Necessity is the mother of invention. The supersonic development of several highly-effective COVID-19 vaccines has shown what can be achieved.

So why, despite today’s researchers, clinicians and innovators having so many powerful tools at their disposal, do so many promising breakthroughs take so long to reach the doctors’ consulting rooms?

From the tangible impact of genomics and big data, and the huge potential of personalised medicine, to the creative use of new technology, in this talk world class medical expert – Anushka Patel joins Tegan Taylor to discuss key discoveries, and what the future of medicine could look like for us all.

Presented by the UNSW Centre for Ideas and UNSW Medicine & Health, and supported by Inspiring Australia as a part of National Science Week. 

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Future Medicine I Anushka Patel with Tegan Taylor

Capitalism is in crisis. Inequality is rising and climate change means we need to make drastic changes to the way we do business. The COVID-19 pandemic, too, has exposed numerous flaws in our current systems.  

But is capitalism dead, or can we re-imagine it in a way that will keep society prosperous, promote social justice and re-green our planet? 

As calls for radical change grow, French economist Philippe Aghion believes that we don’t need to throw the baby out with the bath water. He argues it’s possible to create a better capitalism by harnessing the power of creative destruction – the process by which new innovations continually emerge and render existing technologies obsolete. 

Listen to Philippe Aghion in conversation with UNSW economist Richard Holden as they discuss how the transformation of capitalism can achieve a more sustainable and inclusive prosperity, and how this might impact on politics and democracy.

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Creative Destruction | Phillippe Aghion & Richard Holden

Nobel Prize winning psychologist and bestselling author of Thinking, Fast and SlowDaniel Kahneman, joins Ben Newell, Professor of Cognitive Psychology at UNSW Sydney, to discuss his work ahead of the release of his latest book. A psychologist whose work on the foundations of behavioural economics was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics, Daniel Kahneman has had an enormous impact on our understanding of how we think, and the process behind how and why we make good and bad decisions.  

In his new book, Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgement, Kahneman (with Olivier Sibony and Cass Sunstein) explores our susceptibility to ‘noise’ – the random factors and mental distractions that interfere with the judgement and decisions of organisations and individuals. Although we now try to acknowledge the impact of bias, ‘noise’ is even more common, but there is little awareness of it. Can we reduce both noise and bias to make better decisions?

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Daniel Kahneman in conversation

How can we nurture innovation and creativity to rise to the challenges of the 21st century, and allow space for creative thinking? Hear from visionary artist and filmmaker Lynette Wallworth with Sarah Dingle to discuss how they use creative problem solving to meet challenges in their life and work, and explore what creativity means to us all?

Emmy award-winning Australian filmmaker Lynette Wallworth works on the cutting-edge of media technology. In 2016, Wallworth was named one of Foreign Policy magazine’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers. 

Presented by the UNSW Centre for Ideas and the Faculty of Arts, Design & Architecture.

Artwork: Lynette Wallworth, Coral: Rekindling Venus, 2012

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On Creativity I Lynette Wallworth with Sarah Dingle

The age of zero carbon is coming, but the question remains: will it be fast enough to mitigate the worst impacts of the climate crisis?  

While politics in Australia is still struggling to accept this much needed energy shift, there is cause for hope when we look to our fast-moving industry leaders, researchers and innovators. The pace at which things are changing is genuinely jaw-dropping. There is the plummeting cost of solar power, which has happened decades ahead of previous estimates; a similar trajectory now forecast in the wind power and battery storage fields; and the view of hydrogen on the horizon. And in all these things, investors are voting with their money. But is the hype getting ahead of the science and technology? What are the big-ticket items that could hasten a zero carbon future? What are the risks and rewards of this new age?  

Join passionate expert Justine Jarvinen for a discussion with Sarah Dingle where they seek to answer these questions and more. 

Presented by the UNSW Centre for Ideas and UNSW Engineering, and supported by Inspiring Australia as a part of National Science Week.

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Zero Carbon World I Justine Jarvinen with Sarah Dingle

While many of us (sorry Melbourne) spent 2020 believing we had escaped the worst of the pandemic, 2021 brought forth the ugly reality of living with the virus. Even as the nation returns to something that feels like normal, beneath the thrill of gigs, gatherings and barista coffee, it’s clear the pandemic has changed the picture for good.   

We’ve seen our governments and fellow citizens succeed at some things, fail badly at others, and discovered who ‘essential’ workers really are. After two years of arguing about how to ‘balance’ public health and the economy, what have we actually learned?  

Chaired by author and broadcaster Benjamin Law and featuring economist Richard Holden and business leader and CEO Sam Mostyn, this talk explores how the last two years have challenged our health systems, and shown us what went missing as we globalised our economy.   

What will happen as fortress Australia wakes up from the COVID spell? 

The Reckoning is presented by the UNSW Centre for Ideas and Sydney Festival. UNSW Sydney is the Education Partner of the 2022 Sydney Festival. 

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The Reckoning | The Price of COVID

An initiative of UNSW Sydney, the Centre for Ideas is a thought-provoking program of events and digital content from the globe's leading thinkers, authors and artists.