11 am-12:30 pm, Monday 8 September, 2025. 

Learn more and register to attend this hybrid event.

Young people are facing overlapping challenges—from mental health struggles to economic instability, climate anxiety, and rapid tech change. This panel will examine the state of young people’s health and also speak to what it looks like to truly support, value and engage with young people.

Speakers:

• Associate Professor Benjamin Hanckel, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University
• Dr Indigo Willing, Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Centre, University of Sydney
• Dr Imogen Harper, Post Doctoral Research Associate, Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies and Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney
• Dr Monique McKenzie,Post Doctoral Research Associate, School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Sydney
• Georgia Monaghan, Co-Founder Ecomind
• Chair – Dr Zoe Hogan, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies at The University of Sydney

5-6:30 pm, Tuesday 9 September, 2025

Please register to attend

Explore the emotional power and political nuance of China’s panda diplomacy in this thought-provoking event, revealing how these beloved animals shape international relations and stir public sentiment across borders.

Speakers: 

• Associate Professor David Smith,University of Sydney
• Dr Minglu Chen, University of Sydney

12-1 pm, Wednesday 10 September, 2025

Please register to attend

Discover how social sciences can transform food systems research by shifting the focus from ‘harm by design’ to ‘health by design’, through interdisciplinary insights into the social life of food and nourishment.

Speaker: 

• Dr Juliet Bennett, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies and the Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney

5-7:30 pm, Wednesday 10 September, 2025.

Please register to attend

Please join us for the 18th Annual E.L. 'Ted' Wheelwright Lecture. Should we abolish universities? will be a provocative lecture that challenges the modern university—exploring its global rise, internal contradictions, and the radical movements calling for its reinvention or even abolition.

Speaker:

Raewyn Connell is a notorious sociologist, suspected of research on gender relations, ruling classes, masculinities, schools, sexuality, social justice, and the global economy of knowledge.