10 Minute Genius | Galactic Archaeology with Kirsten Banks

What comes next? | Claire Daniel | Are computer-generated cities the future?

The population of our capital cities is going to increase rapidly over the next decades. But right now, our cities are bloated, congested, and many urban design choices are no longer fit for purpose. Enter algorithms: those codes that know what we like to eat, how we like to spend our time, and what we secretly want to buy online. But once we lift the veil of mathematical objectivity, we can see that the way these algorithms are used in city planning needs to be more of an art than a science. If algorithms know us better than our friends, is it time we let them help us build the cities of the future?  

Claire Daniel
Claire Daniel is a Scientia PhD candidate in the School of Built Environment, Faculty of Arts, Design & Architecture at UNSW Sydney. They are both an urban planner and a computer programmer researching how data and digital technologies are used by planners, and how this is set to change the way cities are governed. In 2015, Claire was awarded the John Monash Scholarship to study the MSc in Smart Cities and Urban Analytics at University College London. In addition to their academic work, Claire has professional experience in local government and consulting, and is a member of the Planning Institute of Australia’s PlanTech advisory committee. 

For more information, visit unsw.to/ClaireDaniel

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2022: Reckoning with Power and Privilege

Australian voters ousting a nine-year-old Coalition government. A step towards instituting a First Nations Voice to Parliament. Grace Tame. Entrenched structures of authority have been challenged at home and around the world this year. But what will the impact of these momentous events be on the way we live, and the way our domestic and international parliaments govern? The Conversation’s latest collection of insightful essays from leading thinkers, 2022: Reckoning with Power and Privilege, unpacks this very question.  

Hear Tim Soutphommasane, Professor of Practice at University of Sydney and Michelle Arrow, Professor of Modern History at Macquarie University as they explore the potent forces that continue to shape our world and how those with the privilege of power don’t always prevail in a panel discussion chaired by The Conversation’s Senior Editor, Sunanda Creagh.

To access a transcript of this podcast please head here.

This event was presented by the UNSW Centre for Ideas and The Conversation.

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What comes next? | Jennifer Cohen | Unlocking the future of supportive care

For a lot of us, the pandemic years were characterised with the rise of working from home. We’ve become all too familiar with Zoom fatigue… one of the many new words we have added to our vocabulary over the past two years of the pandemic along with social distancing, doom scrolling and hybrid working. And while many of us are looking forward to socialising IRL (in real life) again, for those of us who are critically ill, these rapid developments in digital technology have meant an end to social isolation. So as these technologies continue to advance and innovate, but we as a society return to face-to-face life, will digital technology completely replace in person supportive care for young people impacted by critical illness? 

Jennifer Cohen
Dr Jennifer Cohen is a senior research fellow in the School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine & Health at UNSW Sydney, and the Evaluation Manger at Canteen, Australia. Cohen has over 18 years experience as a clinical dietitian and researcher and her numerous professional publications focus on her research and clinical interests in the supportive care needs of children and young people with cancer, both during and after treatment. Dr Cohen was named the Australian Dietitian of the Year at the 2019 and Staff Member of the Year for the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network in 2018. 

For more information, visit unsw.to/JenniferCohen

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What comes next? | Bianca Briscas | The secret to fighting fungal infection

Nearly 400 years ago, scientists made the groundbreaking discovery that fungi were all around us, on us, and inside us too. The development of germ theory – the understanding that microbes like bacteria, viruses, and fungi are responsible for infectious diseases – has since revolutionised almost every aspect of human behaviour. But when it comes to treating infections caused by fungi, we haven’t actually made a whole lot of progress. Even with the handful of anti-fungal drugs we have developed, nearly 50% of all people who develop a systemic fungal infection will die. So why is our current arsenal against fungal infection so limited? And how might we better arm ourselves in the war against fungus? 

Bianca Briscas
Bianca Briscas is a PhD Candidate in the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Faculty of Science at UNSW Sydney. She completed a Bachelor of Medical Science (Distinction) in 2020, and received First Class Honours in 2021. Her PhD research centres on the human microbiome, with a focus on exploring the complex interactions between bacteria and fungi, to inform novel approaches to managing infections caused by Candida albicans, an opportunistic fungal pathogen of humans. 

For more information, visit unsw.to/BiancaBriscas

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10 Minute Genius | Success and the Luck of the Draw with Frederik Anseel

Our news feeds are inundated with success stories of people who got rich quick, who climbed the career ladder to the top, even people who became overnight viral sensations. But how much of these people’s success comes down to hard work, versus being in the right place at the right time and having a little good luck on their side? When it comes to being successful is there really any difference between someone who won the lottery and someone who founded a billion dollar tech startup?  Wealthy people overwhelmingly attribute their success to hard work rather than to factors like being in the right place at the right time, but what if lottery winners and successful entrepreneurs have more in common than you think? If we know how this game of chance works -  why do we keep clicking on those stories about successful business people in our newsfeeds? 

Whatever your definition is of success, there seems to be no shortage of advice out there about how you can get a taste of it. In under ten minutes, or roughly the same amount of time it takes to make an elevator pitch to a venture capitalist, Frederik Anseel explains how you can increase your chances of becoming successful.

10 Minute Genius
10 Minute Genius is a programme designed to create a space in which you can engage with new ideas. It is a curated collection of UNSW Sydney's thinkers, dreamers, and envelope pushers to help you make some sense of this relentless information vortex. And because you’re busy, all we ask of you is less than 10 minutes.

For more information visit unsw.to/FrederikAnseel

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