Features (ANU Podcasts): Recent Episodes
Communications and External Liaison Office
These are recordings of ANU public lectures and special events that are featured on the ANU homepage
Ambassador Karl Eikenberry discusses current counter-insurgency and state-building efforts in Afghanistan. He examines the challenges posed over time by discontinuities in strategies, something he experienced first hand during his three tours of duty in Afghanistan beginning in 2002. He also addresses problems that international civilian and military actors have encountered establishing realistic and sustainable institutional goals. Lastly, Ambassador Eikenberry speaks about the prospects of achieving transition to Afghan security by the objective date of 2014.
In recent years Australia has taken a leading role in national, regional and international non-proliferation and disarmament, in particular through the Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference in May 2010 and the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND). This seminar addresses three key themes in the relationship between national security and non-proliferation: the state of international non-proliferation regimes, Australia’s non-proliferation commitments, and consequent regional security issues.
Three of the pillars of Thai society are in the spotlight in this new vodcast series titled ชาติ ศาสนา พระมหากษัตริย์: Nation, Religion, King. This is episode three of three.The third and final episode focuses on Phramahakasat - King. The panel - Dr Tyrell Haberkorn, Dr Pavin Chachavalpongpun, Dr Patrick Jory and Professor Charnvit Kasetsiri - discuss the role of the monarchy in Thai life and the lese majeste law.This three part series brings together some of the world's leading experts on Thailand. The series is presented by ANU Southeast Asia specialist Dr Nicholas Farrelly from the College of Asia and the Pacific, and is produced in cooperation with the annual Thailand Update and the National Thai Studies Centre.
The Australian National University is celebrating the awarding of the Nobel Prize for Physics to Professor Brian Schmidt. Announced in Stockholm, Sweden overnight, the award is shared with two US scientists – Professor Adam Riess from Johns Hopkins University and Professor Saul Perlmutter from the University of California, Berkeley.
Three of the pillars of Thai society are in the spotlight in this new vodcast series titled ชาติ ศาสนา พระมหากษัตริย์: Nation, Religion, King. This is episode one of three.
Senator John Faulkner presents the annual Archives lecture reflecting on the history of the labour movement in Australia. His talk also opens the ‘labour history and its people’ conference hosted by the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History in association with the National Centre for Biography.Senator John Faulkner has been a Senator for New South Wales since 1989 and served as a minister in the Keating and Rudd Labor governments and as Minister for Defence in the Gillard government till September last year. He was the parliamentary representative on the National Archives Advisory Council from 1996 to 2008 and was reappointed in September 2010. Senator Faulkner is an advocate for government accountability through Freedom of Information and Archives legislation and has authored publications on representative government and the history of the Australian Labor Party.
On 11 March, Japan was hit by unprecedented triple disasters, a massive earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0, 30-meter-high tsunami and the explosion of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. Damages have been tremendous. As of 26 July, 20,444 people are confirmed dead or missing, and more than 100,000 people are still in evacuation. It seems Japan cannot return to the days before 11 March in many senses. What impact have the triple disasters had on the Japanese society, and how has the Japanese civil society dealt with the challenges it has faced? What lessons can be learnt from these disasters? This lecture will explore these questions from the perspectives of the Association for Aid and Relief (AAR) and Japan Platform, two of the best-known humanitarian NGOs in Japan which have been actively involved in the disaster relief.
Are air strikes using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or ‘drones’) changing the character of war? The United States has recently carried out drone strikes against targets inside Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Libya. The use of hunter-killer drones like the Predator and the Reaper is a means of engaging distant foes in a post-heroic, risk-free manner. As such, this mode of killing challenges traditional notions of what it means to be a combatant and the status of war as something morally distinguishable from other forms of violence. Arguably, the peculiar characteristic of war is that it is a potentially lethal contest in which one combatant using force against another does so in a relationship of mutual self-defence. Unlike the pilots of in-theatre aircraft, ground-based drone operators on the other side of the world experience no physical danger and are thus not required to exercise courage when using lethal force. Although the military profession is supposedly one whose defining and much-admired characteristic is risk-taking, drone operators manifest paradoxically as disembodied warriors. Is this an aberration or a transformation in military affairs?
