Big Ideas

He's covered wars, elections and everything in between. But what happens when a hardened foreign correspondent goes looking for a lighter travel story - and comes home changed?

Hear what his road trip to Africa taught him about our shared humanity. This talk was provided by the York Festival of Ideas. The Festival is led by the University of York, UK.

Speakers

Clive MyrieMulti-award-winning journalist, BBC foreign correspondents, host of Mastermind and Clive Myrie's African AdventureAuthor of Everything Is Everything: A Memoir of Love, Hate & Hope

Joan Concannon (host)Director of York Festival of Ideas

A rundown t-shirt factory in Sydney's Surry Hills became the studio and home where Australian artist Brett Whiteley would spend the final years of his life. Now an art gallery, the building has recently reopened after an extensive two-year restoration, with a new exhibition celebrating Whiteley's life and legacy, Coming Home, featuring his artworks and personal items. His former wife, muse and champion, Wendy Whiteley, reflects on the history of the studio, her life with Brett Whiteley, and his artistic practice.

This event was recorded at Brett Whiteley's Studio for Art Gallery of New South Wales on 24 July 2026.

Speakers

Wendy Whiteley Creator of Wendy's Secret Garden, Lavender Bay, artist, and former wife and muse of Brett Whiteley

Wayne Tunnicliffe (host)Director of collections and exhibitions, Art Gallery of New South Wales

Every day, science and technology are being used to enhance the abilities of human beings — helping people hear, walk, see, think and more. But at the extreme end, transhumanism has become an obsession of the rich and powerful: Vladmir Putin wants to live forever, Elon Musk wants to merge your brain with AI, while eugenics has also become popular again. So what are the ethics of transhumanism? Where do we draw the line?

The 2026 Plunkett Lecture for the Plunkett Centre for Ethics was recorded at the Australian Catholic University.

Speakers:

Jason T. EberlHubert Mäder Chair in Bioethics, Professor of Philosophy, and Director of the Albert Gnaegi Center for Bioethics at Saint Louis University

In a world where AI rules, what will it mean to be creative? First Nations poet and author Evelyn Araluen (The Rot, Dropbear) is already self-censoring because of AI theft. The characters in Steve Tolz's new novel A Rising of the Lights find weird ways to sabotage the robots amongst them. Digital safety expert and educator Kirra Pendergast is seeing AI reshape childhood - for better or worse - with an important warning for parents, carers, and educators. This event was organised by the 2026 Byron Writers Festival on Bundjalung Country.

Speakers 

Dr Evelyn Araluen Goorie and Koori poet, editor, educator Stella Prize winning author, Dropbear (2021) and The Rot (2025) Co-editor, Overland literary journal Senior lecturer of Indigenous arts and culture, Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne Steve Tolz Booker Prize nominated author for A Fraction of Whole (2008) Author, A Rising of the Lights (2026) Screenwriter and producer

Kirra Pendergast Digital safety advisor and educator Co-founder, Safe on Social and Crlt/Shift Co-author with Maggie Dent of Digital Freedom: A guide to less screen time for safer, happier and healthier families (2026) 

Thanks to Artistic Director of the Byron Writers Festival Jessica Alice, and team.

In just 32 years, more than 160,000 children were adopted internationally under China's One-Child Policy. About half were sent to the United States — almost all of them were girls.Award-winning journalist Barbara Demick's latest book tells the story of twin sisters who were separated as toddlers, with one adopted by a family in Texas, while the other stayed with her birth family in rural China. This event was recorded live at the 2026 Sydney Writers' Festival at Carriageworks.

Speakers:

Barbara DemickAuthor, Daughters of the Bamboo Grove: From China to America, a True Story of Abduction, Adoption, and Separated Twins, Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea (Baillie Gifford prize-winner) and more

Katrina StricklandSenior Writer, Good Weekend Magazine (Nine Newspapers)

From the fall of Rome to the climate crisis unfolding right now, history shows up a common pattern for how empires rise and fall. And two important factors are humans’ relationship with the natural world, as well as the unequal distribution of power and wealth. What can the wreckage of past civilisations teach us about avoiding our own? 

