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Podcasts and past events
Tune in to Sydney Ideas
We record most of our events so you can listen to them on Soundcloud and iTunes. Check out some of our top picks from 2017, and playlists of our popular series.
Podcasts from our 2018 events
What is the position of the translator as cultural mediator?
- In this podcast, our panel of distinguished scholars explores the significance of translation, its impact on encounters between people, and its contribution to social cohesion, especially in multicultural and multi-faith societies like Australia. Listen on Soundcloud.
Is there a cure for ageing?
- Although we're living longer, advancing age is a major risk factor for serious diseases, including cancer and dementia. Listen on Soundcloud.
Learning as design and performative action: symbolic technologies and challenges for education in digital societies
- The University of Gothenburg's Professor Roger Saljo argues learning as we know it is currently changing in nature to a focus on learning as design in the Education and Social Work Dean’s Lecture Series. Listen on Soundcloud.
Engaged anthropology, collaborative research and the Atikamekw First Nation
- Professor Sylvie Poirier reflects on her trajectory of engagement and collaborative research with the Atikamekw First Nation (north-central Quebec, Canada). Listen on Soundcloud.
Strange physics: drones, artificial intelligence and quantum computers
- Our panel of experts discuss strange physics, world politics and the future of humanity. This event will soon be available as a podcast. Listen on Soundcloud.
Cities and Citizenship
- Five of the world’s top scholars speak on the question of why citizen activism is an essential ingredient for reviving democratic practice, at a time when civic voices appear under threat.
Urban farming: feeding the future
- Canadian writer and urban geographer, Dr Lenore Newman joins some of the passionate people working on the frontline of urban agriculture to discuss how farms can be integrated into the urban economic and ecological system. Listen on Soundcloud.
Same-sex marriage and the state: global perspectives
- Having just recently co-edited Palgrave’s book, Global Perspectives on Same Sex Marriage: A Neo Institutional Approach, Bronwyn Winter is coming together with Maxime Forest to discuss the different factors impacting on state adoption or refusal of same-sex marriage laws. Listen on Soundcloud.
Fearless: empowering women around the world
- This International Women’s Day panel brought together six exceptional female academics whose work truly embodies the 2018 UN Women’s theme: Leave no woman behind.
Working the past: Aboriginal Australia and psychiatry
- How do we come to grips with the past, and how do we do so in just ways? What can apology and other forms of recognition achieve? What can we learn from other projects of apology and recognition? Listen on Soundcloud.
Expanding cities: how urban planning can help improve our health
- Lucy Turnbull AO, Commissioner for Greater Sydney joins our panel of experts in urban planning and public health policy to discuss the latest research, and health impacts of Sydney's changing city structure.
Outrage: The Psychic Life of Trump's America
- Outrage. Is it an affect? An agency? A meme? Professor Robyn Wiegman attempts to decide whether outrage offers political instruction or if it's an instrument of democratic destruction. Listen on Soundcloud.
Interlocutors in the archive: Aboriginal women and the collection of anthropological data
- Ngarigu woman Professor Jakelin Troy discusses intimate details of the lives, language and knowledge of the Aboriginal women she has discovered among the anthropological archives. Listen on Soundcloud.
Best podcasts of 2017
From robots, ecological democracy, and gravitational waves, to the politics of Eurovision, pop-up justice and the latest discoveries at Pompeii, in 2017 we brought you ideas from more than 100 speakers from 27 countries.
We make most of them available on Soundcloud and iTunes, and we've also collated some of our most popular podcasts from 2017 below.
- Glenn Greenwald
Renowned US journalist who worked with Edward Snowden and wikileaks discusses the role of journalism in exposing the lies and deceit of the world's most powerful actors. Listen now
- Climate Change in the Age of Trump
World-renowned climate scientist Professor Michael Mann provides a somewhat light-hearted take on a very serious issue. Based on his recent collaboration with Washington Post editorial cartoonist Tom Toles, Mann reflects on the inability of political leadership to respond to the climate crisis, but also suggests reasons for cautious optimism. Listen now
- The Fiction of Memory
Given that false memories are so readily planted in the mind, do we need to think about ‘regulating’ this mind technology? The distinguished Professor of Psychology and Social Behavior Elizabeth Loftus charts the consequences of false memories on later thoughts and behaviours. Listen now
- Mental Health and Technology
Experts from our Brain and Mind Centre join Director of the Cundill Centre for Child and Youth Depression, Professor Peter Szatmari, to discuss why are apps so addictive and whether technology could be used to improve mental health. Listen now
- Black Lives Matter
The 2017 Sydney Peace Prize winners join the ABC's Stan Grant for an intimate conversation about the future of black lives under (and after) President Trump, and what lessons Australians can learn from the American experience. Listen now
- Gideon Levy
One of Israel’s most outspoken journalists gives a candid talk on what he sees as Israeli's moral blindness. Listen now
- Health Hacks
Our panel of experts demystify some of today's popular health 'tips' and share insights that will help us keep our bodies and minds healthy as we age. Listen now
- Women in Politics
Will Hillary Clinton's loss discourage or motivate women to become more politically engaged? US polling expert Anna Greenberg joins ABC Radio National’s Geraldine Doogue to chart a way forward for women in politics in both the United States and Australia. Listen now
- El Chigüire Bipolar and The Chaser
How do you satirise the already ridiculous? Hear from the makers of Venezuela's leading satirical news site El Chiguire Bipolar as they discuss the politics of satire and freedom of speech with The Chaser. Listen now
- Sleep: the new health frontier
Planning on having a good night’s sleep this summer break? Find out why sleep is so important and how it can combat diet fails, foster mental health, and prevent dementia as Professor Allan Pack describes a clock-like mechanism in our body. Listen now