Events

From the personal to the political: Understanding the impacts of colonialism through story telling

Flinders University City Campus Festival Tower, Station Rd, Adelaide, SA, Australia

Flinders University

You are warmly invited to an expert panel event led by JBC’s Professor Marinella Marmo to explore the enduring legacy of colonialism through personal experience and political reflection. The seminar is anchored in The Chosen Son, Professor Leanne Weber’s deeply moving account of the forced removal of her Aboriginal foster brother, Len, in the late 1950s and his subsequent placement in her Adelaide family. Building from this intimate narrative, the discussion will provide a timely platform to critically examine how contemporary laws, policies, and practices, both at State and Federal levels, continue to shape the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Free

Join Us for Lunch: Education with Deepfakes, Hallucinations, and Smartglasses

Victoria University Level 14, Room T1416, 370 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Bring your lunch and your curiosity to this provocative, hands-on session designed for educators, researchers, students, and policymakers. Education with Deepfakes, Hallucinations, and Smartglasses invites you to engage with real-world scenarios drawn from global conversations about the future of trust, privacy, and truth in education. Handle smartglasses. Watch a deepfake. Debate a hallucinated report. Together, we’ll explore: A fake video of a student using slurs goes viral—how should schools respond? AI-generated feedback misrepresents a teacher’s intent—who’s accountable? A parent secretly live-streams a student interview—what does consent look like now? This interactive, scenario-based event won't tell you what to think, it will ask you what you’d do. Rather than predicting the future, we’ll interrogate it: surfacing tensions around identity, evidence, and power in an age of synthetic media and surveillance. We’d love to see you there. This event is hybrid. For those wanting to join online, a link will be sent closer to the date after registration. Please note, only those that join us physically are in the running to win a pair of Smart Glasses. You can register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/education-with-deepfakes-hallucinations-and-smartglasses-tickets-1555076789539

Free

Panda Diplomacy Revisited: State Interests and Public Emotions

School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney

Existing scholarship on China’s ‘panda diplomacy’ emphasises that it is a highly successful form of modern public diplomacy, whose intended effects are not to impress or placate rulers, but to encourage positive feelings among the publics of the receiving countries. In this paper, we show that it is not just the feelings of receiving publics that matter in panda diplomacy. When a country allows the transfer of an animal that serves as an emotionally potent national symbol, the feelings of the sending public also matter. We examine the recent case of the illness and death of a panda at Memphis Zoo that caused outrage on Chinese social media when disturbing photos of the apparently suffering animal were posted by an American animal rights group. The Chinese state did not join in the nationalist outrage, instead offering a measured response that exonerated the American zoo. While this response helps to maintain panda diplomacy as a tool, public outrage over the treatment of pandas in foreign countries is likely to arise again in the future. The panda is a uniquely vulnerable animal for a national symbol, and its vulnerability reflects an increasing sense of both human and environmental insecurity. About the speakers […]

Free

Can ChatGPT be trusted with our kids?

Virtual , Australia +1 more

Curtin University – Research Engagement & Impact

How does GenAI imagine a child? Or an Australian? And why does it matter? Ask generative AI to show you an image of a child and you’ll get a few standard results. But dig deeper and it will reveal how harmful biases can be baked into the core of these tools. In this insightful talk, Curtin University Professor Tama Leaver unpacks how GenAI tools like Midjourney and ChatGPT imagine children and how already marginalised groups are being overlooked even in our AI world. He’ll be joined later by Dr Suzanne Srdarov in a panel discussion led by Professor Michele Willson exploring the big challenges in using GenAI safely. This session is for anyone curious about AI and children’s digital experiences – from educators, policy makers, digital professionals, and parents and caregivers looking to better understand the cultural and ethical implications of GenAI in children’s lives. If you can’t make it in person, you can join us online. Please note a link to stream the event will be sent to you via email closer to the date. Light refreshments will be provided.

Free

Emerging Research in Social Sciences

Ngumba-Bada Campus (The Cairns Institute). Bldg D3.063, 14-88 McGregor Road, Smithfield, Queensland, Australia

The Cairns Institute at James Cook University

Join us for a dynamic showcase of emerging research by Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students and students across the social sciences or a Masters with a thesis component involving social science research. In short, engaging presentations (3 minutes, 3 slides), presenters will share insights from their current projects—ranging from culture and community to policy, education, and beyond. Whether you're a fellow researcher, student, practitioner, or simply curious about the future of social science, this is a unique opportunity to hear fresh ideas, ask questions, and connect with others passionate about understanding and improving our world. “Emerging research in social science was supported by a Social Sciences Week Spark Grant from the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia”

18th Annual E.L. ‘Ted’ Wheelwright Lecture | Should we abolish universities?

Lecture Theatre 200, Social Sciences Building (A02), The University of Sydney, Science Road

School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney

2025 marks the 50th year of Political Economy at the University of Sydney and the 18th Annual E.L. ‘Ted’ Wheelwright Lecture. Please join us for this most thought-provoking lecture and share in the celebratory milestone. In the last generation there has been heavy criticism of what universities have become, in an era of commercialism and managerial control. This lecture will discuss the main points of criticism, whether they amount to a case for abolition, and what practical processes of abolition are under way. It looks at the prosperity of higher education as a global industry and tries to probe a little into the contradictory situation we are now in: the corrosion of the labour process, the sustainability of the workforce, the appropriation of benefits, and current pressures on critique and truth. Finally, it touches on the history of the sector and some memorable examples of struggle and change. Raewyn Connell is a notorious sociologist, suspected of research on gender relations, ruling classes, masculinities, schools, sexuality, social justice, and the global economy of knowledge. Her books include The Good University; Southern Theory; Masculinities; Gender & Power; Making the Difference; and Ruling Class Ruling Culture. Her most recent book, Trans Lives, will be published in 2026. Her work has been translated into 24 languages […]

Cremation: A social, cultural and religious development conundrum in Samoa

Virtual , Australia

Charles Sturt University

Keynote for the Oceania and Indigenous Trans-national Methods and Practices Symposium held in Orange, September 11-12th. Convened by the Oceania and Global Indigenous Research Hub, Charles Sturt University. Follow the website link below to register your attendance. A Zoom link will be sent to your registered email address so you can join online. Contact Holly Randell-Moon hrandell-moon@csu.edu.au or Nick Ruddell nruddell@csu.edu.au for more information

Free

Becoming a Speaker and Teacher of South Saami: Language Teacher Identity, Silencing and Language Reclamation

Virtual , Australia

Charles Sturt University

David Kroik, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education and Arts, Nord University Keynote for the Oceania and Indigenous Trans-national Methods and Practices Symposium held in Orange, September 11-12th. Convened by the Oceania and Global Indigenous Research Hub, Charles Sturt University. Contact Holly Randell-Moon and Nick Ruddell: hrandell-moon@csu.edu.au and nruddell@csu.edu.au

Free

Fatugātiti in Practice: Weaving Pacific Conversations Across Borders

Virtual , Australia

Charles Sturt University

Dr. Honiara Salanoa Amosa, Head of Department and Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication at the Faculty of Arts, National University of Samoa Keynote for the Oceania and Indigenous Trans-national Methods and Practices Symposium held in Orange, September 11-12th. Convened by the Oceania and Global Indigenous Research Hub, Charles Sturt University. Contact Holly Randell-Moon and Nick Ruddell: hrandell-moon@csu.edu.au and nruddell@csu.edu.au

Free