This event was recorded live at the 2026 Sydney Writers’ Festival at Carriageworks.

Listen to Big Ideas – Why civilisations vanish

Speakers

Amitav Ghosh Indian-born novelist, essayist, and public intellectual

Author of The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis and Wild Fictions

Luke KempResearch Affiliate, Centre for the Study of Existential Ris, University of CambridgeAuthor of Goliath’s Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse

Clare Wright (host)Professor of History and Professor of Public Engagement, La Trobe University and award-winning author

Artificial Intelligence is fundamentally reshaping education and learning in Australian schools, with 80 per cent of students and two thirds of teachers now using AI tools. So how can we take advantage of the technology, and avoid the risks?

This event was recorded at the University of Technology Sydney on 17 June 2026.

Speakers:

Leslie LobleIndustry Professor, University of Technology SydneyChair of the Australian Network for Quality Digital Education, Chair of the Council on Early Childhood Development, Deputy Chair of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment & Reporting AuthorityFormer Deputy Secretary in the NSW Department of EducationAuthor, Artificial intelligence, cognitive offloading and implications for education

Eddie WooHigh school maths teacherLeader of teacher growth for the New South Wales Education DepartmentHost of the popular Youtube channel Wootube Ultimate Classroom (Channel 10), Teenage Boss (ABC ME)Professor of Practice at the School of Education and SocialWwork, University of SydneyAuthor, Woo's Wonderful World of Maths, It's a Numberful World: How math is hiding everywhere and more

If authoritarianism was pressing in, what personal choices would you make to resist? Foreign correspondent Melissa Chan and artist-in-exile Badiucao have collaborated on the gobsmacking new graphic novel You Must Take Part in Revolution. It's set in a dystopian near future. A proto-fascist USA is at war with the full-throttled techno-surveillance state of China, with Taiwan wedged in the middle. Three young characters confront questions of loyalty, legacy, and courage. But for Melissa and Badiucao, their fictional scenario started to feel all to real. They know. They've lived it. They join Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell at their Australian launch event in Naarm/Melbourne.

Speakers

Melissa ChanEmmy nominated Hong Kong-Taiwanese-American foreign correspondentCo-author, You Must Take Part in Revolution (Simon and Schuster Australia, 2026)Former Beijing correspondent with Al Jazeera

BadiucaoChinese-Australian artist-in-exile and activistWalkley-Award-winning cartoonist, The AgeCo-author, You Must Take Part in Revolution (Simon and Schuster Australia, 2026)Winner, Human Rights Foundation's Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent.

Thank to Readings Bookshop events manager Christine Gordon.

Forensics has gripped pop culture for decades. But what’s the reality of this job? From the crime scene to the laboratory, our expert panel examines the evidence, explains the science and reveals how the truth gets uncovered. In the real world, by people who do this work for a living. 

Forensics: The Science of Blood, Body Bags and Biohazards was presented at the World Science Festival Brisbane. The UQ Impact Series is presented in partnership with The University of Queensland.

Speakers 

Inspector Donna StewartQuality Manager of the Queensland Police Service’s Forensic Services Group

Dr Kristen ClarkeSenior Research Officer within the Forensic Services Group at the Queensland Police Service (QPS)

Dr Jack GarlandSpecialist forensic pathologist with Queensland Health

Dr Jeremy WatherstonDeputy Director, Forensic Operations for Forensic Science Queensland

Dr Jonathan Webb (host)Science journalist and broadcaster, Science editor at ABC Radio National

From the blue-collar man, to the professional woman. From the multigenerational Australian born citizen, to a predominantly migrant nation. From the inner city to the suburbs to the bush. Australia has changed. But have our politicians?

This event was recorded at the Hawke Centre at Adelaide University on 20 August 2026.

Speakers:

George MegalogenisPolitical journalist, author, Three Shocks: Who We Are Becoming in the 21st Century, The Australian Moment (winner the 2013 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Non-fiction and the 2012 Walkley Award for Non-fiction), four Quarterly Essays, and more

Tory Shepherd (host)Senior Reporter, Guardian Australia