Events

Upcoming events at Western Sydney University are listed below.

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• Aug 16
  Promiscuous Provenance | Art by Anna Glynn

  This exhibition encourages a re-examination of our relationship with our colonial past; is our identity built on a strange hybrid history?

  Exhibitions and performances
  This exhibition encourages a re-examination of our relationship with our colonial past; is our identity built on a strange hybrid history?

  Artist Anna Glynn is drawn to the work of the early colonial artists, whose depictions of Australian flora and fauna did not represent the landscape as it really was but instead drew on European forms and animals. Promiscuous Provenance encourages a re-examination of our relationship with our colonial past; is our identity as Australians built on a strange hybrid history, a ‘promiscuous provenance’? Using a range of different media, Glynn populates her own antipodean world with strange hybrid manifestations to invoke curiosity and wonder. Learn more at The Whitlam Institute website.

  Thu, 16 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +1000
• Aug 30
  ACIAC Exhibition: Three Perfections

  A Mid-Autumn Chinese Australian Artists’ Exhibition

  Exhibitions and performances
  A Mid-Autumn Chinese Australian Artists’ Exhibition

  This exhibition coincides with the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. In Chinese culture, the Festival falls on the fifteenth day of the eighth month on the lunar calendar. Also called the Moon Festival, it is meant to offer thanks for a great autumn harvest and to celebrate family reunion. While marking this Festival as an important part of the Chinese culture, this modest exhibition also joins in the effort at celebrating the artistic achievements of the Chinese Australian community here in Sydney.

  The exhibition brings together eighteen artworks of five artists. They are Huang Qinghui, David Liu, Sun Mingcai, Wang Mingke and Chen Bingbing. These five artists represent a curiously various and diverse combination. With Huang in his nineties and Chen in her thirties, they represent almost five different generations in the Chinese Australian community, whose works also give expression to radically different artistic sensibilities. Huang and Liu are well-renowned calligraphers whose works range from poetry to Buddhist scripture. Sun’s landscape scrolls take you back to the poetic grandeur of Tang Dynasty. Wang and Chen’s works are both miniatures in size but they stand on the ends of a broad stylistic spectrum: one is highly traditional, the other extremely avant-garde and expressionistic.

  The five artists share an intense awareness of and a common interest in each other’s art forms. One sees in this exhibition a meaningful co-existence of poetry, calligraphy and painting. In ancient China, poetry, calligraphy and painting were separate artistic forms. But after the Tang Dynasty, they became frequently interconnected because, in the eyes of many, painting is “silent poetry” and poetry “painting with sound”. Since the seventh century, Chinese poets, calligraphers and painters have often worked together on an artwork, and merging different arts together, they have often created works known as “three perfections”.

  This exhibition has its name from one of ACIAC’s Advisory Board members, Dr Edmund Capon, who is former Director of the Art Gallery of NSW and a celebrated expert on classical Chinese art. The exhibition was put together by another of our Advisory Board members, Dr Helen Sham-Ho, former NSW parliamentarian and incumbent President of the Asia Pacific Professional Managers Association. Dr Capon and Dr Sham-Ho, like our other Advisory Board members, share a genuine interest in the work of Chinese Australian artists and have stood firm on the importance of promoting cross-cultural exchange. The Chinese Mid-Autumn is a time of looking up and sharing the same moon in its fullness and it is hoped that exhibitions like this will help build mutual awareness in the Australian artistic community and promote collaboration between individual artists.

  Thu, 30 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +1000
• Oct 12
  Circuit Breaker

  Circuit Breaker, a collection of artworks made by the residents of Odyssey House NSW, an adult residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation program

  Exhibitions and performances
  General public, students, staff
  Circuit Breaker, a collection of artworks made by the residents of Odyssey House NSW, an adult residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation program

  Circuit Breaker is a collection of artworks made by the residents of Odyssey House NSW, an adult residential Drug and alcohol rehabilitation program located in south-western Sydney. Since 1977, Odyssey House has been providing hope and inspiring positive change for those affected by drugs and alcohol. Effectively, Odyssey House is like a circuit breaker to break the cycle of addiction and crime. Through the Program, residents are able to take control of and rebuild their lives. Their stories are reflected in the artworks in this exhibition.

