2017

More than 40 University of Sydney staff and alumni will join the stellar line-up of guests to speak at this year's Sydney Writers' Festival.

Associate Professor Matthew Todd promotes online, open source drug research where anyone can contribute to creating molecules that might one day treat conditions like Ebola and Zika virus. Here, he gives us a tour of his desk.

Shila Ghazanfar works in the evolving field of statistical bioinformatics which looks for genetic relationships that might give new insights into diseases like cancer. She loves her work. She also loves a few other things.

A tsunami of change is already arriving. Artificial intelligence is now capable of doing desk jobs that were previously safe from automation. The social and economic effects remain to be seen, but is AI what we think it is?

Ranjit Voola has a message for big business. The future belongs to the companies that rethink their single-minded drive for profit, and instead look to developing countries for opportunities to make money, while improving peoples' lives.

A contagious cancer is threatening to wipe out the Tasmanian devil. A big problem is that the devils are all so genetically similar. Breeding programs and genome mapping are underway, and there have already been surprises.

When it was planted in 1928, no-one could have known that the small, jacaranda sapling in a corner of the Quadrangle would become one of the most beautiful and beloved parts of the University campus.

It's often called the bionic ear, but Professor Graeme Clark first thought of it as the cochlear implant. His invention has now been changing the lives of deaf people for decades, but it faced strong, early opposition from the medical establishment.

She used to be an engineer talking to machines. Now Olivia Wellesley-Cole is an aid worker talking to relief organisations, governments and some of the most disadvantaged people in the world. The work can be confronting, but it matters.

Donna Loughran is a school principal and one of the most successful and respected teachers in NSW. An unlikely outcome for someone who used to habitually skip school to work in a shop, and failed her year 10 exams.

The lack of moon missions doesn't mean space exploration has been standing still. University people are currently involved in everything from deploying satellites, to developing rocket engines for missions to Mars, and finding extra-terrestrial life.

From Mt Isa to the Daintree, Palm Island to Sydney, Wilo Muwadda has seen some difficult times, but he has always been defined by his determination and his achievements. He's now pursuing a new goal and taking on new challenges.

New research into the human gut and its trillions of inhabitants could undo some of the confusion around healthy eating and address a surprising range of the modern world's most difficult medical conditions.

University of Sydney researchers discuss how we can protect and promote health in the face of climate change.

Economists studied a dataset which follows 4,000 households to understand how household indebtedness changed between 2002 and 2014.    

Music brings together two ancient Indigenous cultures from Australia and China in a rare concert at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Every year the Alumni Awards event is held in the historic Great Hall to honour outstanding recent graduates and more established alumni who have been leaders and innovators in their work in Australia and internationally. 

Harvard names a University of Sydney expert Chair in Australian Studies for a third consecutive year.