Dr Alan Finkel AC wants to be remembered as evidence-based, having integrity, and delivering impact. With a career spanning neuroscience, engineering, entrepreneurship, and policy, Alan has eclectic leadership stories and unique insights into collaboration, resilience, and problem-solving. In the third instalment of the 2024 John Monash Series sponsored by BHP, Alan sits down with May Samali (2014 NSW Premier's John Monash Scholar) at Monash University on August 1 to discuss leadership during technological innovation, uncertainty and conflict.

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Good artwork is not about answering questions but asking them: What is our relationship with nature? With each other? How can we re-imagine our shared history?

The quality of contemporary art emerging from Australia is globally influential, calling upon cultural leaders, institutions, and thinkers to champion one another and elevate collective impact. As the first artist to receive the Australian Cultural John Monash Scholarship, Dr Fernando do Campo has spent much time cultivating his curiosity for untold stories and the questions they reveal about identity, the past, and human nature. As an avid bird watcher, lover of long walks, and Taronga Zoo patriot, Fernando shares some of the experimental ways he generates his creativity and the leadership role he believes the Australian art sector plays on both a national and global level.

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Having worked in Hong Kong during the early years of China’s reform and opening as a government representative in Taipei, Ambassador to China, and Deputy High Commissioner in London, Her Excellency the Hon. Frances Adamson AC is not short of incredible stories and leadership wisdom. Now the 36th Governor of South Australia, she is joined by 2015 Woodside John Monash Scholar Tom Williams at Flinders University in Adelaide to retell some of her experiences and share the lessons she has learned during this time. From channelling her anger, knowing how and when to speak from the heart, and empowering others to be their best, Her Excellency offers an invaluable collection of insights on leadership, family, and life-long impact.

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The typical waitlist for a child to access specialist public health services in rural and remote Australia is roughly four years. There are only two speech pathologists in the whole of Australia who work in Aboriginal medical services. With the NDIS opening the floodgates to more and more families needing allied health support, this unmet demand appears to be growing and is unlikely to diminish soon.

Enter Rebecca Keeley, 2022 Tim Fischer John Monash Scholar, speech pathologist, rural health care advocate, and now a tech entrepreneur. Rebecca is the Founder & CEO of Yarn Speech, a startup helping to make basic speech pathology principles more accessible for children and their carers. 

Yarn Speech has already caused a stir on the cusp of its official launch. The product is hotly anticipated by families increasingly desperate to access support and is backed by local clinicians nationwide. Rebecca was recently awarded the NSW/ACT AgriFutures Australia Rural Women's Award for her work at Yarn Speech.

In this episode, we discuss with Rebecca the experiences that have inspired her to tackle the problem head-on, and the challenges she’s had to navigate.

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How can leadership keep up during a radical era of environmental, technological, and social change? What does revolutionary leadership mean, and why does Australia fall behind it? 

In our first of five conversations with eminent Australian leaders, 2013 BHP John Monash Scholar Jillian Kilby speaks to Andrew N. Liveris AO on some of his career's most pivotal challenges and the decisions that helped him to overcome them. Andrew is an expert on leadership through times of disruption and unafraid of opposition. As the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dow Chemical Company and current President of the Board of the Brisbane Organising Committee for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, he sheds light on how he has weathered backlash and embraced crisis to enact powerful economic and organizational and political change.  

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In 1997, a backpacking trip from Bali to Lombok threw Jacqui Baker, then 19, and her friends straight into the heady world of Indonesian politics, setting her on a career-long journey toward understanding more about this incredible archipelago.

Jacqui's countless experiences across the country have been nothing short of extraordinary - from hanging with jihadists to hearing songs of revolution - and the country’s kaleidoscope of perspectives makes this nation so incredible.

We speak with Dr Jacqui Baker, a 2004 John Monash Scholar, about what makes Indonesia special and how Australia should support its social and political stability. Jacqui is a lecturer in Southeast Asian Studies at Murdoch University, where she is President of the Indonesia Council. She is also an editor at the Journal for Southeast Asian Studies and host of the podcast Talking Indonesia.

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Synthetic biology has changed how we live, from genetically modified food to insulin production and engineered mosquitos. This science shrinks traditional engineering to the nanometre, tailoring life from inside a cell.

Can we engineer bacteria to remove waste products from our environment and reverse the effects of climate change? Will the future of meat be from within a lab? Can we create new kinds of cells that live within the human body, changing their colour to notify us of disease?

We join Professor Harrison Steel (2016 Roden Cutler NSW John Monash Scholar) from the University of Oxford to discuss how he combines robotic technologies with biological engineering to tackle the world's challenges. At the forefront of scientific possibility, Harrison reflects on which hurdles may prevent a billion-dollar investment and the necessary ethical questions arising when we try to re-design life.

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What is the School of Cybernetics, and why has it become an engine for innovation? What does history tell us about how robotics will affect society in the future? How can we generate more conversation between policymakers, engineers, and businesses? 

Professor Katherine Daniell (2005 John Monash Scholar) joins us to explain how and why she established the Australian National University's School of Cybernetics Masters Program, the first and only program of its kind it's in the world and the first new School at ANU in nearly half a century, in only five weeks. 

Katherine's expertise spans engineering, computing, French, and policy. As an academic, she believes in teaching students to think about cultures, perspectives, and values beyond the scope conventionally provided for them within our sectored economy. For Katherine, changing the world will require us to improve how we work with people different from ourselves and embrace an emerging movement that recognizes the urgency for cross-sector expertise that dips into unique ideas and solutions. 

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Why do men seem to dominate the math lecture hall at a tertiary level? Why are Australian classrooms continuing to lose math students? What is mathematical communication and how might it boost math skills among Australia’s marginalised populations?  

Georgina Ryan (2024 Commonwealth Bank John Monash Scholar) joins Justin Kelly to discuss the reasons behind Australia’s dropping math capabilities, and what solutions may be available at a system level. Georgina shares why she believes mathematical skills are critical for our future, and her vision for advancing the country's capacity to harness and translate our knowledge.  

Georgina will undertake her D.Phil in mathematics at the University of Oxford this year and is passionate about pursuing the field of continuum mechanics - an area studied by only a handful of researchers in Melbourne.   

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What is sustainable finance and how is it changing the investment landscape? Who are some of the biggest hidden players of carbon emissions, and why aren’t we talking about them? 

Join Dr Arjuna Dibley (2016 Woodside John Monash Scholar) and host Justin Kelly as they explore what it means to put a price on climate change and the creative ways policymakers are shifting incentives.  

Arjuna is the Head of the Sustainable Finance Hub at Melbourne Climate Futures and leads a new initiative leveraging research and partnerships to mobilize public and private finance for addressing the climate crisis. He reflects on some of the greatest social challenges faced in curbing global emissions, including the need for enlivened climate optimism to enact cultural change.   

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