Sydney Ideas

This panel considers the diverse cultural expressions of mosque design, past and present, in areas where Muslim populations are both minorities and majorities. It explains the history and reasons behind traditional gender segregation in mosques and how this segregation plays itself out in mosque architecture and affects ultimately the spiritual experience of the community. Panellists Dr Sam Bowker and Reem Sweid discuss the arabisation of mosques and the extent to which contemporary Australian approaches to 'sacred space' might offer a distinctive contribution to the wider Islamic global heritage.

The Holocaust is one of the most researched events of the twentieth century. Yet it continues to spark popular interest and scholarly controversy. In this lecture Professor Michael Berenbaum, former Project Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and internationally renowned Holocaust historian will reflect on the current state of research. Challenging prevailing scholarly consensus, he will revisit the unfolding of events that culminated in the genocide of European Jewry and shed new light on its historical and contemporary significance. SPEAKER: Professor Michael Berenbaum, Sigi Ziering Institute , American Jewish University in LA

Since they were first revealed in 1863, the casts from Pompeii which preserved the forms of the victims in their moment of death have generated huge interest. Stories of their supposed lives and deaths have proved to be persistent not just in novels and movies, but also in some academic treatments of the site. As part of the Great Pompeii Project of 2015, the Superintendency organised the restoration of 86 of the 103 casts. Estelle Lazer and her team were given the opportunity to generate CT scans and x-ray analysis. For the first time, it was possible to carry out a scientific analysis a number of the casts and the remains embedded within them. The results were unexpected. Yes, there were new insights into the victims, their lives and their deaths, but, as this lecture will show, there was also much to learn about archaeological practices at Pompeii in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A Sydney Ideas lecture co-presented with the Department of Classics and Ancient History and the Nicholso

Drawing from his new book - part historical detective story, part family history, part legal thriller - Professor Philippe Sands QC, explains the connections between his work on 'crimes against humanity' and 'genocide', the events that overwhelmed his family during the Second World War, and the remarkable, untold story that lay at the heart of the Nuremberg Trial: how Rafael Lemkin and Hersch Lauterpacht - the two prosecutors who brought 'genocide' and 'crimes against humanity' into the Nuremberg trial and international law - discovered that the man they were prosecuting - Hans Frank, Hitler's personal lawyer and Governor General of occupied Poland - had murdered their own families. Sydney Ideas event information http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2016/professor_philippe_sands.shtml

Professor Mark Dadds from the Sydney Child Behaviour Research Clinic at the University of Sydney covers some of the current scientific evidence behind the building blocks of evidence-based parenting interventions: including rewards, punishment, and attachment. A Sydney Ideas event for Sydney Science Festival 2016.

Politics at the End of the World: A Public Forum on the Future of Antarctica A panel of experts and those passionate about preserving Antarctica give a fascinating overview of both the history of Antarctica, especially around the legal questions of sovereignty, and progress on the lobbying for a marine park and ultimate preservation of the environment. Speakers include Professor Gillian Triggs, Greens leader Bob Brown and Jeff Hansen of theSea Shepherd Conservation Society, THIS LECTURE TOOK PLACE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY 13 SEPTEMBER 2012 AS PART OF THE SYDNEY IDEAS PROGRAM. For more info and speaker's biography see this page: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2012/antarctica_politics_at_the_end_of_the_world_forum.shtml

The most common causes of death in Australia are chronic non-communicable diseases related to lifestyle. Despite great improvements in treatments and outcomes, more Australians are developing diseases like type 2 Diabetes than ever before, and the total cost to the health system of diabetes alone is around $15bn per year. How do these illnesses interact? What are the factors associated with increased risk of chronic illness, and what can we do to reduce our risk? And what can scientists, health care providers and our community as a whole do to reduce the risk, and the cost, for the benefit of everyone? For our second Sydney Ideas, Westmead we brought together a panel of leading Westmead researchers to discuss the latest science of this healthcare crisis. Listen to Professor Jacob George, Associate Professor Germaine Wong and Professor Ngai Wah Cheung in conversation with Professor Chris Liddle, as they discuss their research and take audience questions on chronic non-communicable diseases related to lifesty