Mt Stromlo Centenary Celebrations - Tales Of Stars and Stellar SystemsAstronomy has arguably the single largest impact on the development of science, human society and culture over the past 10,000 years. On our journey through space and time we will explore the glorious life of our sun, learn how astrophysical knowledge acquired 100 years ago can help to solve the energy crisis on Earth today, and find out why we should rightfully call ourselves the children of the stars. The discovery of exoplanets is a regular topic in the international news. I will explain how astronomers measure the faint signal from these distant island worlds, show where our place in the Milky Way is, and disclose how the Universe grew a million times bigger on the night of October 6, 1923.
NASA’s vision is to reach for new heights and reveal the unknown so that what it doesand what it learns will benefit all humankind.What is NASA’s vision for space communication in the 21st Century?As we explore more of the unknown, how do we manage the vast volumes of data that new flight projects produce in the quest to explore our own solar system, and the systems beyond that?What is NASA’s vision for robotic space exploration?It’s a year of launches in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at NASA: a major Earth satellite, Aquarius; a mission to Jupiter, Juno; twin spacecraft called GRAIL that will study the gravity of Earth’s moon; NASA’s next-generation rover, Mars Science Laboratory; and the Dawn spacecraft will go into orbit around the protoplanet Vesta this summer.
Dr Gekoski, one of the most entertaining speakers in the book world, discusses the Man Booker International Prize, the future of the book and his life and times in antiquarian book selling.
Recent months have seen the people of the Arab world from Yemen to Egypt, and most recently in Libya, seeking to shake off decades of repression and political dictatorships to embrace rapid transformation. From the less violent transitions which have occurred in Jordan and Bahrain, to the brutal civil war prevailing in Libya, the international community has become involved in the moves toward security as well as individual and collective rights for the Arab people. This National Security College public seminar brings together leading experts on the region to discuss the events, key drivers of change, the military action, the Responsibility to Protect, and energy politics. The panel will also consider the national security implications for Australia.
Thomas Jefferson enslaved over 700 people over the course of his adult life. Most lived and worked at his famous home, Monticello. This paper examines Jefferson's complicated relationship to slavery - what he wrote about it and how he lived it at the plantation that occupies an iconic place in the American imagination.
Join Betty Churcher on a personal tour of her most beloved works, including masterpieces by Rembrandt, Goya, Manet, Velázquez, Courbet, Vermeer and Cézanne.
The President of The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) - Dr Kanayo F Nwanze will present key messages from IFAD's 'Asia-Pacific Report on Rural Poverty'.
Three internationally renowned speakers discuss how environmental, political, economic and cultural characteristics of societies shape conditions in which people live, work and age.Inequities in these factors play a major role in producing health inequities in Australia, across the Asia Pacific region and globally. If set up well, economic development, trade, working conditions, urbanisation and health care for example could simultaneously improve development, social inclusion and health, but if done badly these factors can all increase health inequities.
The Menzies Centre for Health Policy, together with The Nous Group, has recently completed a survey of 1,200 Australians to gain insight into their attitudes towards the health and aged care system, including: How satisfied are Australians with the system? Do Australians support reforms? *What is the impact of financial stress? This seminar gives an overview of the initial findings of this survey. The results focused on accessibility, affordability and satisfaction.
The Menzies Centre for Health Policy, together with The Nous Group, has recently completed a survey of 1,200 Australians to gain insight into their attitudes towards the health and aged care system, including: How satisfied are Australians with the system? Do Australians support reforms? *What is the impact of financial stress? This seminar gives an overview of the initial findings of this survey. The results focused on accessibility, affordability and satisfaction.
