Sydney Ideas

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 project to CT scan and X-ray the casts of the Pompeian victims. The initial results of the CT scans and X-rays were surprising as they revealed that the actual production methods for the casts were quite different to the procedures that had been minimally documented in the 19th and 20th centuries. This year, the University of Sydney and the Superintendency of the Pompeii Archaeological Park signed a Memorandum of Agreement, which makes the two institutions partners in this important project. In June 2017, permission

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 November 2017 as part of the Sydney Ideas program co-presented with the Digital Rights & Governance project at the University of Sydney: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/digital_rights_forum

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 learning and artificial intelligence. The last of the great cottage industries will become the most important of the data-intensive industries of the 21st century. Hear more on what the future holds from Professor John Mattick, Garvan Institute of Medical Research. Held as part of Sydney Ideas on 21 November http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/21st_century_medicine_2017.shtml

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 activist. In 2013, she co-founded Ex-Muslims of North America (EXMNA) - Tom Nichols is Professor of national security affairs at the United States Naval War College, and author of the recent book The Death of Expertise: The campaign against established knowledge and why it matters (2017) - James A Lindsay is an American thinker, not a philosopher, with a doctorate in math and background in physics. He is the author of four books, most recently Life in Light of Death (2016) - Dr Caroline West is a Senior Lecturer in Phil

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 Harrower’s work. Listen to the readings of Harrower’s fiction by writers and contributors.

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 lower insulin secretion promises to increase the effectiveness of long-term weight management and chronic disease prevention. Hear from endocrinologist and researcher, Professor David S Ludwig, who was described as an “obesity warrior” by Time Magazine. Dr Ludwig is author of the recent #1 New York Times bestseller 'Always Hungry? Conquer Cravings, Retrain Your Fat Cells, and Lose Weight Permanently'. This lecture was held as part of the Sydney Ideas program, co-presented with the Charles Perkins Centre on 14 November 2

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 for political, social and economic reforms. Given his top priority of maintaining the CCP as China’s “perennial ruling party” – and in light of his insistence on the Party’s control over key economic sectors as well as the civil society – what are the prospects for thorough-going reforms? Dr Willy Lam (Chinese University of Hong Kong and The Jamestown Foundation) looks into these questions and addresses Xi’s ambitious foreign-policy agenda, including likely changes in Beijing’s policy toward the Special Administrativ

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, Professor of Medicine, Chief, Division of Sleep Medicine and Director, Center for Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology, at the University of Pennsylvania. His clinical expertise is in sleep disorders with a particular focus on diagnosis and management of obstructive sleep apnea.

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 South Asia. Held as part of Sydney Ideas on 8 November 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/professor_brahma_chellaney.shtml

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 lessons Australians can learn from the American experience. Speakers - Patrisse Cullors (Founder, Black Lives Matter Global Network) - Rodney Diverlus (Founder, Black Lives Matter Toronto) - Stan Grant (journalist, ABC) A Sydney Ideas event co-presented with the US Studies Centre on 3 Nov 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/black_lives_matter_forum.shtml

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 symbols around on pieces of paper. And these tax breaks certainly are not honest, legal though they may be. Even in Trump’s America, there are powerful new solutions to unreal and unfair tax systems. Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author of 'The Making of Donald Trump', David Cay Johnston outlines ways to ensure that taxation of corporations is accurate, honest and fair for citizens. Held as part of Sydney Ideas program on 1 November 2017. Co-presented with Sydney Democracy Network and supported by the Sy

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. In between lies a rich and poignant history of mathematical scientists confronting prejudices, injustices, and social stigmas, sometimes with tragic outcomes. Mathematics comes with its own stories of defeats and victories, not always brought about by its widely publicised intellectual challenges. SPEAKER: Nassif A Ghoussoub, Professor of Mathematics and a Distinguished University Scholar at the University of British Columbia. Held as part of the Sydney Ideas program on 31 October 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney

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. Facilitated by actor Luke Carroll. A Sydney Ideas event on 26 October 2017. More information http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/aboriginal_torres_strait_islander_mental_health_forum.shtml

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 understand what keeps the Union together in times of big crisis and against the predictions of all kinds of doomsayers. Will the more favourable economic and political environment lead to a new relaunching of European integration? This public lecture was held as part of the Sydney Ideas program, copresented with the Sydney Democracy Network on 26 October 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/professor_loukas_tsoukalis.shtml

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 teases out the lessons for the utility of western military power. He argues that whilst Afghanistan demonstrates that western militaries are able to develop the capabilities to achieve tactical success in counterinsurgency wars, they are unable to translate battlefield gains into strategic success due to the intrinsic political challenges of such conflicts. He then goes on to explore how military culture limits the effectiveness of the NATO mission in Afghanistan. And concludes on the prospects for peace in Afghanist

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 around nationalist economics and ideologies? Join our panel of economists, political scientists and historians who study the global to consider these questions–and find some alternative views–at the last of our Thinker's Guide to the 21st Century Series event for 2017. Speakers: - Dr Thomas Adams, Lecturer in American Studies and History, the University of Sydney - Professor John Romalis, Sir Hermann Black Professor in Economics, School of Economics, the University of Sydney - Professor Glenda Sluga, ARC Laureate F

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 this lecture Dr Kate Bagnall considers a different history of Australia–China relations. With the first known Chinese settler in New South Wales arriving almost 200 years ago, what do we know about the men and women whose lives crossed between China and Australia, and Australia and China, in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries? What do we know of the connections of people and place forged before and below the nation-to-nation ties of the late twentieth century? And how might a focus on the personal and intimat

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 Manifesto former University of Sydney Professor of Philosophy, John Burnheim joins us for a special conversation about the ideas behind demarchy, with Associate Professor Carolyn Hendriks from the Australian National University Crawford School, and Dr Nicholas Gruen from Lateral Economics. Hosted by Professor Geoff Gallop. A Sydney Ideas forum co-presented with the Graduate School of Government, Sydney University Press and The newDemocracy Foundation http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/demarchy_forum.shtml

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 of human experience from arrival, through changes in climate, technologies and belief systems to interactions with Maccassan, Portuguese, Dutch, French and finally the British. It would stretch across 2500 unbroken generations of people birthed, nurtured and sustained: people who modified landscapes, hunted, sang songs, practised religion and buried their dead. In this lecture, Professor Lynette Russell (Monash Indigenous Studies Centre, Monash University) argues for mixing epistemologies to create historical narra

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 methods and, importantly, health concerns and psychological traits of consumers. Understanding the sources of various forms of preferences is crucial, as it allows to set up successful public health programs and strategic market policies. SPEAKER: Assoc Professor Mara Thiene, an economist at the University of Padua in the Department of Land, Environment and Forestry Held as part of the Sydney Ideas program on 19 October: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/associate_professor_mara_thiene.shtml