What’s in a name? In a vibrant, multicultural society like Australia, names hold deep personal, cultural, and historical meaning.

Yet too often, non-Anglo names are mispronounced, altered, or avoided—reflecting lingering colonial legacies and contributing to the marginalisation of diverse identities in workplaces, schools, and community life.

In this panel discussion, community voices, academics, and thought leaders explore how respectful name recognition can foster deeper inclusion.

The event was facilitated by Dr Elaine Laforteza and Dr Zozan Balci from UTS.

Dr Elaine Laforteza has a PhD in Cultural Studies. She is the Equity and Diversity Project Officer (Cultural Diversity) at the UTS Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion. She has held academic positions at Macquarie University, Charles Sturt University, and most recently in the School of Communication at UTS. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed academic journals and community media, and her book ‘The Somatechnics of Whiteness and Race’ is available through Routledge.

Elaine hosts SBS’s award-winning podcast, ‘My Bilingual Family’, and is also an emerging playwright, producing plays for various festivals in Sydney.

Dr Zozan Balci is an academic and sociolinguist in the School of Communications. An expert in life history interviewing, she excels at transforming research into powerful storytelling that resonates with a broad range of audiences.

As a passionate social justice advocate, she connects researchers and students with real-world issues for social change, earning multiple awards for her work with not-for-profits and community organisations through the Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion. Her new book, ‘Erased Voices and Unspoken Heritage’ is available through Routledge.

Jie Pittman is a proud First Nations cultural educator, entrepreneur, and storyteller from the Gadigal-Darug, Murramurang/Budawang Dhurga-Yuin, Kooma, Wiradjuri, and Ngemba nations. As CEO of Jie Pittman Pty Ltd, he leads nationally recognised programs such as the 10 Elements Cultural Exchange and the Liven Deadly Program, which embed Aboriginal cultural identity and healing into education, government, and corporate spaces.

Jie brings lived experience and a deep understanding of the power of names as anchors of belonging, resilience, and intergenerational strength. His contribution to Say Our Name offers a decolonised lens on how name recognition can restore dignity, strengthen community identity, and create culturally safe spaces across schools, workplaces, and society.

Koon Lai is an executive coach and leadership facilitator with over two decades of experience with PwC. A seasoned executive, she brings deep lived experience to her transformative coaching, equipping culturally diverse leaders with the...

What do you need to know to prosper as a people for 65,000 years or more?

Alison Page is really obsessed with training up a new generation of Aboriginal designers and that’s been a driving force behind her book, Design and Building on Country: First Knowledges for Younger Readers, co-authored with anthropologist and architect Paul Memmott.

It’s a rework of Design and Building on Country, published in 2021 as part of Thames & Hudson’s First Knowledges series.

In this short talk, hear...

• How did lego get Alison into design?
• What does it mean to design with Country?
• How can design be used as a form of storytelling and knowledge-keeping?
• What does 'form follows Country' mean in the context of design education?
• What is 'biomimicry' and how did First Nations people use it in design?
• How can traditional Aboriginal design principles be applied in contemporary Australian architecture and urban planning?
• How can design reconnect people with a sense of belonging and community?

Alison then talks Dillon Kombumerri, a principal architect and co-creator of the 'Connecting with Country' framework. They discuss the growth of Indigenous presence in design, the challenges of integrating cultural principles into urban settings, and the importance of designing for both cultural expression and environmental sustainability.

Alison Page is a First Nations artist, designer and filmmaker who co-creates with Aboriginal communities, organisations and cultural practitioners, to bring the power of Indigenous storytelling to public spaces primarily to awaken the memory of Country.

Hailing from Yugambeh and Quandamooka Country, Dillon Kombumerri is a Professor of Practice at the Cities Institute. He is also Principal Architect for the Government Architect NSW and has over 30 years of experience bringing his own unique indigenous perspective to re-imaging the built environment.

This episode was recorded at UTS House as part of SXSW Sydney 2024.

UTS House at SXSW Sydney 2024 explored future trends and emerging technology from leading academics and industry experts in a series of interviews and panel discussions across the week.

Impact Talks at UTS is produced by UTS Impact Studios, with sound engineering by Alison Zhuang.