This lecture discusses the work of Professor Anthony Forge in the field of Balinese Kamasan painting. Anthony Forge argued that art has a visual quality, summed up by a quoted line from dancer Isadore Duncan who said ‘If I could tell you what it meant, there would be no point in dancing it'. His interest in art as non-verbal communication led him to Bali and Kamasan Painting. His work in Bali allowed him to explore the ways in which his Balinese collaborators experienced the world, and to develop new aspects of the understanding of the social meaning of art. By exploring these problems of meaning and communication in Balinese art, this lecture examines the relationship between Anthropology and Art History, with a particular focus on the responses of contemporary Kamasan artists to Forge's fieldwork project.
Insurance has been a dominant concept in health care in the industrialized world since the late 19th century, originating in the Bismarckian welfare state. Today, insurance is a method for organizing and financing health care; more importantly it is a metaphor that heavily influences how we conceive of health and health care and the behaviours of those who govern, manage, and deliver care. This presentation argues that many of the cost, distributional, and performance problems common to all contemporary health care systems are attributable to an over-reliance on insurance concepts and principles . It contrasts an insurance conceptual foundation with as public good, public service formulation and suggest that moving away from the insurance metaphor will enhance the prospects for more needs-based resource allocation, reduced health disparities, and improved system performance.
Professor Amin Saikal AM fom the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies ANU gives a public lecture on 'Afghanistan on the brink'. Afghanistan is in a state of crisis. The same applies to the current US-led population-centric counter-insurgency strategy in dealing with this crisis. Based on the available evidence, the situation continues to favour the Taliban and their supporters, most importantly Pakistan, or more specifically its powerful military intelligence agency, the Intra-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI). The US is now locked in what is shaping up as a quagmire, with an Afghan syndrome in the making parallel to the Vietnam War.
In this year's Sixteenth Annual Lions Oratory Competition, student representatives from the ANU Colleges competed for the perpetual Oratory Trophy and prizes totaling $3,000 in cash. The objective of the competition is to give an opportunity to students to master and excel in the art of oratory by reading widely on subjects dealing with human values.To create interest in the study of the lives of great women and men who, often at enormous personal sacrifice, realise outstanding achievements which generations to come will emulate. These are people, including saints and sages from the whole world, who through their outstanding contributions enhanced the quality of life of all humanity. To cultivate in students the need for the great human values of truth, righteousness, peace, love and non-violence - the core of all major religions. Podcast timings: 00:00:00 Welcome by master of ceremonies Jennifer Zhu, Winner of the 2009 Lions Oratory Contest00:10:20 Introduction of Rebecca Jane, ANU College of Arts & Social Sciences00:11:02 Search for new truthfulness- a vindication of the postmodern mind, Rebecca Jane 00:19:45 Introduction of Jasper Lok, ANU College of Business and Economics00:20:35 Love, the important element of our life, Jasper Lok 00:28:26 Introduction of Halek Samsudin, ANU College of Engineering & Computer Science00:29:21 The bitter taste of truth, Halek Samsudin00:37:39 Introduction of Leif Eldridge-Smith, ANU College of Law00:38:50 Should you be loved? Leif Eldridge-Smith00:47:25 Introduction of Khunkhao Khaejornbut, ANU College of Medicine, Biology & Environment00:48:45 With firm fists and a fiery heart, Khunkhao Khaejornbut00:57:34 Introduction of Courtney Landers, ANU College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences00:58:43 Why we're afraid of the 'L' word (and why your little sister isn't), Courtney Landers01:06: 57 Conclusion by Jennifer Zhu
Professor Hugh White's recent Quarterly Essay, Power Shift: Australia's future between Washington and Beijing looks at Australia's strategic choices in the Asian Century. In this lecture professor white explores the implications for Australia's US alliance. He argues that we can all see how China's rise will transform Australia's economy, but we find it harder to recognize the implications for Australia's political and strategic future. We take for granted the protection that America provides, and the role it plays in keeping Asia stable. But as China's power grows, Asia is being transformed, and America's role in Asia will have to change too. As that happens, the benefits to Australia of our alliance with the US will also change, and the costs and risks of the alliance will change too. The old cost/benefit analysis which has underpinned our support for the alliance will need to be recalculated, and some of the answers might be surprising.
