Carlos Ghosn, one of the world’s most influential business leaders and was the first executive to run two Fortune Global 500 companies simultaneously, discusses the future of the automotive industry, the importance of innovation in business, and what it takes to be a truly global leader. Mr Ghosn has been the industry's leading advocate for sustainable transportation; Renault and Nissan were the first automakers to launch a range of affordable zero-emission vehicles. He is also leading the Alliance’s pioneering effort to develop autonomous-drive and connected-car technologies and services. Presented by the Australian Lebanese Foundation in partnership with the University of Sydney Business School and Sydney Ideas This event was held as part of the Sydney Ideas program on 8 June 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/carlos_ghosn.shtml

We think we know civil war when we see it. Yet ideas of what it is, and what it isn’t, have a long and contested history, from its fraught origins in republican Rome to debates in early modern Europe to our present day. Defining the term is acutely political, for ideas about what makes a war “civil” often depend on whether one is a ruler or a rebel, victor or vanquished, sufferer or outsider. Calling a conflict a civil war can shape its outcome by determining whether outside powers choose to get involved or stand aside: from the American Revolution to the war in Iraq, pivotal decisions have depended on such shifts of perspective. A panel of historians, lawyers and philosophers respond to David Armitage’s book 'Civil Wars: A History in Ideas', in which he offers a unique perspective on the roots and dynamics of civil war, and on its shaping force in our conflict-ridden world. Speakers: Professor David Armitage, Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History, Harvard University; Associate Professor Maartje Abbenhuis, History, University of Auckland; Dr Eleanor Cowan, Lecturer in Roman History, University of Sydney; Professor Andrew Fitzmaurice, Professor of History, University of Sydney; Professor Duncan Ivison, Professor of Political Philosophy and Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) University of Sydney; Professor Ben Saul, Challis Chair of International Law, Sydney Law School Held as part of the Sydney Ideas program on 5 June 2017 http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/professor_david_armitage.shtml

In the last 50 years museums have slowly changed from exhibitions ‘about’ Indigenous peoples to exhibitions by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander curators. As the University of Sydney embarks on the building of the new Chau Chak Wing Museum, we consider what are the next steps and continue to question how exhibitions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander collections can engage all visitors meaningfully. Speakers: Sharni Jones, Manager of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander collections at the Australian Museum Stephen Gilchrist, Associate Lecturer Department of Art History, University of Sydney Rodney Kelly, Gweagal activist for the repatriation of ancestral collections to Aboriginal ownership Amanda Reynolds, Stella Stories artist, curator, cultural consultant and editor Matt Poll, (panel chair) Assistant Curator, Indigenous Heritage, Macleay Museum, Sydney University Museums A 2017 Reconciliation Week at the University of Sydney event, co-presented with the Macleay Museum. Held on 31 May 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/reconciliation_week_arts_aboriginal_australia_forum.shtml

What’s wrong with our kidneys? And what we are doing about it at the University of Sydney. Professor Steve Chadban reviews the state of the nation in terms of kidney health and discusses the spectrum of kidney disease in the Australian population. He then turns to the lab to explore potential solutions for key problems in kidney health. From the lab he next moves to the clinic to examine the impact of specific interventions for people with kidney disease. Finally he returns to the population level to observe the impact of treatments for kidney disease on outcomes. Held as part of the Sydney Ideas program on 31 May 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/21st_century_medicine_2017.shtml

A Sydney Writers’ Festival event presented with the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Susan Faludi is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the author of the bestselling Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man, and The Terror Dream: Myth and Misogyny in an Insecure America, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism. Her most recent book, In the Darkroom, won the 2016 Kirkus Prize for Non-Fiction and was named one of the top ten best books of the year by The New York Times. Faludi's work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Harper’s, and many other publications. For this special Sydney Ideas event, Susan Faludi is in conversation with the University of Sydney student Anna Hush. Anna Hush is an Honours student in Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. She has been a vocal advocate for institutional change for student safety and has campaigned against sexual assault and harassment with the Sydney University Women's Collective. Anna is the co-founder and co-director of fEMPOWER, a program of workshops on feminism for high school students. Held as part of the Sydney Ideas program on 25 May, 2017. http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/susan_faludi.shtml