  Fri, 12 Oct 2018 11:00:00 +1100
• Oct 26
  Writing & Society Research Centre seminar

  Special Seminar on Literary Translation: with Chris Andrews, Valentina Gosetti & Jim Rheingans

  academic events; Conferences and seminars
  All welcome
  Special Seminar on Literary Translation: with Chris Andrews, Valentina Gosetti & Jim Rheingans

  *Problems and Constraints in Literary Translation – Chris Andrews, Writing & Society Research Centre, WSU *Translating a Polyphony of Voices: Poetry Anthologists as Cultural Mediators - Dr Valentina Gosetti, University of New England, UNE Sydney campus *Translating Tibetan Spiritual Poetry in Context: The Songs of the Scholar-Meditator Karma Thrinlepa (1456–1539) - Jim Rheingans, The University of Sydney

  Fri, 26 Oct 2018 13:00:00 +1100
• Oct 27
  Mind the Gap - Tending the Interface of art and therapy

  An exhibition featuring artworks by Andrew Bromley, Catherine Camden-Pratt, Johanna Davies, Kate Deacock, Mandy Evans, Elizabeth Fitzgerald, Joanna Jaaniste, Anita Lever, Joy Paton, Suzanne Perry, Martin Roberts, Sheridan Linnell and Sarah Versitano

  Exhibitions and performances
  General public,students, staff
  An exhibition featuring artworks by Andrew Bromley, Catherine Camden-Pratt, Johanna Davies, Kate Deacock, Mandy Evans, Elizabeth Fitzgerald, Joanna Jaaniste, Anita Lever, Joy Paton, Suzanne Perry, Martin Roberts, Sheridan Linnell and Sarah Versitano

  Mind the Gap – Tending the Interface of Art and Therapy From early training days as emerging art therapists to professionals in the field, the call to maintain an arts practice reverberates throughout the career of art therapy practitioners and educators. But how is this creative expression cultivated within the matrix of work, family and community commitments? In Mind the Gap, a group of multi-generational art therapists have responded to this challenge by carving out precious time to produce new work or reconnect to their creative practice through the act of exhibiting artwork to new audiences. Tending to this important part of the art therapist’s ongoing professional development, Mind the Gap has been co-curated by Joy Paton and Anita Lever to provide a creative platform for generating important conversations about the ‘interface’ where art and therapy overlap and co-exist. Through the act of exhibiting, art therapy practitioner-educators from the Western Sydney University Master of Art Therapy program are visibly ‘minding the gap’ to ensure the space between can be collectively negotiated in a way that honours the individual arts practice of each participating artist.

  Exhibiting Artists: Andrew Bromley, Catherine Camden-Pratt, Johanna Davies, Kate Deacock, Mandy Evans, Elizabeth Fitzgerald, Joanna Jaaniste, Anita Lever, Joy Paton, Suzanne Perry, Martin Roberts, Sheridan Linnell and Sarah Versitano

  Sat, 27 Oct 2018 14:00:00 +1100
• Oct 31
  School of Law Public Seminar Series: Human Rights, Big Data and My Health Record

  Human Rights, Big Data and My Health Record

  Conferences and seminars
  Human Rights, Big Data and My Health Record

  Human Rights, Big Data and My Health Seminar. The Federal Government's roll out of MyHealth Record has put medical data privacy and confidentiality of health data at the fore of Australia's MyHealth system. It raises questions about consumer confidence in the security of health records particularly as the private health service providers reported the most breaches, ahead of the financial and legal sectors, to the Office of the Australian Information Commission between 1 April and 30 June. In this Seminar a panel of experts will address the impact of Big Data on human rights, privacy and health records, the broader question of how Big Data are used in practice and the government's policies about access and use of health data is a matter of concern.

  Wed, 31 Oct 2018 17:30:00 +1100
• Oct 31
  Book Launch: The Creativity Hoax: Precarious Work and the Gig Economy

  Join us for the launch of Associate Professor George Morgan's latest publication.

  academic events
  Join us for the launch of Associate Professor George Morgan's latest publication.

