Law & society

17 September 2021

Brighten your day with these 10 positive stories

Hanging out for some good news? Here are 10 positive news stories you might have missed that could brighten your outlook this weekend.

10 September 2021

Experts reflect on the 20th anniversary of 9/11

Tomorrow, it will have been 20 years since Al Qaeda hijacked and crashed aeroplanes into the World Trade Centre towers in New York and the Pentagon, fundamentally shifting geopolitics in the 21st century. University of Sydney experts reflect on the events that transpired and the lessons learnt as a result.

02 September 2021

Civic engagement strongest in young from culturally diverse families

Civic engagement - one of the Sydney Policy Lab's guiding principles - is higher in people from younger, multicultural backgrounds, a new poll shows.

26 August 2021

Pandemic peak in sight - but we must brace for an infection surge

National modelling led by Centre for Complex Systems researchers shows that a pandemic peak is in sight, but we must brace for a surge of infections upon reopening when 80 percent of the adult population is vaccinated and restrictions are lifted.

20 August 2021

Do you think you’re exclusively straight?

Scientific research has shown that sexuality exists on a spectrum. But how certain are people about where they fit on it? A new University of Sydney study suggests that people's reported sexual orientation can change after reading about the nature of sexual orientation.

16 August 2021

#FreeBritney: do we have conservatorships in Australia?

Australian states have schemes analogous to US conservatorships and they're far from perfect, write Professor Cameron Stewart and Dr Linda Steele for The Conversation.

30 July 2021

Social distancing up but still inadequate to control outbreak

University of Sydney model released today finds if even 40 percent of the Greater Sydney population is vaccinated by mid-September, a stricter lockdown must continue until then.

30 July 2021

What psychology says about COVID non-compliers

People who purposefully breach COVID-19 regulations tend to share certain characteristics, finds a study of attitudes and behaviours in Australia, the UK, the US and Canada.

28 July 2021

Do search engines influence you more than you think?

The Australian Search Experience is a citizen science project calling on Australian Internet users to help solve search engine secrets. Why do search engines order and display information the way they do? Help us find out.

26 July 2021

Over 150 computers donated for Aboriginal children’s home learning

It's hard enough for school students to learn from home during Greater Sydney's ongoing lockdown. But what if you don't even have a computer? A University staff member has organised a donation drive to rectify this issue for Aboriginal children in need.

15 July 2021

Far more social distancing needed to control Sydney outbreak

For Sydney to see a sufficient drop in COVID-19 case numbers after one month, social distancing must be observed by over 80 percent of people, a model published today by Professor Mikhail Prokopenko reveals.

15 July 2021

Tokyo 2021: our experts on the Games and the impact of COVID-19

Tokyo 2021 will be unusual in many ways. Sydney researchers discuss the COVID-19 Games, and why the Olympics (mostly) go on, even in the toughest of circumstances.

14 July 2021

Defence awards engineers $2m extension funding

Thanks to $2million in funding awarded by the Department of Defence, Sydney researchers will co-lead a truly global R&D collaboration, involving nine universities, on frontier materials science challenges in advanced manufacturing.

08 July 2021

How children can help Aboriginal Elders during lockdown

Mutual caring between Kinship and foster carers and the children in their custody emerged as a silver lining during last year's lockdown, a new report finds.

07 July 2021

Voluntary betting controls are a bad gamble

Voluntary gambling harm-reduction tools generally don't work as people don't use them, a new study finds. Though mandating that people set deposit limits - or opt-out of setting them - is a promising mechanism to curb problem gambling.

05 July 2021

Facebook still allowing hate speech on public pages

Researchers at the University of Sydney and University of Queensland are calling on Facebook to do more consultation and offer better training for page moderators to respond to online hate speech in the Asia Pacific region.

05 July 2021

Victim blaming can affect trial outcomes

Child protection documents are often proffered as evidence in court cases. A new analysis finds the language used in these documents can adversely affect mothers and children who are subject to domestic and family violence.

05 July 2021

Right at your fingertips: researcher creating digital touch

Engineer and Internet of Things expert, Dr Zhanwei Hou is developing an ultra-fast communication method to facilitate Tactile Internet, a technology which he hopes will one day allow users to experience touch over the internet.

30 June 2021

Why GameStop didn't surprise economists

A new study finds 18 to 24-year-olds took riskier financial decisions when being observed, lending weight to this theory that can potentially influence public policy.

23 June 2021

Sydney academics and alumni named 2021 Fulbright Scholars

From biomedical engineering to river science, academics and alumni of the University of Sydney have been awarded Fulbright Scholarships.