Big Ideas

ABC Australia

Your front row seat to big thinkers at the best live events, forums, and festivals. Feed your mind. Be provoked. One big idea at a time. Your brain will love you for it. We love hearing from you about the show or events you are planning. Get in touch! Email: Bigideas@abc.net.au SMS line for ABC Radio National: 0418 226 576 Airs Monday to Thursday 8pm, repeated Tuesday to Friday 12pm, on ABC Radio National.

  1. 3 HR AGO

    Three Nobels! Are we backing young minds today to pull off what Brian Schmidt, Peter Doherty, Rolf Zinkernagel did?

    Nobel Prize winning work often happens in a young scientist's 20s or 30s — early in their careers. Are the conditions right in Australian universities today for young, hungry minds to do what Nobel laureates Brian Schmidt, Peter Doherty and Rolf Zinkernagel did in the 1990s and 1970s at the Australian National University in Canberra? The three join Big Ideas presenter Natasha Mitchell and a huge crowd at the ANU to talk curiosity, discovery, the future of science, and more. This event was organised and hosted by the Australian National University and the Embassy of Switzerland in Australia Speakers Professor Peter DohertyImmunologist and winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine University of Melbourne Professor Brian SchmidtAstrophysicist and winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize for PhysicsAustralian National University Professor Rolf Zinkernagel Immunologist and winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine University of Zurich, Switzerland With thanks to Swiss Ambassador His Excellency Mr Nikolas Stürchler, ANU Deputy Vice Chancellor (academic) Professor Joan Leach, and ANU's Jamie Kidston, Dharmesh Panvelkar, and technical team. Further reading Brian Schmidt on securing Australia's sovereign research capability, National Press Club, 2025 Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt is ‘scared’ about Australia’s research capacity – this is why (The Conversation, 2025) Brian P. Schmidt's submission in response to the Australian Universities Accord Discussion Paper The Knowledge Wars by Peter Doherty (Melbourne University Publishing, 2025)

    59 min
  2. 1 DAY AGO

    The secret of how to topple tyrants and dictators — and crimes against humanity under the microscope

    Presenting a road map to a world with fewer Putins and Kim Jong Uns. Political scientist Marcel Dirsus exposes the precarious reality behind the façade of the dictator's absolute power, and the remarkable ways in which even the most ruthless despots can be felt. Gareth Evans, Geoffrey Robertson, Tobias Buck and Dorcy Rugama take a closer look at crimes against humanity. When is reconciliation possible? Are international courts still useful? How important is truth telling? How Tyrants rise (and fall) was recorded live at the 2025 Sydney Writers' Festival at Sydney Town Hall. Speaker Dr Marcel DirsusPolitical scientist, author of How Tyrants Fall: And How Nations SurviveNon-Resident Fellow at the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University (ISPK); member of the Standing Expert Committee Terrorism and Interior Security at the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Germany Crimes against Humanity was presented at Adelaide Writers' Week Speakers Tobias BuckManaging Editor of the Financial TimesAuthor of Final Verdict: A Holocaust Trail in the Twenty-first Century Geoffrey RobertsonAustralian-British barrister, academic, broadcaster and author — among others of Crimes Against Humanity Dorcy RugambaRwandan writer, playwright, and director.Author of Hewa Rwanda, Letter to the Absent  Gareth Evans AC (host)Former cabinet minister in the Hawke and Keating Labor governments, former president and CEO of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group

    54 min
  3. 3 MAR

    Who can we become? Thomas Mayo and Ray Martin speak Black and White about Australia's future

    Join acclaimed author and human rights advocate Thomas Mayo and media icon Ray Martin AM as they deliver two powerful orations on justice, reconciliation, and the future of Australia. Thomas Mayo invites us to imagine a reconciled Australia that has learned from its history and forged new pathways forward. Ray Martin is demanding we stop talking and start acting on social justice for Aboriginal people. Two voices. Two generations of advocacy. One urgent question: who will we become? The Walyalup Oration is a centrepiece of the City of Fremantle's annual Truth-telling and Focus First Nation Films Program. In The Walyalup Oration leading thinkers in the fields of Indigenous/colonial relations offer their insights into creating a fairer, (re)conciled and more prosperous future for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. The Joan Kirner Social Justice Oration was hosted by the Institute of Community Directors Australia as part of the Communities in Control series. Speakers Thomas MayoKaurareg Aboriginal and Kalkalgal, Erubamle Torres Strait Islander human rights advocate and renowned author among other books of Always Was, Always Will Be (2024) and Dear Son: Letters and Reflections from First Nations Fathers and Sons (2021) Ray MartinAward-winning journalist and television presenter who has reported for and/or presented some of TV's highest-profile current affairs and variety shows of recent decades.

    54 min

About

Your front row seat to big thinkers at the best live events, forums, and festivals. Feed your mind. Be provoked. One big idea at a time. Your brain will love you for it. We love hearing from you about the show or events you are planning. Get in touch! Email: Bigideas@abc.net.au SMS line for ABC Radio National: 0418 226 576 Airs Monday to Thursday 8pm, repeated Tuesday to Friday 12pm, on ABC Radio National.

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