Help shape the SXSW Sydney you want to see this October

Sydney is once again hosting the Asia-Pacific edition of South by Southwest (SXSW) festival this October 13-19. The weeklong celebration of creativity and innovation will take place across the city and surrounds.

SXSW has always been about community and collaboration – and it’s in this spirit, you’re invited to be involved. Help shape the program into one you’d like to see by voting.

A number of proposals have come from the university community so we encourage you to support peers and colleagues. You can do so by voting, and inviting others to vote as well.

How to vote

Visit the SXSW Sydney Voting page to cast your vote. No sign-ups required. We've made it easy and listed all the submissions from the University community below so follow the links to the session proposals. 

• A new bottom line: It's time to radically reframe the 'return on design' for social good – Ledia Andrawes (School of Architecture, Design and Planning)
• Breaking up with the GDP: The degrowth path to well-being – Mengyu Li (Faculty of Science) and Manfred Lenzen (Charles Perkins Centre)
• Building brains outside the body: what comes next? – Henry Howard (Faculty of Engineering)
• How do we know we're doing it right? AI's workforce transformation – Rae Cooper (Business School)
• How to make confident decisions in a complex AI-driven world: Adapting to new innovations with purpose - not panic – Gaia Grant (Business School)
• Of rams and reason: What sheep sperm taught us about outsmarting AI – Mike Seymour (Business School) and Katherine Seymour (Animal Reproductive Group)
• Projects of future - how can project managers address global grand challenges – Nader Naderpajouh (Faculty of Engineering)
• Reimagining business education: the digital revolution, ethical leadership & the future of learning – Lilia Mantai (Business School)
• The 2026 Skills Horizon: Everything you need to know next – Sandra Peter and Kai Riemer (Business School)
• The architecture of curiosity - a new blueprint for learning that is creative, social and radically inclusive – Rebekah Wong and Guilia Baracchini (Brain and Mind Centre)
• The Physicist's mind: What AI can't learn and why it matters – Benjamin Eggleton (Faculty of Science)
• What can a coin flip teach us about discrimination? – Elaine Deschijver (Faculty of Science)
• Will AI break the human connection of podcasts? – Dominic Knight (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences) 

More info 

Session Select is SXSW Sydney’s open platform for ideas, and it’s now open for voting until Friday 11 April. 

SXSW Sydney is taking place from 13-19 October in various venues across the city. 

Header image: Associate Professor Sandra Peter, Professor Kai Riemer, Deloitte's Kellie Nuttall and journalist Rae Johnston on stage at SXSW Sydney 2023 for 'AI fluency' panel. Photo supplied courtesy of Sydney Executive Plus