How do you build successful businesses while creating meaningful impact?

How can companies foster inclusive cultures during periods of growth?

Panelists share their journeys and offer insights on navigating the complexities of entrepreneurship, advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion and responding to current societal shifts.

Famey Williams (Githabul), Chief Executive, Aboriginal Housing Office. Famey has over 18 years’ experience working with Aboriginal communities across NSW Government and non-profit sectors, her community and culture serve as a barometer in her roles and she looks to bring that lens to all her interactions professionally.

Gunjan Wadhwa, Co-founder of Astra Health AI. Gunjan has over 10 years of experience across the Technology, Financial Services, Consulting, and Healthcare industries. At Astra Health AI, their mission is to transform the healthcare experience with the power of AI for the better. They are passionate about making it more streamlined and centred around patients.

Heather Thomson, Chief Operating Officer, Global Sisters. Heather’s 25-year professional career has been dedicated to social and economic justice for women. At Global Sisters, she works to scale impact, supporting thousands of women to reach their full economic potential & create a ripple effect of change in their family, community and society.

Adama Kamara, Founder of Just Shea, a skincare brand that uses African botanicals in its formulations and draws deeply from her West African heritage. She has a social background in social services and is a member of the organizing committee for the Africultures Festival, Australia's largest African arts and cultural festival. She is also the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Refugee Council of Australia.

Gabriella Maselli McGrail, Director & Producer, Maselli Film. Gabriella's filmmaking approach empowers creatives through collaboration, reflecting her dynamic career and commitment to championing women.

The panel is chaired by Dr Claire Wright, lecturer and business historian at the UTS Business School teaching and researching Australian corporate networks, governance and diversity in leadership.

Impact Talks at UTS is produced by UTS Impact Studios, with sound engineering by Alison Zhuang.

Kidfluencers are social media influencers with accounts managed by adults.

This global trend casts children as brand ambassadors but with their ‘everyday life’ as the show.

• What's the risk of harm to kid influencers?
• Can children consent to their private life being readily available online?
• How do we draw the line between play and labour?
• What is 'playbour'?
• When a guardian controls the 'talent', how do children access income?
• If you're a guardian of a kidfluencer, or a parent sharing content about your kids, what practical things can protect their privacy on social media?

Speakers

Dr Genevieve Wilkinson, senior lecturer in the Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney.

Kate Delmo, Head of Discipline for Strategic Communication in the School of Communication, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Technology Sydney.

Stephanie Scicchitano, PR expert from Born Bred Talent

Chantel Mila Ibbotson, content creator

This episode was recorded at UTS House as part of SXSW Sydney 2024.

UTS House at SXSW Sydney 2024 explored future trends and emerging technology from leading academics and industry experts in a series of interviews and panel discussions across the week.

Impact Talks at UTS is produced by UTS Impact Studios, with sound engineering by Alison Zhuang.

For the first time, a new report quantifies the employment and educational impacts of domestic violence on Australian women.

Professor Anne Summers AO’s new report, The Cost of domestic violence to women’s employment and education, quantifies the financial impact on women for the first time.

This report builds on her groundbreaking previous report, The Choice: Violence or Poverty.

Professor Summers presented the grim findings that show the experience of domestic violence is responsible for women’s lower labour force participation rate, and for students dropping out of university without completing their degrees. Both have significant implications for women’s longer-term financial well-being.

In this session, Professor Summers and Jess Hill discussed the implications of these findings for women’s progress towards full equality, and what they mean for our continuing struggle to reduce domestic violence.

This event was hosted by the UTS Business School and Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion. Watch a video recording of the event.

Speakers

Anne Summers AO is currently Professor of Domestic and Family Violence at the University of Technology of Sydney Business School. She has been awarded substantial funding by the Paul Ramsay Foundation and UTS to continue her innovative data-based research into domestic violence in Australia. Her report, The Choice: Violence or Poverty (2022), used previously unpublished ABS data to reveal the far greater prevalence of domestic violence than was previously known, and especially the shockingly high incidence among women who have become single mothers as a result. The report influenced the federal government to make changes in the 2023 federal budget to the payment system for single mothers, enabling these mothers to remain on the Parenting Payment until their youngest child reaches the age of 14.