The Grandmother Hypothesis aims to explain why increased longevity evolved in humans, while female fertility still ends at the same age it does in our closest evolutionary cousins, the great apes. Beginning with ethnographic surprises that drew us to pay attention to grandmothering in the first place, Kristen Hawkes will show how, in addition to human life history, grandmothering can help explain the precocious sociality of human infants and our distinctive appetite for mutual understanding as well as patterns of male competition and pair bonding. Crucial evidence about human evolution continues to come from the expanding fossil and archaeological records, paleoecology, and increasingly genomics. But comparisons between us and our primate cousins, coupled with formal modelling by Peter Kim and his mathematical biology group at the University of Sydney, are proving to be an especially valuable way to explore evolutionary connections between grandmothering and an array of distinctive human features. ABOUT THE

US author and activist, Linda Tirado explains the rise of Trump and suggests what can and should be done about it. Across the Western world, we’re seeing a resurgence in plain populism. The blame for this is laid at the feet of the poor. Common wisdom holds that Trump voters are usually rural, white, and lower working class. But is this objective reality, or merely the narrative we’re used to and most likely to rely on? ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Linda Tirado is a US writer and activist. Her work focuses on economic inequality and poverty-related issues, and she has lectured across America, Australia, and the UK. Her book is sold in Australia as Hand to Mouth: Being Poor In A Wealthy World. She’s a frequent guest on Australian airwaves, and her work can be found in various outlets across the country, most recently on Q&A and in Daily Life. Sydney Ideas event page http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2016/linda_tirado.shtml

A Storyology 2016 event co-presented with the Walkley Foundation Investigative and public-service journalism shine a light on the world’s dark corners. In today’s globally connected world, leaked documents and data can be shared and analysed by reporters and citizen journalists anywhere. Major investigations into finance and corruption like the Panama Papers highlight the growing chasm between the world's elite and everyone else, and the role governments have played in creating it. Speakers: Gerard Ryle, director, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (US); Lina Attalah, founder & editor-in-chief, Mada Masr (Egypt); Kate McClymont, investigative journalist with the Sydney Morning Herald: Penny O’Donnell (panel chair), Department of Media and Communications, the University of Sydney . Lina Attalah was a guest of the Walkley Foundation Australia-Arab International Journalism Speaker Program, supported by the Australian Government through the Council for Australian-Arab Relations (CAAR) of th

Part of the 2016 Festival of Urbanism. A conversation on the divergence of Sydney and Melbourne’s cultural policy between the University of Melbourne’s Dr Kate Shaw and the University of Sydney’s Dr Oliver Watts. SPEAKERS: Dr Kate Shaw is an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow in Urban Geography and Planning at the University of Melbourne. Her current research focuses on urban renewal in the 21st century. Accepting that the economic case for growth combines with the environmental case for limiting urban sprawl to produce an irresistible logic for increasing the densities of Australian cities, the research explores ways of improving on the renewal projects of the last 50 years. The current project examines the legislative, regulatory, financial, political and cultural barriers to socially equitable urban development, and pursues practices elsewhere that do it better. Kate’s background is in alternative cultures. She has particular interest in Melbourne’s live music and indie arts scenes, and ad

Under capitalism, how does the state organise space in our everyday lives through the streets we walk, the monuments we visit, and the places where we meet? A talk by Univeristy of Sydney Professor Adam Morton, Department of Political Economy.

The vocation of public service remains a cornerstone of Australian democracy. Yet its traditional virtues are under pressure. Too often exciting innovations have remained at the periphery, failing to deliver on their promise. New approaches to the designing, commissioning and funding of government services have yet to transform the centre of public administration. Bureaucratic structures, regulatory compliance systems and a culture of risk aversion have narrowed the manner in which public accountability and stewardship have been perceived. Yet, with political authority, governance can become more participatory and inclusive. Businesses, social enterprises and research institutions can partner with government agencies to become co-producers of public benefit. Sectoral boundaries can become porous and relationships collaborative. A new public service can emerge, based upon principles of flexibility, experimentation, facilitative leadership and organisational agility. ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Professor Peter Shergol

The 2016 Australian Book Review Laureate’s Fellow Michael Aiken in conversation with David Malouf, the ABR Laureate. The forum includes Michael Aiken reading from his verse Fellowship project, ‘Satan Repentant’, a violent epic leaping from the cosmological to the infinitesimal, and a story of contrition. Sydney Ideas event infomation http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2016/ABR_laureate_2016_satan_repentant.shtml

At 35 years of age Dr Marjorie Aunos had made a name for herself nationally and internationally as a leading practitioner-researcher and advocate for parents with intellectual disabilities. In her own words, “life was good”; she was doing what she loved especially her new role as a mother to her 18 month old son. On the 5th of January 2012, on her way to work, Marjorie’s life took a sharp turn. Her car slipped on ice and collided with an oncoming truck. She was left with paraplegia. In this lecture Marjorie will share the experience of moving from being an “outsider” to an “insider” as a disability practitioner-researcher and the lessons learnt (thus far). SPEAKER: Marjorie Aunos, adjunct professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal and Brock University Part of the Faculty of Education and Social Work Dean’s Lecture Series, which provides an opportunity to hear internationally renowned experts as they contribute to the debates and discussions in education, social work and social policy.

