieval fantasy epic for the twenty-first century, and undertakes a little speculation on how the show might end.

We've created a world where information technology permeates our economies, social interactions, and intimate selves. The combination of mobile, cloud computing, the Internet Things, persistent computing, and autonomy are resulting in something different. This World-Sized Web promises great benefits, but is also vulnerable to a host of new threats. Threats from users, criminals, corporations, and governments. Threats that can now result in physical damage and even death. Security technologist Bruce Schneier looks back at what we've learned from past attempts to secure these systems, and forward at what technologies, laws, regulations, economic incentives, and social norms we need to secure them in the future. Sydney Ideas event information: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2016/bruce_schneier.shtml

A public forum with Anson Chan and Martin Lee In 1997 the People’s Republic of China assumed sovereignty over Hong Kong, subject to The 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, which guarantees Hong Kong’s civic freedoms and autonomies and the rule of law, for fifty years. The Declaration and Hong Kong’s constitution were written in expectation of universal suffrage and of accountable corruption-free Government. Nearly twenty years on, Hong Kong faces formidable challenges, including growing disaffection among citizens who feel disappointed by present-day trends that are seen to contradict the substance and spirit of the Declaration. The University of Sydney was fortunate to host a public forum with two of Hong Kong’s best-known and internationally respected civic figures Anson Chan and Martin Lee, uniquely placed to talk about present-day realities and the future prospects for Hong Kong. What has changed in recent years in Hong Kong, and what has not? Are the two co-signatories of the Declaration honouring th

How can you obtain the best decision from a group of so-called ‘experts’ about future events such as a natural disaster or a stock market crash? Would you trust a family member’s opinion over a highly cited scientist, an economist, a successful entrepreneur, a military or political leader, or a High Court judge? Or would you trust them all equally? Or none at all? The University of Cambridge’s Professor Herbert Huppert’s research has shown that whether an expert or not, some people are better at assessing the future than others. Using considerable experience and historical data, Professor Huppert and his team have developed a technique known as ‘Expert Elicitation’. The technique assesses the abilities and reliability of each individual expert using a formula and taking into account responses to questions about future events. In this Sydney Ideas lecture, Professor Huppert discusses how this technique has been successfully used in predictions for volcanic eruptions, dam failures, monetary policy, militar

Which infectious diseases pose the greatest danger to a child during pregnancy, in infancy and adolescence? Most of us are aware of the dangers of whooping cough and influenza, but what about little-known and disabling micro-organisms such as cytomegalovirus (CMV) and old-nasties that re-emerge periodically like measles? What does every parent need to know about these infectious diseases? What role do family members play in passing on infections to children? How can vaccines offer protection against childhood and adolescent infections? Speaker: Professor Cheryl Jones, Paediatrics and Child Health expert, University of Sydney, Paediatric Infectious Diseases Head, Sydney Childrens Hospital Network

What is happening in the US election campaign and where does the support for this ‘populist’ political movement come from? On the day after the second Presidential debate, a diverse panel of academics, students and election observers discussed changes in new media platforms, youth politics and activism, and the impact they are all having on the traditional election campaign processes.