<description>How, and for what, should life be optimised? Is the growing culture of optimisation leading us towards the homogenisation of culture?

These days we're using technology to help us write, make decisions, as well as augment, biohack, sculpt and transform our bodies, inside and out, to look and feel younger and fitter. As we seem to optimise virtually every aspect of our everyday lives, do we somehow end up creating more labour and inefficiencies?

The pursuit of human development and self-improvement is a perennial subject of fascination and study, from Aristotle’s eudaemonia to Confucian ethics, Maslow’s theory, and now, in a form familiar to many: self-help. What does it signal though, when the dominant messages of the marketplace today, and the markers of success and progress of experience, are defined by terms like efficiency and maximum engagement? 

Marking the year-end – and with a new year around the corner – we're examining what it means to optimise life. Hear hot takes from Infinite Scroll 荧屏沉溺 curator and creative technologist Thea-Mai Baumann, philosopher Emily Hulme, comedian and writer Alex Lee and computer scientist Elliot Varoy. Hosted by Steph Harmon, Culture Editor of Guardian Australia.

This podcast is a recording of a live public event held on 10 December 2025. For more links and resources, including the transcript, visit Sydney Ideas website: bit.ly/48Rdjg5</description>

How, and for what, should life be optimised? Is t…

How, and for what, should life be optimised? Is the growing culture of optimisation leading us towards the homogenisation of culture?

These days we're using technology to help us write, make decisions, as well as augment, biohack, sculpt and transform our bodies, inside and out, to look and feel younger and fitter. As we seem to optimise virtually every aspect of our everyday lives, do we somehow end up creating more labour and inefficiencies?

The pursuit of human development and self-improvement is a perennial subject of fascination and study, from Aristotle’s eudaemonia to Confucian ethics, Maslow’s theory, and now, in a form familiar to many: self-help. What does it signal though, when the dominant messages of the marketplace today, and the markers of success and progress of experience, are defined by terms like efficiency and maximum engagement? 

Marking the year-end – and with a new year around the corner – we're examining what it means to optimise life. Hear hot takes from Infinite Scroll 荧屏沉溺 curator and creative technologist Thea-Mai Baumann, philosopher Emily Hulme, comedian and writer Alex Lee and computer scientist Elliot Varoy. Hosted by Steph Harmon, Culture Editor of Guardian Australia.

This podcast is a recording of a live public event held on 10 December 2025. For more links and resources, including the transcript, visit Sydney Ideas website: bit.ly/48Rdjg5

An optimised life, examined

<description>How can we eat well to live longer, feed future populations, and sustain planetary health? What's the science behind creating the world's most resilient hybrid wheat?

Food makes us who we are. The ways we eat together change lives and communities. In this Sydney Ideas event, we bring together some of the best brains to cook up new ideas and solutions to shift how we think about food for the better. They serve inspired visions for changing the way we eat, produce and understand why food is so important.

- Alice Gibson, researcher exploring emerging hybrid food environments, with expertise in the prevention and dietary management of chronic health diseases;
- Peng Zhang, who is using advanced biotechnology and genetic techniques to grow resilient and disease-resistant crops such as wheat;
- Sophie Gee (host), English professor, co-host of the popular literary classics podcast The Secret Life of Books, and author of The Barbarous Feast: Writing and Eating in the Eighteenth-Century World (forthcoming, Princeton University Press);

This Sydney Ideas event was presented on 22–23 October at Riverside Theatres, with the support of City of Parramatta as part of Parramatta Lanes, one of Sydney’s most exciting street festivals, transforming the city's streets, laneways and car parks into a playground of Eats, Beats and Art.

This podcast is a recording of a live public event held on 23 October 2025. For more links and resources, including the transcript, visit Sydney Ideas website: bit.ly/3LRYhNV</description>

How can we eat well to live longer, feed future p…

How can we eat well to live longer, feed future populations, and sustain planetary health? What's the science behind creating the world's most resilient hybrid wheat?

Food makes us who we are. The ways we eat together change lives and communities. In this Sydney Ideas event, we bring together some of the best brains to cook up new ideas and solutions to shift how we think about food for the better. They serve inspired visions for changing the way we eat, produce and understand why food is so important.

