Podcasts

Our podcasts are full of big ideas, new voices and analysis from our events and visits with Australian and global leaders. Our education lead, Amanda Tattersall, hosts ChangeMakers, a short series podcast, now in its fourth series, that tells stories about people making social change across the world.

Catch up on ChangeMakers and all our events and discussion.

What will living with COVID look like? 

As Australia looks to reopen, and in the week NSW emerges from lockdown, we examine the path to reopening and how we can rebuild Australian society looking forward. Drawing upon the work of the Open Society, Common Purpose taskforce, we ask: What do we need to get right?

Catch up on this conversation in the Sydney Ideas podcast via Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, Spotify or wherever you listen.

Making politicians listen?

Trust in politics and politicians has collapsed in recent years. “Politicians just don’t listen to people like us,” the complaint often goes. But what can we do to change that? From writing to your MP to striking for the climate, from calling in to a radio talk show to setting up your own campaign group, there are a whole host of techniques open to each of us. But which work and which don’t? In this podcast from Raising the Bar Sydney, Marc Stears will examines the tactics and techniques with proven track records of success across the world, so that we might all start really to make a difference.

Catch up on this year's talks on SoundCloud, iTunes, or your favourite podcasting app.

Talking trees series

Inspired by ‘Janet Laurence: After Nature’ exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), this talk series, Talking Trees, brings together artists, researchers, scientists and advocates to exchange and discover new ideas around one of the most fundamental elements of the natural world: trees. The Talking Trees series has been organised in collaboration with Dr Dalia Nassar (University of Sydney), Professor Margaret Barbour (University of Sydney), Sydney Policy Lab, the Museum of Contemporary Art and artist Janet Laurence.

Listen to all five episodes on SoundCloud.

Food and cities

In response to the social inequities and ecological damage wrought by the industrial and globalising food system, a growing food movement that champions food and farm justice, sovereignty and democracy is driving social, economic and political change across the globe.

In this episode, we're talking to Eric Holt-Giménez about la Via Campesina, a global women's rights movement. He examines these issues "...because most of the farmers in the world are women unless we have food sovereignty, we can't ensure women's rights. And from the point of view of la Via Campesina, because most of the farmers in the world are women, we can't have food sovereignty until we end all violence against women."

On hate and race politics

Political philosopher Tim Soutphommasane and journalist Osman Faruqi had a timely conversation about hate and race politics in Australia, to mark the UN International Day for Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Schools and cities

Education is one of the key civil rights struggles of our era, and urban schools need to do more to bridge the 'civic empowerment gaps' between students. In this episode of The Democratic Experiment, we speak with Harvard Professor Meira Levinson about her teaching and research which draws on educational disadvantage in urban public schools. 

Joseph Stiglitz on tackling inequality: what's next?

In developing and developed nations worldwide, the gap between the rich and the rest is spiraling out of control. In this talk marking his 2018 Sydney Peace Prize win, Joseph Stiglitz explains which ideas about wealth distribution and taxation should be discredited or revived, how the economic status quo ties in with the recent upsurge in populism, and what economic scholarship should do to help bring policies in step with today’s economic transformations.

Introducing – The Democratic Experiment

Welcome to the Democratic Experiment. Together with City Road, the lab is exploring the spaces and places where democracy happens. Tune in to hear from today’s boldest, most visionary minds about the future of democracy.

Episode 1, Part 1 – The Democratic Experiment: Urban Alliances

In this two-part episode, we explore a new type of political movement forming in different cities around the world. In Part 1, Associate Professor Kurt Iveson tells stories of the urban alliances that seek to make our cities more democratic, equitable places to live, from London to Cape Town.

How Australia can save democracy for the world

Internationally, disenchantment in democracy is on the rise. Why? And what can we each do individually to save democracy, not just in Australia – but globally? 

This talk was recorded at the Sydney Policy Lab program launch and features leading political theorist and Lab director Professor Marc Stears. 

Building Food Utopias: Voice, Power and Agency

In response to the social inequities and ecological damage wrought by an industrial and globalised food system, a growing food movement that champions food and farm justice, sovereignty and democracy is driving social, economic and political change across the globe. What structures and mechanisms are needed to ensure that those most affected by food and farm insecurity in Australia are heard? How do we strengthen social and political networks to sustain transformative public policy making in food and agriculture?

What future for public education?

Australia’s schools are among the most socially segregated in the OECD, meaning that where our kids go to school matters. Staggering inequalities in opportunities, experiences and outcomes persist across our school system, from student achievement and teacher shortages, to resourcing and curricula. Add to this a widely accepted tide of privatisation of our schools in recent decades. Schools and teachers shape our kids, so how do we best teach them about power, justice and improving society? And what can Australian educators learn from the rest of the world? Join the Sydney Policy Lab and the UTS Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion for a conversation on the future of public education.