Big Ideas

Many of you are involved in a charity: Handing out meals to homeless people, caring for surrendered animals in a shelter, organising soccer games to keep the youth in the neighbourhood on the straight and narrow. But are you sure that your charity is putting the time and also the money that you give up to good use? What makes a charity successful? And how can you future-prove them?

Grace is a hard word to define, but in her latest book, author, journalist and broadcaster Julia Baird explores the concept, and how finding and nurturing it in each other – and ourselves - can help us through dark times. 

When governments say they can't afford to fix climate change or lift kids out of poverty are they speaking the truth? American economist Stephanie Kelton challenges economic orthodoxy in her book The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People's Economy. She joins Natasha Mitchell in conversation at this 2024 National Sustainability Festival event.

Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world's foremost experts on trauma, discusses his pioneering research into traumatic stress and its impact on our brains and bodies. Traumatised people experience incomprehensible anxiety, numbing and intolerable rage. Trauma affects their capacity to concentrate, to remember, to form trusting relationships, and even to feel at home in their own bodies. And he explains promising treatments, including neurofeedback, psychedelic therapy, psychodrama … and dance.

Different generations agree that youth mental health is in decline, but disagree about the causes. We explore generational attitudes to the economic and social drivers of mental ill-health in young people.

Liberalism isn't just a political philosophy but the basis of a truly meaningful life. That's the bold statement of philosopher Alexandre Lefebvre, author of the forthcoming book Liberalism As A Way of Life. Should individuals be free to pursue their own passions and interests in life? Does liberalism mean more than freedom of speech and small government? You might not identify as a liberal, but are we in fact all liberals at heart?

Quantum computing is all about physics, but for those looking to pioneer and revolutionise science, there are certain human qualities needed as well. That is the topic of these final two Boyer Lectures with a global leader in the field of quantum computing, Professor Michelle Simmons.

Imagine a machine with more power than all the computers in the world combined. This is the promise of quantum computing. In these 2023 Boyer Lectures, Professor Michelle Simmons explains why building a machine that operates at the scale of atoms has the potential to revolutionise society, and why Australia is at the forefront of the global race to develop the first one. 

The US has claimed that it has “no greater ally than Australia”, but with the stability of its democracy in question, what are the risks, and the rewards, of waltzing in step with the world’s greatest superpower? 

Hear from four “many worlds travellers” who have visited parallel worlds to explore themes of Indigenous rights, disability, gender and the climate crisis, to show us that a different way is within reach.