- Alice Gibson, researcher exploring emerging hybrid food environments, with expertise in the prevention and dietary management of chronic health diseases;
- Peng Zhang, who is using advanced biotechnology and genetic techniques to grow resilient and disease-resistant crops such as wheat;
- Sophie Gee (host), English professor, co-host of the popular literary classics podcast The Secret Life of Books, and author of The Barbarous Feast: Writing and Eating in the Eighteenth-Century World (forthcoming, Princeton University Press);

This Sydney Ideas event was presented on 22–23 October at Riverside Theatres, with the support of City of Parramatta as part of Parramatta Lanes, one of Sydney’s most exciting street festivals, transforming the city's streets, laneways and car parks into a playground of Eats, Beats and Art.

This podcast is a recording of a live public event held on 23 October 2025. For more links and resources, including the transcript, visit Sydney Ideas website: bit.ly/3LRYhNV

The social life of food - Part 2

<description>How can we eat well to live longer, feed future populations, and sustain planetary health? What's the science behind creating the world's most resilient hybrid wheat?

Food makes us who we are. The ways we eat together change lives and communities. In this Sydney Ideas event, we bring together some of the best brains to cook up new ideas and solutions to shift how we think about food for the better. They serve inspired visions for changing the way we eat, produce and understand why food is so important.

- Juliet Bennett, a researcher applying critical social theory to systems of food production and consumption;
- Rebecca Cross, rural and environment geographer with insight into sustainable, regenerative farming and agricultural practices;
- Shadia Djakovic, a dietician bringing extensive experience in nutrition and health promotion;
- Sophie Gee (host), English professor, co-host of the popular literary classics podcast The Secret Life of Books, and author of The Barbarous Feast: Writing and Eating in the Eighteenth-Century World (forthcoming, Princeton University Press);

This Sydney Ideas event was presented on 22–23 October at Riverside Theatres, with the support of City of Parramatta as part of Parramatta Lanes, one of Sydney’s most exciting street festivals, transforming the city's streets, laneways and car parks into a playground of Eats, Beats and Art.

This podcast is a recording of a live public event held on 22 October 2025. For more links and resources, including the transcript, visit Sydney Ideas website: bit.ly/3LRYhNV</description>

How can we eat well to live longer, feed future populations, and sustain planetary health? What's the science behind creating the world's most resilient hybrid wheat?

Food makes us who we are. The ways we eat together change lives and communities. In this Sydney Ideas event, we bring together some of the best brains to cook up new ideas and solutions to shift how we think about food for the better. They serve inspired visions for changing the way we eat, produce and understand why food is so important.

- Juliet Bennett, a researcher applying critical social theory to systems of food production and consumption;
- Rebecca Cross, rural and environment geographer with insight into sustainable, regenerative farming and agricultural practices;
- Shadia Djakovic, a dietician bringing extensive experience in nutrition and health promotion;
- Sophie Gee (host), English professor, co-host of the popular literary classics podcast The Secret Life of Books, and author of The Barbarous Feast: Writing and Eating in the Eighteenth-Century World (forthcoming, Princeton University Press);

This Sydney Ideas event was presented on 22–23 October at Riverside Theatres, with the support of City of Parramatta as part of Parramatta Lanes, one of Sydney’s most exciting street festivals, transforming the city's streets, laneways and car parks into a playground of Eats, Beats and Art.

This podcast is a recording of a live public event held on 22 October 2025. For more links and resources, including the transcript, visit Sydney Ideas website: bit.ly/3LRYhNV

The social life of food - Part 1

<description>Join University of Sydney experts for fresh insights and evidence unlocking our understanding of healthy brain ageing. How might we all live – and stay – well, for longer, at any stage of life? 

Leading researchers at the Brain and Mind Centre are finding solutions for dementia, the second leading cause of death among all Australians and soon it will be the first, according to Dementia Australia. 

Neuroscientist Eleanor Drummond recently made some exciting headway in identifying proteins that are altered in the brain in the very first stages of Alzheimer’s disease and discovery of a new potential biomarker, and is currently working on translating this into the development of new drugs and biomarkers.