  We would like to invite you to attend the launch of The Creativity Hoax: Precarious Work and the Gig Economy, a newly published book co-authored by Institute for Culture and Society researcher, Associate Professor George Morgan.

  'The Creativity Hoax' argues that creativity, the leitmotif of new capitalism, has become a key neo-liberal idiom for reorganizing work and working life in ways that erode communal bonds, loyalties and values and blur the boundaries between work and play, public and private. However, the creative economy remains a largely unrealized project, a fantasy of regeneration. Despite the inflated rhetoric of vocational fulfilment, much work performed in the West remains low-skilled and low-paid. Very few make a living exclusively from creative labour whether as employees, freelancers, or entrepreneurs. For the most part it is transnational cultural corporations that reap the patentable or copyrightable bounty, belying the egalitarian myths of the new economy. [NP] The challenge for capital has been to habituate the precariat to the condition of abeyance. In order to tolerate un/underemployment or jobs where skills and talents are underutilized (retail, hospitality or on the edges of creative industries), young workers need to be persuaded that vocational fulfilment and financial security are attainable. 'The Creativity Hoax' draws on extensive interview and observation research with creative aspirants - from technical, production and performance fields - who wrestle with the prospect and reality of poverty and unfulfilled ambition.

  Join us at 6pm on Wednesday 31 October at The Gasoline Pony, Marrackville, where Professor Susan Luckman, head of the Creative Industries School at the University of South Australia, will launch the new book.

  The event is free to attend, but please register on Eventbrite for catering purposes: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-creativity-hoax-precarious-work-and-the-gig-economy-book-launch-tickets-50205657473(opens in a new window)

  Wed, 31 Oct 2018 18:00:00 +1100
• Nov 1
  HumanNature Series: Environmental Martyrdom and the Fate of the Forests

  Professor Rob Nixon investigates why growing numbers of environmental activists are risking their freedom and lives to protect the environment.

  academic events
  Professor Rob Nixon investigates why growing numbers of environmental activists are risking their freedom and lives to protect the environment.

  Environmental martyrs put their bodies and lives on the line, risking imprisonment, violence or burial in a shallow grave in the dead of night. Some activists remain anonymous, while others gain posthumous fame and power, their deaths becoming a rallying call for others to join the cause. Rob Nixon, Professor in Humanities and Environment at Princeton University and author of the award-winning Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor, explores the surge in environmental martyrdom around the world over timber, water, land and mineral rights. Martyrdom is direct action in extremis, he says. But why are so many people sacrificing their lives? And what is the relationship between the fallen martyr and the felled tree?

  6.00 pm: Welcome drink & refreshments.

  6.30 pm: Talk and Q&A.

  Admission: $16 AM member / $20 Adult / $18 Concession and tickets can be purchased through the Australian Museum website(opens in a new window).

  Staff and students from Western Sydney University, the University of New South Wales, Macquarie University, the University of Sydney are eligible for discounted tickets. Email our office via ics@westernsydney.edu.au for your discount code.

  This Lecture Series is jointly funded and coordinated by Western Sydney University, the University of New South Wales, Macquarie University, the University of Sydney and Australian Museum.

  Thu, 01 Nov 2018 18:00:00 +1100
• Nov 4
  Three Bridges Run

  If running is your passion you’ve come to the right place.

  Social events
  If running is your passion you’ve come to the right place.

  The Three Bridges run is an 8, 21 & 28km run along Parramatta River, only 30mins West of Sydney CBD. The course takes in the sites of George Kendall Riverside Park, Meadowbank Park, Rhodes Point, and Newington Nature Reserve using the Parramatta Valley shared use path. With stunning river views showcasing the beauty of this area, it’s one not to be missed.

  WSU students are eligible for a 15% discount. The discount code is "WSU2018".

  Sun, 04 Nov 2018 07:00:00 +1100
• Nov 6
  Melbourne Cup Penrith (Kingswood) Campus

  The Penrith Provost Campus Committee warmly invites you to celebrate the race that stops the nation.

