Centre for Ideas | UNSW Sydney

Past Events

9 May Past event

Greek to me: Adventures of the comma queen, Mary Norris

Tales of pencils, punctuation and proofreading 'The New Yorker'.

11 Mar Past event

Nancy MacLean: Democracy in Chains

How did corporations come to possess rights? How did democracy come to be defined as selfish individualism? Or money as free speech? Most people would blame Trump, but the man himself is just a distraction from the deeper and more troubling right wing agenda.

6 Mar Past event

Writing War: Kassem Eid & Mohammed Hanif

Take part in an intimate evening showcasing recent work by two extraordinary writers, who will discuss how and why they grapple with writing about the harrowing reality of war.

3 Mar Past event

Margaret Atwood

28 Feb Past event

Paul Bloom: The Pleasures of Suffering

People are hedonists, seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. This view is central to much of psychology and it fits many people’s own sense of why they do what they do. But what about our appetites for spicy foods, hot baths, horror movies, sad songs, BDSM, and hate reading?

6 Feb Past event

Tim Costello: Justice in Action

What can Australians do to make the world a better and fairer place? Delivering this year's Gandhi Oration is Chief Advocate of World Vision Australia Tim Costello.

25 Oct Past event

After the Crash: Australia in the world ten years on from the GFC

  Kevin Rudd, Ken Henry, Richard Holden and Gordon de Brouwer with Jennifer Hewett (chair).  

24 Sep Past event

Wallace Wurth Lecture: Daniel Dennett on Consciousness

  THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT What have we learned in the last fifty years? It’s one of the complex puzzles we have tried to solve; the nature of human consciousness. Debates about free will, morality, the differences between humans and animals, and the distinction between brain and mind are staples of the explorations of consciousness by philosophers and scientists.

15 Aug Past event

Jack Beale Lecture: The Battle for the Environment

Hear from one of Australia’s leading environmentalists and former politician, Bob Brown.

14 Aug Past event

The Einstein Lecture: The Quantum Computing Revolution

Please note: This event is currently sold out. Please join the waitlist and we will be in contact if seats become available. Click on the tickets button above to access the waitlist. “A quantum computer would be able to solve problems in minutes that would otherwise take thousands of years.” – Michelle Simmons.

19 Jul Past event

iGen: Understanding the Connected Generation

iGen – those born after 1995 – are the first generation to spend their entire adolescence with smartphones. What does this mean for young people today? iGen is growing up more slowly as adolescents, taking longer to engage in adult activities such as working, driving, dating, having sex, and drinking alcohol. iGen spends more of their leisure time with digital media and less time seeing their friends face-to-face; they also spend less time sleeping.

27 Jun Past event

Google's Vint Cerf in conversation with Toby Walsh

Vint Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google, will be in conversation with UNSW Scientia Professor Toby Walsh to discuss issues including the development and future of the internet, the Internet of Things and digital security. The event will be introduced by Professor Emma Johnston, Dean of Science at UNSW and President of Science and Technology Australia.

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