Dr Peter Stanley is currently researching Australia's Great War through the experience of people with the family name Smith, and German-Australians called Schmidt. Through diaries, letters, memoirs, family histories and official records, a different history of the Great War emerges that contrasts to the interpretation usually offered. It is a history of an officious ‘Military Intelligence' bureaucracy which insinuated its way into many aspects of wartime life. It's also a history of paranoia and persecution reaching into every part of Australian society. In this lecture, Dr Stanley will talk about his research and what it suggests about the Australia of 1914-18 and also about our values today, as we approach the centenary of the Great War.
Does the Internet really make us dumber, as some pundits argue? And dumber than what? This lecture talked about what it means to think through and with new information technologies, placing both these technologies and ‘thinking' in a historical context. Professor Cathy Davidson argues that many of the ways we teach, work, and evaluate attention, achievement, intelligence, and learning abilities or disabilities were developed for the industrial technologies of the early twentieth century. How can we develop new learning institutions and new forms of measurement suitable for a digital age?
The historical record of democracies in dealing with crises and other threats is good: democracies win wars, avoid famines, recover from economic disasters and adapt to meet new challenges. This should give grounds for confidence in the ability of democracies to meet the challenges of the future, but when does confidence become overconfidence? Can this lead to a kind of complacency or fatalism? And how well equipped are democracies to tell the difference?This lecture explored the intellectual history of these questions over two centuries, from Tocqueville to the present. It examines the instability and reflexivity of democratic confidence. Confidence in democracy can shape democratic performance as much as democratic performance shapes confidence in democracy. Finally, it will look at the possible impact of these puzzles on the challenges democracies face in the present, ranging from market failures to climate change.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is a politico-military alliance of countries from Europe and North America. It provides a unique link between these two continents for consultation and cooperation in the field of defence and security, and the conduct of multilateral crisis management operations. In his only public lecture in Australia, NATO's senior military commander, Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, will speak on NATO's new Strategic Concept, its relationships with allies, and operations in Afghanistan.
This lecture reviews the literature on the voluntary contributions to public goods by repeatedly-interacting contributors and discusses how the economic theory of choice of sequences of actions sheds light on the outcomes of voluntarism. Professor Long will draw attention to abstract public goods, such as the stock of mutual trust in a community, and the building up of a spirit of cooperation. Game-strategic aspects of voluntary contributions are also discussed, including the role of behavioural norms, the selection of contribution strategies, and coordination problems. Applications of line of research range from foreign aid to memberships in international environmental agreements.
This forum considers scenarios for and beyond Burma's anticipated 2010 elections. While the elections are part of the military regime's "7-point Road Map", many aspects of how they will play out, their prospects and limitations, remain unclear. What will be their aftermath? How will the domestic, regional and international communities respond to the post-ballot constitutional order and new government? Burma scholars from ANU, a representative from the Australian Electoral Commission, and other speakers will combine to explore and debate the possibilities.
In this lecture, Professor Kit Fine will explore the notion of truth-makers. What are truth-makers? He will argue that truth-makers are helpful for understanding how things are true but not for understanding what is in the world.
In the final Thailand in Crisis vodcast, ANU PhD students Nattakant Akarapongpisak, Pongphisoot Busbarat and Preedee Hongsaton join host Nicholas Farrelly for a panel discussion about Thailand's political present and future. Farrelly is also joined by regular Andrew Walker who discusses the upcoming by-election in Bangkok.Thailand in Crisis is a series of six vod and podcasts from The Australian National University's College of Asia and the Pacific. The series draws upon the university's expertise in historical and contemporary Thailand and forms a companion to the New Mandala website which can be found at http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala
This lecture is the ninth annual Sir Leslie Melville Lecture presented by the Australian National University. The introduction of an emissions trading scheme in Australia constitutes a significant economic reform. Unlike other key reforms with such a broad impact across the economy, there has not been a broad consensus within the economics profession on the merits of this reform or the general approach to how it should be implemented. In part this is due to the complex and multidimensional nature of the climate change problem - it spans economic, environmental and science disciplines and requires a co-ordinated international response given the "global commons" nature of the problem. This contrasts to previous reforms where the case for action and key policy choices have been largely internal to economics as a discipline, and national implementation has provided material benefits regardless of the actions of other nations.Dr Martin Parkinson will discuss the challenge of bringing an economic perspective to this issue and reflect on the success of the economics profession's engagement with the climate change debate in Australia in recent years.