Clinician and researcher Olivier Piguet specialises in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and related younger-onset dementias. His successful intervention methods targeting behaviour and language have shown to improve quality of life and independence in patients and their families, reducing burden of care.  

Gilbert Knaggs is a researcher in sociology, and brings perspective on the ethics of dementia prevention, as well as concepts of ageing well and healthy ageing in society.

This podcast is a recording of a live public event held on 24 September 2025. For more links and resources, including the transcript, visit Sydney Ideas website: bit.ly/3JLDqv9</description>

Join University of Sydney experts for fresh insig…

Join University of Sydney experts for fresh insights and evidence unlocking our understanding of healthy brain ageing. How might we all live – and stay – well, for longer, at any stage of life? 

Leading researchers at the Brain and Mind Centre are finding solutions for dementia, the second leading cause of death among all Australians and soon it will be the first, according to Dementia Australia. 

Neuroscientist Eleanor Drummond recently made some exciting headway in identifying proteins that are altered in the brain in the very first stages of Alzheimer’s disease and discovery of a new potential biomarker, and is currently working on translating this into the development of new drugs and biomarkers.

Clinician and researcher Olivier Piguet specialises in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and related younger-onset dementias. His successful intervention methods targeting behaviour and language have shown to improve quality of life and independence in patients and their families, reducing burden of care.  

Gilbert Knaggs is a researcher in sociology, and brings perspective on the ethics of dementia prevention, as well as concepts of ageing well and healthy ageing in society.

This podcast is a recording of a live public event held on 24 September 2025. For more links and resources, including the transcript, visit Sydney Ideas website: bit.ly/3JLDqv9

Slow ageing

<description>Is Australia still the Lucky Country? In public opinion polling, more and more Australians believe things are, on the whole, getting worse than better. 

Various data such as the longstanding Scanlon Social Cohesion Report point to society becoming polarised. A culture of suspicion continues to grow around our most important institutions, and loneliness and social isolation is common across our community.

Against such concerning trends, what can be done? In this open discussion led by one of Australia’s foremost social researchers, author and University of Sydney alumna Dr Rebecca Huntley, we address three key, interconnected issues that will have a defining impact on national progress and prosperity, for generations to come. 

Featuring Dr Marlee Bower (Matilda Centre and Sydney Environment Institute), digital innovation expert Dr Raffaele F. Ciriello, refugee advocate and UN Women Australia MBA scholar ('24) Chantal Mousad, and economist Dr Suneha Seetahul (Australian Centre for Gender Equality and Inclusion at Work).

This podcast is a recording of a live public event held on 29 July 2025. For more links and resources, including the transcript, visit Sydney Ideas website: https://bit.ly/45pcUhU</description>

Is Australia still the Lucky Country? In public o…

Is Australia still the Lucky Country? In public opinion polling, more and more Australians believe things are, on the whole, getting worse than better. 

Various data such as the longstanding Scanlon Social Cohesion Report point to society becoming polarised. A culture of suspicion continues to grow around our most important institutions, and loneliness and social isolation is common across our community.

Against such concerning trends, what can be done? In this open discussion led by one of Australia’s foremost social researchers, author and University of Sydney alumna Dr Rebecca Huntley, we address three key, interconnected issues that will have a defining impact on national progress and prosperity, for generations to come. 

Featuring Dr Marlee Bower (Matilda Centre and Sydney Environment Institute), digital innovation expert Dr Raffaele F. Ciriello, refugee advocate and UN Women Australia MBA scholar ('24) Chantal Mousad, and economist Dr Suneha Seetahul (Australian Centre for Gender Equality and Inclusion at Work).

This podcast is a recording of a live public event held on 29 July 2025. For more links and resources, including the transcript, visit Sydney Ideas website: https://bit.ly/45pcUhU

The Ideas Roundtable: Is Australia alright?

Sydney Ideas is the University of Sydney's premier public lecture series program, bringing the world's leading thinkers and the latest research to the wider Sydney community.

Sydney Ideas

Details

Recent Episodes