Previously, Anne has advised Prime Ministers Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, run the Office of the Status of Women, been Canberra Bureau Chief for the Australian Financial Review newspaper, been editor-in-chief of America’s leading feminist magazine Ms., editor of Good Weekend, chair of the Board of Greenpeace International and a Trustee of the Powerhouse Museum. She was appointed an officer of the Order of Australia for her services to journalism and to women in 1989; had her image on a postage stamp as an Australian Legend in 2011 and in 2017 was inducted into the Australian Media Hall of Fame.

Jess Hill has become one of Australia's most recognised and respected thinkers on gendered violence. In addition to her broadcast work - two highly acclaimed docuseries on SBS, a Quarterly Essay titled The Reckoning, and a podcast series on coercive control titled The Trap - she has spoken at almost 400 events to diverse audiences across the country. Her work has received...

Australians must change how we consume goods and services to reduce our environmental impact, but what can businesses do when consumers resist change? How can companies encourage more sustainable behavior while decarbonizing supply chains?

In this episode of Impact Talks at UTS, a panel of experts explores the challenges organizations face in driving this shift.

Speakers

Catherine King is the Chief Strategy Officer at Leo Burnett with over 20 years of advertising experience that focuses on the intersection of brand building, human behaviour, culture and influence. To develop this perspective, Catherine has held leadership positions with creative, consulting, strategic, PR and digital teams across both multinational and independent agencies in partnership with a broad range of brands that include Suncorp, Destination NSW, Diageo, Royal Caribbean, Sony, Microsoft and Nestle. In her role at Leo Burnett, Catherine leads an ongoing research study called "What good is doing good", affectionately known as the "Good Study", which aims to better understand the role that brands should and could play in the areas of public interest, encompassing human, social, environmental and financial impact.

Nicky Sparshott is an experienced CEO, Board Director, and Change Agent with 30 years of global experience working in leading blue-chip organizations such as Unilever, Coca-Cola, and Procter & Gamble. Most recently, she was the Global Chief Transformation at Unilever, designing and deliver value creating change initiatives across the enterprise with a focus on organisational design, performance culture & portfolio optimisation. Prior to this appointment, Nicky was CEO of Unilever Australia & New Zealand and Global CEO of luxury retailer, T2 Tea.

Nicky also serves on a few Boards - Chair of the University of Technology’s Industry Advisory Board; Chair of Global Sisters, Non-Executive Director for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and NED on Moose Toys Advisory Board. She is known for building competitive advantage in business by being a force for good; simultaneously delivering economic, environmental and social outcomes and in 2022 was awarded CEO of the Year by CEO Magazine for consistent delivery of business outcomes whilst spearheading transformative ESG programs - bringing together profit & purpose.

Siobhan Toohill is a Sustainability advisor having established and led sustainability functions in listed finance and property over the past 20 years. As the first chief sustainability officer at a major Australian bank, she was responsible for Westpac’s sustainability strategy, as well as policy and action on climate change including net zero transition planning, natural capital and human rights. Siobhan has led a wide range of initiatives, including customer vulnerability (including problem gambling), Indigenous engagement, child safeguarding, strategic philanthropy and social impact and is currently a trusted advisor to business and government through a range of governance roles.

John Lydon is Co-Chair of Australian Climate Leaders’ Coalition, a member of the NSW Net Zero and Clean Economy Board, Chair of Generation Australia, and serves as an Industry Professor at the University of Technology, Sydney Business School. Previously he was the Managing Partner of McKinsey Australia & New Zealand, holding several roles across the global Firm. John also served as Economic Commissioner of Greater Cities Commission from 2021-2023.

Professor Martina Linnenluecke is an internationally recognised scholar who conducts research on the strategic and financial implications of corporate adaptation and resilience to global environmental change, with a specific focus on the...

Change for Good at UTS means a transdisciplinary, strategic, systems-thinking approach, combining critical, participatory, and multi-level strategies to create practical solutions for addressing complex health and social issues.

In this episode of Impact Talks at UTS, the UTS Business School launches its new centre Change for Good with an expert panel discussion addressing the question:

What are the biggest behaviour and social change challenges facing Australia now and into the future?

