February
Melbourne Conversations: Homes for All
Without intervention, we could be seeing a shortfall of 23,200 homes by 2036. Everyone in the community benefits when housing is funded and delivered. The question is, what are the plans to make sure that every community member has access to housing close to jobs and services?
The complexity and extent of the housing crisis needs a comprehensive, targeted response. This panel explores affordable housing options available now and in the near future, along with ways to create pathways out of homelessness – at pace and scale.
Our experts will discuss their roles in innovating, advocating and collaborating to invest in our housing future.
Presented in partnership with Homes Melbourne.
March
Melbourne Conversations: Friendship Speed Dating for International Students
At this fun and interactive Melbourne Conversations, you'll have the opportunity to meet international students from a variety of education institutions. Chat with potential friends for a few minutes at a time, and then move on to the next person. While this event is especially great for international students, please note everyone is welcome!
In addition to friendship speed dating hosted by Ladies of Leisure, we'll also have speakers who will get the conversations started about food, fashion and things to do in Melbourne. You'll have the opportunity to learn more about the city and its vibrant culture, and to share your own experiences.
We'll provide delicious free snacks and refreshments to keep you fuelled throughout the event. Whether you're new to Melbourne or have been here for a while, this is a great opportunity to make new connections.
Presented in partnership with State Library Victoria and Meld Community.
April
Melbourne Conversations: Art & Activism
Meet the next generation who are advocating for systemic solutions to climate change. Youth activists are leading the charge for urgent policy and behaviour shifts, and asking what role art can play in helping us heed generational responsibility for the climate crisis.
Our material world is rapidly destabilising under the throes of the climate crisis, transforming into something entirely unrecognisable. As we are forced to confront an increasingly intangible world - one of previously unthinkable levels of connection, facilitated by what can only be described as digital autocracies - our foundational understandings of self and community are uprooted.
What is the role of art in providing a new means to understand our current circumstances, and how can it cut through or have impact in an overstimulated world?
Presented in partnership with Chamber Made.
Speakers include Associate Artists Theo Boltman (16 year old transgender nonbinary writer, activist, performer and high school student). Jean Hinchliffe (climate justice activist and writer), Jay Patel (currently completing a Bachelor of Communications, exploring the intersection of the arts and political sciences), Ella Simons (15-year-old activist, performer and high school student) and hosted by Alex Kelly (Producer, director)
May
Melbourne Conversations: Dating Games
If you’ve ever ‘run out of potential matches in your area’ you know that in the dating game, we’re facing off against addictive swiping and the paradox of choice.
What is in store for the next 10 years of dating? Tech companies have created a multi-billion dollar industry by gamifying our hearts and creating dating services - but who is really being serviced? Will AI set us up with even better matches or will it ingrain our existing prejudices? Are we ready to break up with traditional dating and change who and how we love?
Our speakers will investigate these questions from the perspective of research, wellness and lived experience.
Join us for a panel with spicy presenters and then kick-on to enjoy the bar afterwards. Who knows who you might meet?
Speakers include: Tully Walter (Futurist, Trend Forecaster, Cultural Strategist at Soon Futures), Vanessa Muradian (Sexologist, founder of the sex and wellness platform Mia Muse), Emily van der Nagel (Author Sex and Social Media, lecturer in social media at Monash University) and hosted by Santilla Chingaipe (Historian, journalist, filmmaker and host of Date my Race. RMIT graduate)
June
Melbourne Conversations: The Future of Social Enterprise
Social enterprises have transformed the conception of how business can give back. Consumers now expect their providers to have a charitable aspect, workers expect to work for a company with purpose. The bravery and ambitiousness of social enterprise businesses to wrestle with doing good in a capitalist system is immense.
Now, however, we are faced with a new set of challenges. How do we certify purpose-driven enterprises? What are the rules needed to keep consumers and workers safe? Can we reconcile values and capitalism? In the next 10 years, how will social enterprise mature into a fully-fledged business-as-usual idea? And who will be leading these ideas?
Tara Anderson (CEO Social Traders), Adam Jacoby (Co-Founder & Chief Impact Officer, Immuto), Nathaniel Diong (CEO Future Minds Network) and hosted by Elizabeth Kulas (NPR’s Planet Money, Reply All, WNYC).
July
Melbourne Conversations: Genetics Vs. Sport
Are super athletes born or made? Join us this month as our panel of experts takes on the nature vs nurture debate in sports and genetics. From cultural norms to scientific factors, the field of sports is a complex and fascinating arena. Whether you're an Olympic weightlifter or a basketball player, your genetics can give you an edge, but they're not the only factors at play. Family support, economic status, coaching, training and diet also make a difference.
Join our experts as they explore the latest scientific research, unpack the social implications of athletic excellence, and discuss how these important conversations can improve health, guide policy, and put the emphasis on evidence-based decisions.
Darcy Moore (Captain of Collingwood FC), Melissa Tapper (Paralympian) Prof. Kathryn North AC (Neurologist and Geneticist) hosted by Tracey Holmes (ABC Sports Journalist).
Presented in Partnership with the International Congress of Genetics.
Listen at Genetics and Sport: What's the Future Look Like?
August
Melbourne Conversations: Communication and Deep Time
Communication and Deep Time explores the intricate relationship between language and code. Drawing inspiration from ancient and speculative realms, this discussion delves into the conveyance of cultural expression, empathy, and bias through diverse vocabularies and sentient technologies.
Artist Michaela Gleave, along with exhibiting artist and creative technologist Georgie Pinn, and other contributors, delve into the notions of connection, vulnerability, and storytelling in our future past.
Presented in Partnership with Experimenta Social and Library at the Dock.
Melbourne Conversations: Future Nature Future City
Future Nature Future City brings together commissioned artist Jon McCormack, landscape architect Jock Gilbert, and other contributors to offer interdisciplinary perspectives on urban development, landscape design, community, and connectivity.
Through the lenses of art, technology, and architecture, this conversation reimagines our relationship with sustainability and place. It explores the concept of a "future natural" and investigates how humans, along with organic and inorganic forms, can interact and engage in dialogue with each other.
Presented in Partnership with Experimenta Social and Library at the Dock.
October
Melbourne Conversations: Food Waste is Bananas
A panel of celebrated food, design and hospo trailblazers will come together for a passionate discussion about food waste and packaging on an evening at The Capitol, where audience members will hear about the latest in food waste transformation, and experience first-hand delicious and innovative solutions to food and packaging conundrums.
Eat transformed peels, rinds, edible cups and more, and explore the possibilities of seaweed based bioplastics! Lauded food, hospo and design experts Dani Valent, Joost Bakker, Helen Addison-Smith, Laura Boulton, and Jessie French will provoke the audience to reconsider how they consume food and how they can transform waste in this fun and lively evening of conversation and eating.
Presented in partnership with RMIT Culture.
Listen at Food waste is bananas. So what are you going to do about it?
November
Melbourne Conversations: I’ve Been to a Parallel World
What if you could learn from a person who has been to another world? This event takes the premise at the heart of The Parallel Effect project – that an untold number of universes exist alongside each other. You’re invited to gain direct access to some of our reality’s most fascinating thinkers as they describe the histories, structures and systemic workings of the parallel worlds they have visited, in detail.
Join panelists Caroline Bowditch, Jinghua Qian, Zena Cumpston and Georgina Woods to hear about worlds where access and equity have been prioritised, worlds without gender, worlds centring truth telling as a means of healing for people and country, and worlds where climate change has been dramatically slowed and nearly halted towards the end of the twentieth century. This event will be hosted by The Parallel Effect's Daz Chandler.
Presented in partnership with The Parallel Effect.