The Scholars Podcast - Conversations with Inspiring Leaders Media & Capital Partners

Each year, thousands of people in Australia are diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis – an incurable condition of the lung that scientists have struggled to understand.

The work of Dr Davis McCarthy (2011 John Monash Scholar), a renowned statistician and genomic scientist, is helping to generate the pathway towards an eventual cure. Collaborating with a global community, Davis’s research searches DNA for answers to some of life’s biggest biological mysteries. 

We speak to Davis about his work leading the bioinformatics and cellular genomics group at St. Vincent's Institute in Melbourne, what he sees as some of the biggest opportunities in preventative health care and some of the barriers faced by medical research globally. He reflects on his Scholarship's impact and explains why his time at Oxford helped shape his career trajectory.

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In 1997, a backpacking trip from Bali to Lombok threw Jacqui Baker, then 19, and her friends straight into the heady world of Indonesian politics, setting her on a career-long journey toward understanding more about this incredible archipelago.
 
Jacqui's countless experiences across the country have been nothing short of extraordinary - from hanging with jihadists to hearing songs of revolution - and the country’s kaleidoscope of perspectives makes this nation so incredible.
 
We speak with Dr Jacqui Baker, a 2004 John Monash Scholar, about what makes Indonesia special and how Australia should support its social and political stability. Jacqui is a lecturer in Southeast Asian Studies at Murdoch University, where she is President of the Indonesia Council. She is also an editor at the Journal for Southeast Asian Studies and host of the podcast Talking Indonesia.
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Synthetic biology has changed how we live, from genetically modified food to insulin production and engineered mosquitos. This science shrinks traditional engineering to the nanometre, tailoring life from inside a cell.

Can we engineer bacteria to remove waste products from our environment and reverse the effects of climate change? Will the future of meat be from within a lab? Can we create new kinds of cells that live within the human body, changing their colour to notify us of disease?

We join Professor Harrison Steel (2016 Roden Cutler NSW John Monash Scholar) from the University of Oxford to discuss how he combines robotic technologies with biological engineering to tackle the world's challenges. At the forefront of scientific possibility, Harrison reflects on which hurdles may prevent a billion-dollar investment and the necessary ethical questions arising when we try to re-design life.
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What is the School of Cybernetics, and why has it become an engine for innovation? What does history tell us about how robotics will affect society in the future? How can we generate more conversation between policymakers, engineers, and businesses? 
 
Professor Katherine Daniell (2005 John Monash Scholar) joins us to explain how and why she established the Australian National University's School of Cybernetics Masters Program, the first and only program of its kind it's in the world and the first new School at ANU in nearly half a century, in only five weeks. 
 
Katherine's expertise spans engineering, computing, French, and policy. As an academic, she believes in teaching students to think about cultures, perspectives, and values beyond the scope conventionally provided for them within our sectored economy. For Katherine, changing the world will require us to improve how we work with people different from ourselves and embrace an emerging movement that recognizes the urgency for cross-sector expertise that dips into unique ideas and solutions. 
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Why do men seem to dominate the math lecture hall at a tertiary level? Why are Australian classrooms continuing to lose math students? What is mathematical communication and how might it boost math skills among Australia’s marginalised populations?  
 
Georgina Ryan (2024 Commonwealth Bank John Monash Scholar) joins Justin Kelly to discuss the reasons behind Australia’s dropping math capabilities, and what solutions may be available at a system level. Georgina shares why she believes mathematical skills are critical for our future, and her vision for advancing the country's capacity to harness and translate our knowledge.  
 
Georgina will undertake her D.Phil in mathematics at the University of Oxford this year and is passionate about pursuing the field of continuum mechanics - an area studied by only a handful of researchers in Melbourne.   
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What is sustainable finance and how is it changing the investment landscape? Who are some of the biggest hidden players of carbon emissions, and why aren’t we talking about them? 
  
Join Dr Arjuna Dibley (2016 Woodside John Monash Scholar) and host Justin Kelly as they explore what it means to put a price on climate change and the creative ways policymakers are shifting incentives.  
 
Arjuna is the Head of the Sustainable Finance Hub at Melbourne Climate Futures and leads a new initiative leveraging research and partnerships to mobilize public and private finance for addressing the climate crisis. He reflects on some of the greatest social challenges faced in curbing global emissions, including the need for enlivened climate optimism to enact cultural change.   
 
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