Speakers

• Host and moderator, Professor Ross Gordon, Director of Change for Good at UTS - a Research Centre focused on transdisciplinary behaviour and social change for social good.

Ross is an interdisciplinary behaviour and social change activist with degree qualifications in marketing, public policy, and politics and history. He researches social issues and behaviour and social change, through a critical, reflexive, and multi-perspective lens. Ross served on the inaugural WHO Technical Advisory Group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health from 2000-2024 and is currently serves as an observer for the group. He works on various behaviour and social change issues including gambling, non-communicable diseases, Covid-19, energy hardship and energy efficiency, climate action and environmental sustainability, alcohol, tobacco control, mental health, childhood obesity, workplace bullying, and power and politics in the neoliberal university. Ross has been a principal or named investigator on projects attracting over $9.2m in research funds. He has published over 120 academic journals, book chapters and conference papers and a leading book: Strategic Social Marketing: For Behaviour and Social Change published by SAGE.

• Professor Maria Raciti, Co-Director, Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre at University of Sunshine Coast.

Professor Maria Raciti (Kalkadoon-Thaniquith-Bwgcolman) is a social marketer who uses marketing tools and techniques to bring about social justice and behaviour change. Professor Raciti is co-founder and co-director of the UniSC Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre, co-leader of the education and economies theme in the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Futures, a member of the executive of the Australian Association of Social Marketing, board member of International Social Marketing Association, the 2018 Research Fellow with the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education and was part of an Australian Government departmental task force assisting with the 2019 National Regional Rural and Remote Tertiary Education Strategy.

• Estelle Grech, Policy Manager at the Committee for Sydney

Estelle is an urban planner, passionate about improving social equity in cities. With experience in local government, consulting, and as a senior advisor in the NSW Government, she now leads planning and housing policy at the...

Anna Funder, award-winning writer and author of Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life, unpacks how the patriarchy continues to maintain the status quo – using the extraordinary lives of Eileen O’Shaughnessy and George Orwell, and her thoughts on the 2023 hit movie Barbie.

In a patriarchal system, women’s relationships transform into a role – Mother. Wife. – that erases their individuality and signs them up to a motherload of unpaid labour.

In Australia, women do more than nine hours more unpaid work and care each week than men, and do more unpaid housework than men even when they are the primary breadwinner.

Nowhere in the world is this trend reversed.

Women’s domestic labour upholds households and economies but is too often devalued and unacknowledged.

 It’s a bargain few people, including men, want to be part of. Yet it stubbornly persists.

The event will also feature panel discussion with A/Prof Ramona Vijeyarasa and Prof Peter Siminski, where our speakers will share insights and expertise on how we can move towards more equitable models.

This event is co-hosted by the UTS Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Keynote speaker

Dr Anna Funder is one of Australia’s most acclaimed and awarded writers. Her books Stasiland and All That I Am are prize-winning international bestsellers and translated into many languages. Her book, Wifedom, is hailed as a ‘masterpiece’ and was chosen as a Notable Book of 2023 by the New York Times and a Book of the Year by The Times, The Economist, the Financial Times, the Daily Telegraph (UK) and The Telegraph (UK). Anna’s signature works tell stories of courage, resistance, conscience and love, illuminating the human condition in times of tyranny and surveillance. Anna is a University of Technology Sydney Luminary and Ambassador.

Panellists

Associate Professor Ramona Vijeyarasa is a legal academic and women’s rights activist. She is the Chief Investigator behind the Gender Legislative Index, a tool designed to promote the enactment of legislation that works more effectively to improve women’s lives. Ramona’s academic career as a scholar of gender and the law follows ten years in international human rights activism, which has informed her impact-driven approach to research.

Professor Peter Siminski is an applied microeconomist. He has over 20 years of policy-oriented research experience and is the Head of the Economics Department at UTS. Peter’s work applies modern impact evaluation techniques to estimate the effects of Australian Government policies and programs on people’s lives. The measurement of inequality and intergenerational economic mobility is a key theme of his work.

Amy Persson (MC and moderator) is the interim Pro Vice-Chancellor (Social Justice and Inclusion) at UTS. Amy is a public policy specialist who has worked across the private, public and not for profit sectors and...