According to recent reports, 1.2 million Australians regularly struggle to put good, healthy food on the table. From low incomes to high living costs, casualised labor markets to government policies, more and more Australians don’t have enough money to eat or to eat well. In policy jargon, problems like these are often referred to as food and nutrition insecurity. This panel focuses on the problem of food insecurity here in Sydney, its causes, consequences, and – ultimately – what can be done to put good food back on the table. Drawing together academic, policy and practitioner perspectives we hope to open up a space to talk about pathways to and opportunities for a more just food system. Professor David Schlosberg (Chair, Co-director, Sydney Environment Institute Elizabeth MillenProgram Manager, Healthy Environments, South Western Sydney Local Health District Health Promotion Service Tegan Picone, Nutrition Programs Manager, SecondBite Luke Craven, Phd Candidate, University of Sydney A Sydney Ideas and S

Tax evasion is as old as taxes. But with the introduction of mass income taxes at the beginning of the twentieth century, the problem took on new dimensions. After 1918, the first tax haven countries appeared initially in continental Europe. After the Second World War, a new generation of havens opened up in the dissolving British Empire in places such as the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Singapore, and, for Australia, the New Hebrides and other Pacific territories. This talk will looks at the role of governments in setting up countries as tax havens after 1945. Most tax havens were state-sponsored projects, making current calls for shutting down havens and curbing avoidance appear problematic. What, then, can be done against tax havens especially in the face of mounting inequality today? ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Vanessa Ogle is the Julie and Martin Franklin Assistant Professor in the Department of History University of Pennsylvania, Her first book, The Global Transformation of Time: 1870 - 19

The Second World War still has a defining place in how we imagine war today, despite its increasing distance from us. The west has not experienced ‘major war’ since 1945, and so our comprehension of what it means has not had to be redefined. But the war, which we have invented for ourselves, is a caricature: a ‘good’ war fought for ‘necessary’ reasons by a generation of ‘heroes’. The implicit contrast is with the First World War, which is portrayed as none of these things. This construction of the Second World War has created a massive obstacle to our capacity to understand the war of 1914-18 on its own terms. It too has become a caricature of itself: futile, wasteful and needless. Yet many of the concepts with which we frame modern war are derived from the First, not the Second, World War, including ‘grand strategy’, ‘total war’ and even ‘existential conflict’. The First World War changed what we mean by strategy with effects that still resonate. And the conflict has a further claim to our attention in this

The Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA) 2016 Harley Wood Lecture for the ASA 50th anniversary Annual Scientific Meeting Over the last 40 years, scientists have uncovered evidence that if the Universe had been forged with even slightly different properties, life as we know it - and life as we can imagine it - would be impossible. With small tweaks to the way the Universe works, we can erase the periodic table, disintegrate particles and remove all traces of structure in the cosmos. Join us on a journey through how we understand the Universe, from its most basic particles and forces, to planets, stars and galaxies, and back through cosmic history to the birth of the cosmos. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Luke Barnes is a postdoctoral researcher at the Sydney Institute for Astronomy. Having gained his PhD from the University of Cambridge, he has published papers in the field of galaxy formation and on the fine-tuning of the Universe for life. His forthcoming book co-written with Geraint Lewis is A Fortunate Universe:

The human war against the mosquito is once again garnering global public attention. An explosion in the number of cases of Zika virus in the Americas, has resulted in huge media coverage and the World Health Organisation declaring a global health emergency. Spread by the mosquito Aedes aegypti, Zika virus causes a mild fever in most cases, but it has recently been associated with rising rates of microcephaly (abnormal brain development) if a woman is infected during pregnancy. This panel outlines and explore issues relating to both the recent Zika outbreak and relevant broader, contextual features of human-mosquito relations. More info: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2016/defending_the_aussie_mozzie_forum.shtml