  Social events
  Staff and Students
  The Penrith Provost Campus Committee warmly invites you to celebrate the race that stops the nation. Dear colleagues, The Penrith Provost Campus Committee warmly invites you to celebrate the race that stops the nation. The Melbourne Cup will be screened on two large televisions, with complimentary finger food and two drinks vouchers included. Date: Tuesday 6 November Time: 2.00pm–3.30pm Location: Penrith (Kingswood) campus, Food Hub, Building O This function is open to both staff and students. Sweeps will be available to purchase and prizes will be awarded on the day. Please RSVP to Penrith Provost at penrithprovost@westernsydney.edu.au by Thursday 1 November for catering purposes. I hope you can join us for what promises to be a fun afternoon. Regards Kevin Dunn Provost, Penrith Campus
  Tue, 06 Nov 2018 14:00:00 +1100
• Nov 14
  ACIAC Seminar: Accessibility and Inclusiveness - Context and Text in Translating 'The Handmaid's Tale' into Chinese on SBS

  Dr Jing Han will deliver a seminar on subtitling critically-acclaimed drama, 'The Handmaid's Tale' on SBS.

  academic events; Conferences and seminars
  Dr Jing Han will deliver a seminar on subtitling critically-acclaimed drama, 'The Handmaid's Tale' on SBS.

  DETAILS

  • Date: Wednesday, 14 November 2018 Time: 2.00 - 3.00pm
  • Venue: EA.G.03, Australia-China Institute for Arts and Culture, Parramatta Campus (South), Western Sydney University
  • Limited seats. RSVP Essential. Please RSVP before 13 November, 2018.

  ABSTRACT

  Australia is a migrant country, with the bulk of its immigrants coming traditionally from the British Isles and other European countries. Over the last two decades, there has been a marked increase in migrants from Asia, the Middle East and Africa. In 2006, Italian was the first most spoken language other than English (LOTE) in Australia; by 2011 it had fallen to number two. In the 2016 Census, Italian was only the fifth most spoken LOTE, followed by Greek as the sixth and Spanish as the ninth. In the decade to 2016 Mandarin grew by over 170%, and the total number of Chinese speakers now exceeds 927,000. In the list of the top ten most-spoken languages other than English, Arabic is now number two, with 321,728 speakers. It is followed by Vietnamese, Tagalog, Hindi and Punjabi. It is also relevant to note that from 2011 to 2016, the number of Australians who spoke a language other than English at home increased by almost one million, to 4.9 million. Australia, as a rapidly changing culturally diverse nation, strongly supports multilingualism and multiculturalism, with federal and state governments providing comprehensive translation and interpreting services in up to 104 languages and dialects. The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) – one of Australia's two public broadcasters – focuses on multilingual and multicultural broadcasting for the purpose of enhancing a diverse but inclusive and cohesive society. Traditionally, SBS added English subtitles to programs in LOTE. In the last ten years, however, it began to subtitle in LOTE selected English-language programs that it had commissioned, with the biggest success being the three-part documentary series Once Upon A Time In Cabramatta (2012). Because a focal point of the series was the language barrier between English-speaking children and Vietnamese-speaking parents, the English version and a Vietnamese subtitled version were simulcast on SBS1 and SBS2 respectively. Most programs selected for subtitling in LOTE were SBS commissioned documentaries; the sole exception was an Australian comedy series featuring a Chinese migrant family, which was subtitled into Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean. While this series was very popular with English-speaking audiences, the subtitled versions had only modest success, with the feedback being that the storylines were too familiar to people from those communities. In July 2017 SBS exclusively premiered the critically-acclaimed The Handmaid’s Tale in Australia. This intriguing dystopian drama series attracted a record number of viewers. To enable even more viewers to enjoy the series, SBS decided to subtitle it in Chinese. This is the first time that SBS has subtitled an acquired English-language program in LOTE. The project was carried out in a unique partnership with Western Sydney University, which offers a comprehensive course in audio-visual translation. Dr Jing Han, the author of the initiative who led the project, will speak about the cultural and linguistic challenges encountered in subtitling this highly nuanced and complex drama into Chinese, challenges that are particularly revealed in the series’ range of language characteristics, including colloquial and crude expressions. The fact that Chinese communities in Australia are very diverse because some Chinese speaking people come from mainland China, while others come from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Fuji, etc, also poses a special challenge to the translation. Dr Han also subtitled the second season of The Handmaid’s Tale premiered in April 2018 on SBS. By the way, do you know what the most difficult English word to be translated into Chinese is? Dr Han will reveal the answer at the seminar.