Professor Peter Warr discusses how economics has impacted Thailand and on perceptions of the Thai government while Professor Andrew Leigh talks about development economics in the fifth Thailand in Crisis vodcast. Host Nicholas Farrelly is also joined by regular Dr Andrew Walker to talk about financial lending to Thailand's agricultural sector.
After two years of peace and almost a decade since independence there is hope that the days of occupation, violence, disease and starvation have passed for the young country of Timor-Leste.Dr José Ramos-Horta, President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste will give a major speech on the development of democratic institutions, culture and practice in Timor-Leste and the broader challenges for democracy.
Professor Thongchai Winichakul is the special guest for the fourth Thailand in Crisis vodcast. With host NIcholas Farrelly, he discusses the 1976 protests, his time in detention, his reaction to the recent crackdown on the Red Shirt protests and his hopes for the future of Thailand. Farrelly is also joined by Andrew Walker to discuss Thai government investment into agriculture. Thailand in Crisis is a series of six vod and podcasts from The Australian National University's College of Asia and the Pacific. They are released each Friday.The team welcome your comments and thoughts here, or you can join in the ongoing conversation at the New Mandala website: http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala
The DNA in our cells is tightly packed into structures called chromosomes. The role of the physical structure of chromosomes in diseases and genetics is being explored thanks to recent advances in technology that allow scientists to look at how the DNA is packaged into chromatin- the structures that form chromosomes. In this lecture Dr Grigoryev will discuss current models of chromosome organisation, several examples of cutting edge research aimed at understanding role of chromatin in cell differentiation and disease, and new techniques that will link these studies to the development of personal diagnosis and treatment of chromatin-associated disorders.
Dr Tyrell Haberkorn and Professor Hilary Charlesworth are the guests in the third Thailand in Crisis podcast - discussing issues of human rights and international law in the Thai context. Host Nicholas Farrelly is also joined by regular Dr Andrew Walker to talk about rural poverty in Thailand's north.Thailand in Crisis is a series of six vod and podcasts from The Australian National University's College of Asia and the Pacific. The series aims to bring together the University's expertise to shed light on the recent political upheavals in Thailand.
The international dollar standard is an accident of history that greatly facilitates international trade and exchange. But erratic U.S. monetary and financial policies, have upset the U.S. and a world economy thus makes foreigners unhappy. Paradoxically, the asymmetrical nature of the dollar standard also makes many Americans unhappy because they cannot control their own exchange rate. Although nobody loves the dollar standard, it is a remarkably robust institution that is too valuable to lose and too difficult to replace. Rehabilitating the unloved dollar standard by "internationalising" American monetary and financial policies to better stabilise the U.S. (and world) economies is the only way out of the current impasse.
Thailand in Crisis is a series of six vod and podcasts from The College of Asia and the Pacific at The Australian National University. They are released each Friday, beginning 28 May 2010. In the second episode of the series, host Nicholas Farrelly discusses military and security matters with Professor Des Ball from the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at ANU and Dr Marcus Mietzner from the School of Culture, History and Language. Among the topics they discuss are who killed the rebel General, Seh Daeng, what the roll of the Tahan Phran was in the protests and why Thailand has found the transition to a peaceful democracy so much harder than Indonesia.
Thailand in Crisis is a series of six vod and podcasts from The College of Asia and the Pacific at The Australian National University. They are released each Friday, beginning 28 May 2010. In the first episode of the series, host Nicholas Farrelly discusses the current political situation in Thailand with his fellow New Mandala co-Editor Andrew Walker. They discuss the terrorism accusations against Thaksin Shinawatra as well as inequality in Thai society.