Alice P Albright, Chief Executive Officer of the Global Partnership for Education speaks about global education crises and how the Global Partnership for Education partnership is innovating to address the funding challenges and offer quality education at some of the poorest countries of the world. She outlines why should businesses pay attention at education circumstances and support education, and speaks about new models of donation that will empower local governments to manage the funds and take charge of their education system. A Sydney Ideas and University of Sydney Business School event on 10 August 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/alice_albright.shtml

An exclusive Sydney Science Festival presentation by acclaimed science writer Dava Sobel. In conversation with Jessica Bloom, a young University of Sydney astrophysics PhD student, Dava speaks of her love for science and what it took for a women to break through. Presented as part of the Sydney Ideas program on 9 August, 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/sydney_science_festival_2017_dava_sobel.shtml?cid=em_si-news

From community gardens to pop-up cinemas, from outdoor art installations to mobile libraries, temporary urban interventions are increasingly visible in contemporary cities. A burgeoning literature has highlighted ways in which these transient practices propose alternative lifestyles, reoccupy urban space with new uses, and reinvent daily life from the bottom up, in the pursuit of more just and sustainable cities. Find out how these guerrilla intervention are really transforming our cities and whether or not they are contributing to social justice and sustainability. Speakers: Associate Professor Lee Stickells, University of Sydney, Amelia Thorpe, UNSW and Timothy Moore, Sibling Architecture. In conversation with Professor Ann Forsyth, the Director of the Urban Planning Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. A Festival of Urbanism event for Sydney Ideas held on 8 August 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/festival_of_urbanism_pop_up_justice.shtml

The winners of the Australian Book Review prestigious Calibre Essay Prize this year, Michael Adams and Darius Sepehri, read extracts from their Prize-winning essays, and discuss the themes of grief and mortality found in both pieces. Michael Adams, an associate professor of Human Geography at the University of Wollongong, won first prize for ‘Salt Blood’, a remarkable and highly original meditation on freediving and mortality, which was published in the June-July 2017 issue of Australian Book Review. Darius Sepehri, a PhD student at the University of Sydney, won the second prize for his essay ‘To Speak of Sorrow’, an essay about the many kinds of grief and their different expressions in writing and culture, as lament, testimony, or ritual. His essay will be published in the August issue of Australian Book Review. Hosted by Peter Rose, Editor of Australian Book Review. A Sydney Ideas event at the University of Sydney on Monday 7 August, 2017 http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/australian_book_review_calibre_essay.shtml

Christina Lamb, a multi award-winning foreign correspondent for the UK Sunday Times in conversation with Aparna Balakumar, a final year Media and Communications student at the University of Sydney. Christina Lamb has acted as Washington Bureau Chief for the paper and in 2009 was awarded the prestigious Prix Bayeux Calvados for her reporting from Afghanistan. She won the Foreign Press Association Award for Story of the Year in 2007, and has been named Foreign Correspondent of the Year in the British Press Awards five times. She is the author of many books including the best-selling memoir she co-authored with Afghan schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World. Held as part of the Sydney Ideas program on 7 August 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/christina_lamb.shtml

Causes of compulsive behaviour are complex and unexpected. What are they? Our researchers reveal the mental, physical and social origins of addiction and highlight discoveries that are improving people’s lives. Panelists: - Professor Nick Lintzeris, Clinical Professor, Discipline of Addiction Medicine, Central Clinical School, University of Sydney, and Director and Senior Staff Specialist, Drug and Alcohol Services, South East Sydney Local Health District, NSW Health - Professor Kate Conigrave, Conjoint Professor Addiction Medicine, Head, Indigenous Substance Misuse Programs Addiction Medicine, Central Clinical School, University of Sydney - Dr Andrew J. Campbell, Senior Lecturer in Psychology , Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, e-mental health, cyber-psychology, and child, adolescent and family mental health Held as part of Sydney Ideas Health Forums series on 2 August, 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/health_forums_2017.shtml

Experts in law, security, and international relations consider why have cultural, religious, and national issues reappeared in the new international order. Speakers: - Professor James Der Derian, Centre for International Security Studies, the University of Sydney - Professor Christian Reus-Smit, Professor of International Relations at the University of Queensland - Professor Anne Orford, Laureate Program in International Law at the University of Melbourne - Professor Glenda Sluga, ARC Laureate Fellow and Professor of International History, the University of Sydney This panel was held as part of The Thinker’s Guide to the 21st Century series on 2 August, 2017. http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/thinkers_guide_21st_century_2017.shtml

A multi-award Iraqi film director, producer and civil activist in in conversation with Dr Lucia Sorbera from the Department of Arabic Language and Cultures on social power of cinema.

How did Jane Austen, a no-name author in her own day, become an international literary icon? It started long before Colin Firth’s wet-white-shirt Darcy. Devoney Looser will introduce you to some of the unsung innovators who first turned ‘Miss Austen’ into a household name, from artists and activists to actors and audiences, looking at how they made and remade her image before popular audiences. July 2017 marks the 200th anniversary of Austen’s death. This talk celebrates Austen’s life and writings and makes sense of how her characters and stories have come to be imprinted on each new generation of readers. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Professor Devoney Looser is Professor of English at Arizona State University, writes on literature by women. Her most recent book, The Making of Jane Austen (2017) was named a Publishers Weekly Best Summer Book. Fun fact: Devoney has also played roller derby under the nom de guerre Stone Cold Jane Austen. Held as part of the Sydney Ideas program on 20 July 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/professor_devoney_looser.shtml

This forum explores the shifts in assumptions, mindsets and ways of thinking that are required to achieve gender equality and how symbols, such as portraits may assist. The topics are discussed by Professor Emerita Margaret Harris, Dr Ann Stephen, Dr Scott Hill and the artist Celeste Chandler. Held as part of the Sydney Ideas program on 19 July, 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/portraits_and_place_forum.shtml