  Wed, 14 Nov 2018 14:00:00 +1100
• Nov 19
  Border Politics: Screening and Q&A with Julian Burnside AO QC

  Has the West lost its moral compass?

  Social events
  Has the West lost its moral compass?

  HAS THE WEST LOST ITS MORAL COMPASS?

  The Whitlam Institute is delighted to host the first Parramatta screening of Border Politics, a documentary that follows human rights barrister Julian Burnside AO QC as he travels the globe examining the harsh treatment of refugees at the hands of western democracies. The screening will be followed by a Q&A discussion with Burnside himself, as well as filmmaker Judy Rymer. This powerful contemporary film is about the threat to human rights, the loss of democratic values and our increasingly heartless treatment of ‘the other’. Burnside questions whether the West has lost its moral compass by adopting ideas that reject humanity and undermine democracy, and issues a challenge to us all: “It is not adequate to look back in future ages and say we regret what we did.”

  • Date: Monday 19 November 2018
  • Time: 6:30pm-9:30pm
  • Location: Riverside Theatre, Parramatta
  • Tickets: $15
  Mon, 19 Nov 2018 18:30:00 +1100
• Nov 26
  International Conference on Human Rights Education

  The 9th International Conference on Human Rights Education (9th ICHRE).

  Conferences and seminars
  The 9th International Conference on Human Rights Education (9th ICHRE).

  The 9th International Conference on Human Rights Education (9th ICHRE) coincides with the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 25th anniversary of the education-oriented Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. Much work has been done to improve knowledge and education about these principles of human rights globally. But there is still much work to do to embed these principles into everyday thinking where they can underpin civil society. On this anniversary, the 9th ICHRE will explore the question: how can human rights education (HRE) develop and strengthen civil society and transform the ways in which civil society works? The 9th ICHRE aims to develop a Sydney Declaration on how HRE can strengthen civil society as an agent for positive change.

  Mon, 26 Nov 2018 11:00:00 +1100
• Dec 3
  DH Downunder

  DH Downunder is a one-week summer institute open to staff, students and anyone else who would like to learn digital research methods.

  academic events; Training and skill upgrade
  students, researchers, librarians
  DH Downunder is a one-week summer institute open to staff, students and anyone else who would like to learn digital research methods. DH Downunder is a Digital Humanities / Digital Research Methods Summer Institute in the tradition of DHSI and similar international summer institutes. It runs from 3-7 December 2018. It is co-hosted by Western Sydney University and the University of Sydney, located on the University of Sydney campus, with classes also offered by colleagues from the Australian National University, and the University of Victoria in Canada. We provide training in cutting edge Digital Research methods and approaches. People with all kinds of backgrounds are welcome, including students, academic staff, PhD and postdoctoral researchers, librarians and professional staff.The classes have a humanities/social sciences orientation, but people from other disciplines are also welcome.
  Mon, 03 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +1100
• Jan 16
  Researching Post-Capitalist Possibilities PhD Summer School

  A 6-day Summer School course for PhD candidates and early career researchers.

  academic events; Conferences and seminars
  A 6-day Summer School course for PhD candidates and early career researchers.

  Taught by Professor Katherine Gibson, Dr Stephen Healy and members of the Community Economies Collective Research Network.

  When: 16-18, 21-23 January 2019

  Where: Parramatta City Campus, Western Sydney University

  What role can the humanities and social sciences play in making other worlds possible? What capacities do we have as scholars to shape the world? What ethical responsibilities and earthly cares come with this work? These are difficult questions. The answers we might give benefit from collective thinking and learning. Researching Post-Capitalist Possibilities is a short course that offers PhD students and early career researchers (ECRS) the opportunity to explore these questions with scholar members of the Community Economies Collective who have been thinking outside or beyond capitalist relations since the publication of J.K. Gibson-Graham’s The End of Capitalism (As We Knew It): A Feminist Critique of Political Economy in 1996. Course Overview: The first three days of the course will explore the conceptual foundations of feminist post-capitalist thinking. The second three days will focus on how to imagine and enact post-capitalist possibilities through research practice. Prior reading preparation will be required.

