Sydney Ideas

Young people aged 12–25 are the highest at-risk group for experiencing mental health problems. They are also the group most likely to look for help and support online. Using the internet for social networking is their haven – but is it safe, reliable and helpful? Andrew Campbell from the University of Sydney Faculty of Health Sciences and Tracy Adams from Boystown discuss the issue. A Sydney Ideas talk on 10 September, 2014 http://whatson.sydney.edu.au/events/archived/sydney-ideas-dr-andrew-campbell

An expert panel on 'War, Death and Memory' with leading Australian historians explores consequences of the Great War on individual lives and the national psyche. The panel discussion marked the launch of the new University of Sydney 'BEYOND 1914' website, an interactive biographical database of students, staff and alumni who served in the First World War. Panellists: Joy Damousi, Professor of History University of Melbourne; Professor Stephen Garton, Provost and Deputy Chancellor University of Sydney; Associate Professor Julia Horne, the University Historian and co-organiser of 'Beyond 1914 – The University of Sydney and the Great War'; Brad Manera, Executive Manager of the ANZAC Memorial, Hyde Park; Assoc Professor Mark McKenna, ARC Future Fellow in the Department of History University of Sydney; Kerry Neale, Curator at the Australian War Memorial; Dr Tamson Pietsch, ARC DECRA Fellow in School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry University of Sydney. For more info and speaker's biography see this page: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2014/beyond_1914_forum.shtml

Professor Raewyn Connell from the University of Sydney Faculty of Education and Social Work) gives her ‘last lecture’ celebrating 43 years of groundbreaking teaching and research, and a body of work that has reshaped the study of sociology. Professor Connell is a recipient of the American Sociological Association's award for distinguished contribution to the study of sex and gender, and of the Australian Sociological Association's award for distinguished service to sociology in Australia. Her teaching fields have included general sociology, social theory, sociology of education, gender relations, sexuality, and research methods. A Sydney Ideas talk on 5 September, 2014 http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2014/professor_raewyn_connell.shtml

How do different forms of urban life get ‘under our skin’ shaping our bodies, souls and mental states? Prominent British sociologist Nikolas Rose considers some recent work in the neurosciences and its potential to revitalize sociology of urban experience. A Sydney Ideas talk on 26 August, 2014: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2014/professor_nikolas_rose.shtml

In January 2011 Egyptian people took to the streets demanding the fall of a corrupt and authoritarian regime. A revolutionary movement including women and men from different generations, social backgrounds, and diverse political and religious affiliations joined forces to ask for freedom, dignity and social justice. More than three years on from this epochal moment, what are the main challenges that face the politicians, civil society, and the international community? H.A. Hellyer, Brookings Institute, Anthony Bubalo, Lowy Institute, and Lucia Sorbera, University of Sydney share their views, personal experiences and expertise on the present and future of the region. They speak with award-winning Middle East correspondent David Hardaker. The inaugural event in the lecture series 'A Continuing Spring: Arab and Australian views on social justice, equal economic development and cultures of freedom’. For more info and speaker's biography see this page: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2014/egypt_2011_2014_forum.shtml

Author Tara Moss on molded gender narratives, toxic silences, and damaging stereotypes. In conversation with Professor Elspeth Probyn and a fellow PhD candidate in the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney, Paul Priday. More info: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2014/tara_moss.shtml

Good conversation is a rewarding and important part of social interaction. Professor Leanne Togher from the University of Sydney Faculty of Health Sciences shares her research into teaching people with brain injury the art and science of conversation, and shows how basic principles can benefit all who seek the rewards of satisfying conversation with the people close to them. A Sydney Idea talk 14 May, 2014 http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2014/professor_leanne_togher.shtml

The year 2012 marked the 40th anniversary of UNESCO’s 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. It remains the only international instrument for safeguarding the world’s heritage. Director of the Stanford Archaeology Center, Professor Lyn Meskell asks: how are emergent rights to the past being presented, promoted and prevented by particular actors internationally? One of UNESCO’s millennium challenges was the very issue of sovereignty in an increasingly transnational world and in the face of indigenous claims and rights that often conflict with nation states. For more info and speaker's biography see this page: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2014/professor_lynn_meskell.shtml

What lessons should we draw from the First World War? Professor Glenda Sluga will discuss the war's legacies from the perspective of its end, and the twinned principles on which a new postwar international order was to be established – namely nationality and the League of Nations. Her aim is to understand the relative significance of nationalism and of what contemporaries articulated as a 'new era of internationalism' in the last years of the war and in its wake. For more info and speaker's biography see this page: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2014/professor_glenda_sluga.shtml

Deirdre McCloskey, a well-known economist and historian, was until 1995 known as Donald. She tells her story since then, of happy and unhappy endings–mainly happy–and how becoming a new woman affected her academic work and her spiritual life. A Sydney Ideas talk from 28 November, 2013 http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2013/professor_deirdre_mccloskey.shtml