Associate Professor Muireann Irish, School of Psychology and Brain and Mind Centre at the University of Sydney, gives a fascinating overview of her work exploring autobiographical memory and future thinking across various dementia syndromes. She highlights the cognitive mechanisms and neural networks that need to be functional to support these sophisticated cognitive processes and the devastating effects of losing these uniquely human functions. Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia 2017 Paul Bourke Lecture A Sydney Ideas event co-presented with the School of Psychology in the Faculty of Science, and the Brain and Mind Centre. Presented as part of the Sydney Ideas program on 16 May, 2017 http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/2017_paul_bourke_lecture_muirann_irish.shtml

The extraordinary growth of the past thirty years is due to unprecedented globalisation and accelerating technological change. Connectivity has been associated with rising creativity and accelerating change. The speed, scale and complexity of this integration has far-reaching implications for business and for individuals and societies. Professor Ian Goldin (Oxford University Professor of Globalisation and Development) identifies the drivers of global growth, showing why emerging markets are likely to continue to grow at high levels for the coming decades. Rising life expectancy and collapsing fertility around the world has dramatic consequences for pensions, retirement, dependency and employment patterns. Meanwhile, advances in artificial intelligence and robotics is transforming the nature of work and has the potential to replace significant numbers of jobs and widen inequality. Held as part of the Sydney Ideas program on 15 May 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/professor_ian_goldin.shtml

Pain is both personal and global and despite all that we know about its origins and treatments, countless people live with chronic pain. In this health forum, University of Sydney experts will highlight new treatments and share insights that are changing people’s lives for the better, especially for those experiencing pain linked to chronic diseases such as arthritis, cancer, injuries, and brain disorders. Held as part of the Sydney Ideas program on 10 May, 2017 http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/health_forums_2017.shtml

With an audience of over 180 million viewers each year, the Eurovision Song contest is one of the longest running and most watched television events in the world. Since its inception in 1956 it has been used as a vehicle to unite Europe, but throughout its history Eurovision has also highlighted deep divisions in the European project. With this year’s theme ‘celebrate diversity’, politics threatens to loom larger than ever. Will Brexit mean ‘nul points’ for the United Kingdom? Will tensions between Russia and this year’s host country, the Ukraine, derail the contest? Has Eurovision contributed to the rise of populism? Why exactly is Australia competing? Anika Gauja and Julia Zemiro take us behind the glitter and glamour to reveal what Eurovision can teach us about identity, power and conflict in Europe today. Presented by Sydney Ideas on 9 May 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/eurovision_european_project_forum.shtml

From 1799 to 1804 Alexander von Humboldt made an extraordinary trip through Spanish America, a trip that resulted in a scientific and an aesthetic vision of the terrestrial globe. Fascinated by the exuberant vegetation and wildlife he encountered in the tropics, he investigated how they varied with the specific physical conditions of different regions. Humboldt carried with him an impressive array of the latest scientific instruments that he used to measure the physical parameters of the environments through which he travelled. He also regarded his own body as an instrument through which to register these varying conditions, recording his own sensations alongside the readings of his physical apparatus. These corporeal perceptions were further tied to his aesthetic perceptions as a part of a cultivated sensibility. Physical instruments, bodily sensations and aesthetic perceptions together afforded total views of regions of the Earth, of the interplay of physical powers and landscapes, and of their characteristic vegetation and even peoples. Upon his return to Europe, Humboldt set out his views of nature in graphs, maps and illustrations as well as in written works. These visual representations can be regarded as figural instruments through which Humboldt depicted his views of nature. SPEAKER: Joan Steigerwald is Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities, and the Graduate Programs in Humanities, Science and Technology Studies, and Social and Political Thought, at York University. She has published numerous articles on Goethe, Humboldt, Kant, Schelling and the German life sciences. She has just completed a book entitled Experimenting at the Boundaries of Life: Organic Vitality in Germany around 1800. Her new project is Object Lessons of a Romantic Natural History. Presented by Sydney Ideas on 3 May 2017 http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/assoc_professor_joan_steigerwald.shtml