  How to Apply: Applications are open to currently enrolled PhD candidates and early career researchers (no more than 5 years out of PhD).

  Expressions of Interest in attending this Summer School should be registered on the following Google Form by 30 September 2018: http://bit.ly/2nVBp1W(opens in a new window). For more details please contact stephen.healy@westernsydney.edu.au or check out the Summer School page at http://bit.ly/2MHxsM0.

  Wed, 16 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +1100
• Jul 17
  7th International and Interdisciplinary Emotional Geographies Conference, 17-19 July 2019

  Hosted by School of Social Sciences & Psychology (SSAP), Western Sydney University

  Conferences and seminars
  Hosted by School of Social Sciences & Psychology (SSAP), Western Sydney University

  Western Sydney University has the privilege to host the 7th International and Interdisciplinary Emotional Geographies Conference at Parramatta South Campus. This well-known international conference showcases interdisciplinary scholarship that addresses and advances the field of emotional geographies. The conference is linked to the international journal Emotion, Space and Society, published by Elsevier, which Professor Andrew Gorman-Murray (SSAP) co-edits with Dr Kye Askins (University of Glasgow) and Associate Professor Kate Swanson (San Diego State University). The conference has been held previously at: Lancaster, UK, 2002; Kingston, Canada, 2006; Adelaide, Australia, 2010; Groningen, The Netherlands, 2013; Edinburgh, UK, 2015; and Long Beach, USA, 2017.Building on a lineage of internationalisation and interdisciplinarity, the seventh conference promises to provide a forum for researchers from different disciplines to investigate and explore the role of emotion and affect in social and spatial processes.

  About Western Sydney University and the Conference Theme

  The geography discipline at Western Sydney University is rated 4 (above world standard) in the Excellence for Research in Australia (ERA) framework, and is ranked in the Top 200 globally by the QS University Rankings. Western Sydney University has diverse, multidisciplinary expertise in emotional geographies, encompassing researchers from a range of disciplines, including geography, heritage studies, sociology, anthropology, cultural studies and education. Work within emotional geographies speaks to Western Sydney University’s four research themes: Urban Living and Society, Health and Wellbeing, Education and Work, and Environment and Sustainability. The 7th International and Interdisciplinary Emotional Geographies Conference provides an excellent setting to enrich the engagement of emotional geographies with these research themes.

  Conference Chair

  Professor Andrew Gorman-Murray

  • E: a.gorman-murray@westernsydney.edu.au
  • Professor of Geography, School of Social Sciences and Psychology
  • Director, Urban Research Program, School of Social Sciences and Psychology
  • Member, Sexualities and Genders Research, School of Social Sciences and Psychology

  Organising Committee

  • Associate Professor Denis Byrne
  • Dr Jenna Condie
  • Dr Sarah de Nardi
  • Dr Stephen Healy
  • Dr Garth Lean
  • Dr Gerda Roelvink
  • Dr Hayley Saul
  • Associate Professor Emma Waterton

  Event Coordinator Yinghua Yu E| y.yu@westernsydney.edu.au PhD candidate, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University

  Keynote speakers(opens in a new window)

  Professor Paul Kingsbury

  • E: kingsbury@sfu.ca
  • Professor of Geography, Simon Fraser University

  Dr Catherine Robinson

  • E: catheriner@anglicare-tas.org.au
  • Social Research and Analysis, Social Action and Research Centre (SARC), Anglicare Tasmania Inc.

  Registration

  • Call for themed sessions due: 10 December 2018
  • Call for abstracts due: 4 March 2019
  • Call for activities for HDR training and mentoring event due: 4 March 2019
  • Program release: 15 April 2019
  • Early bird registration due: 13 May 2019
  • Registration due: 17 June 2019

  The conference registration opens now, and we offer a range of discounted pricing below:

  • Early bird full registration: $325
  • Full registration: $375
  • Early bird student registration: $200
  • Student registration: $225
  Wed, 17 Jul 2019 09:00:00 +1000