If you have a difficult problem to solve, ask a social scientist!

Why aren’t women politicians given senior roles in government? Are the spaces below our feet really terra nullius and if they are not, what’s down there? And, why are political scientists so resistant to talking about animals and how they fit into our political systems?
 
Hosted by Associate Professor Siobhan O’Sullivan and featuring 10 academics from UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture, this new podcast series will address all these issues and more.

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Episode 1 // Claire Annesley

Professor Claire Annesley’s research and teaching expertise includes comparative politics, executives, gender equality, political representation and public policy.  She has received numerous accolades for her research on gender politics and policy, including being awarded the 2011 Richard Rose Prize by the Political Studies Association, the 2011 Carrie Chapman Catt Prize by Iowa State University, the 2012 Public Policy Section Prize by the American Political Science Association and the 2016 Johan Skytte manuscript award by Uppsala University. While at Sussex, Claire was awarded the University’s 'Outstanding and Innovative Undergraduate Teaching Prize’ in 2016 and 2017, as nominated by students.

Claire’s latest book Cabinet, Ministers and Gender with co-authors Karen Beckwith (Case Western Reserve) and Susan Franceschet (Calgary) (2019, Oxford University Press), explains why historically women have been underrepresented in cabinet across seven democracies and why this is now changing.  She has written several articles that explore gender equality and political representation of women in British politics.  Claire has also contributed to media discussion on gender and politics and the impact of austerity on women, in particular on BBC Radio Four's Woman's Hour, BBC One's The Big Questions, The Washington Post and The Conversation, to name just a few.

Claire is a Professor of Politics and, prior to joining UNSW as Dean, Arts & Social Sciences, she was Head of Politics and Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor (Equalities and Diversity) at the University of Sussex (2015 – 2020), before which Claire was based at the University of Manchester (2000-15) where she was Assistant Dean for Research in the Faculty of Humanities and Director of Research in the School of Social Sciences.

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Credits:
Theme music is 'Please Don't Turn Away', written by Elizabeth Usher and released by MC Pony.

Ask a Social Scientist Podcast Episode 1 Professor Claire Annesley

Music:  Brendon John Warner
Script:  Brad Hall
Producer: Lee Henderson
Narration:  Chris Turney
Audio Engineer/mixing:  Martin Jamieson
additional Production: Zoe Thomas

Blending real audio samples from the Antarctic and a haunting four-part composition, come on a voyage to the southern continent. Starting at Hobart, the gateway to Antarctica, we set out on a journey across the Southern Ocean to Antarctica and share the beauty, the often-ferocious conditions, and the majestic wildlife we encounter on the way. The final fourth movement is a call for action, on how we can limit the impact of climate change on this precious environment.

‘We would like to give a huge thanks to the following amazing people and organisations that helped support this project, including through the provision of wonderful audio from the Antarctic. A particular massive thanks to Jackie Randles (NSW Science Week), Simon Drake (National Film and Sound Archive), Professor Tracey Rogers (University of New South Wales) and Tim Hewette (Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions). This composition was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant (DP210103621). Some of the ‘Icescapes’ we recorded by Philip Samartzis in the Southern Ocean and Eastern Antarctica in 2010 and 2016; Philip would like to acknowledge the support of The Australian Antarctic Division, The Australia Council for the Arts, The Bogong Centre for Sound Culture, Creative Victoria, The National Gallery of Victoria, and the School of Art at RMIT University. 
 
If you would like to learn more about our work in the Antarctic, please visit www.intrepidscience.com.’

Sounds From The Ice

Gino Vumbaca, President and Co-Founder of Harm Reduction Australia, sits down in the lounge with Carla and Annie to discuss justice reinvestment, starting Harm Reduction Australia and pushing to get pill-testing on the Australian music festival road map.

For more info: https://www.unsw.edu.au/research/csrh/our-projects/speakeasy-podcast

SpeakEasy S2 Ep7: Gino Vumbaca: If you stop, [the penny] will never drop

An investigative journalist stumbles upon a seemingly unsolvable mystery. As the clues start to unravel, the mystery behind the Swedish company deepens, and the value of truth will finally be settled.

Produced by Tom Hogan

Applesperial

90% Duck

This 17-minute song cycle centers around ‘Huddling Place’. This is a story within the larger collection by Clifford D. Simak, City (1952). This sci-fi epic charts the collapse of human civilization, through the stories that dogs and robots tell of an Earth that has been long abandoned by humankind.

Huddling Place follows the protagonist, Jerome Webster, in a distant future where humans have colonised Mars, and life is made effortless through the creation of advanced artificial intelligence. The humans co-exist with the intelligent Martians and even study Martian physiology. Webster is an accomplished surgeon who (like many left on Earth) suffers from agoraphobia, an anxiety disorder characterized by an anxious response to situations and environments that are perceived as unsafe. Webster learns that his Martian friend, Juwain, has contracted a deadly illness that only he can treat, although his agoraphobia makes a trip to Mars nearly impossible. Juwain is a brilliant philosopher and on the brink of articulating a new philosophy that will transform both Human and Martian civilizations. Despite all odds, Webster packs for the trip. Within the final lines of the story, it is found that the servant robot Jenkins, not understanding the stakes, had dismissed the spaceship meant to transport. The reader is made to understand that Webster probably could not brace himself again for departure, and so Juwain would certainly die.

Th four sections draw inspiration from wavesynth, RNB, orchestral, and industrial acid house. The piece aims to create an atmosphere that portrays the emotion of the book as a whole, reminiscent of Jeff Wayne’s 1978 Musical Edition of The War of The Worlds. In its entirety, Huddling Place serves to illustrate Webster’s wide array of emotions through its many genres.

Credits:

This was made during lockdown measures in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, as part of the Sound Lab Ensemble, UNSW. All music by the artists, with additional processing by Adam Hulbert.

Cover art by Tara Lawson and Daniel Rispler

SpeakEasy S2 Ep7: Gino Vumbaca: If you stop, [the penny] will never drop

UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture

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