How can we envision trans futures? What does trans flourishing look like?

What are the radical challenges to trans and gender diverse rights?

And what are the joys, curiosities and possibilities of social justice focused research and truly inclusive futures?

After some decades of progress, western governments are now reversing or threatening to reverse the legal rights and recognition of trans and gender diverse people.

In this context, trans and gender diverse people are often called upon to debate their rights and access to care.

This event refocuses the lens, and brings together scholars and community members working on empowering trans communities to talk about:

• trans identities and decolonial solidarities
• queer futures in the Asia Pacific
• trans futures in the classroom, and
• the expansion of trans legal rights and medical care.

Woody (Louis Walker), drag artist and UTS staff member (Education Portfolio)

• Dr Madi Day, Lecturer, Centre for Critical Indigenous Studies, Macquarie University
• Sidhi Vhisatya, Masters candidate, artist and curator, School of Communication UTS
• Professor Anna Cody, Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Australian Human Rights Commission
• Dr Archie Thomas, UTS Chancellors Research Fellow, Social and Political Sciences
• Dr Sasha Bailey, Trans Health Research Group, University of Melbourne

This event is the Andrew Jakubowicz annual lecture.

Andrew Jakubowicz is an emeritus professor at UTS, and is one of Australia’s pre-eminent scholars of cultural diversity, multicultural communities, and racism. For over 30 years Andrew was Professor of Sociology at UTS. The UTS Andrew Jakubowicz lecture was established in 2018 in his honour. A major theme of each event is the responsibility academic researchers have in shaping public discussion of major societal issues of wide relevance.

This is a collaborative event hosted by:

• UTS Discipline of Social and Political Sciences, Faculty of Design & Society
• UTS Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion
• UTS Trans and Gender Diverse Staff Reference Group

Please note: Madi Day's speech is not included, and you can hear them in the panel discussion. For further reading on Indigenous futures, read Everywhen: against 'the power of now' by Mykaela Saunders.

Woody (he/him) is the self-proclaimed rootinest tootinest cowboy in the Inner West! Woody is a strong advocate for Drag King visibility and inclusion, and is passionate about sharing trans joy and making space for play and whimsy alongside our fight for trans rights. He made his debut at The Underground in 2019 as a UTS student, and has been trotting on his hobby horse around NSW ever since.

Dr Archie Thomas is a non-Indigenous scholar and transgender man who has published widely on Indigenous and LGBTIQA+ movements, histories and policy issues in Australia, with a focus on educative institutions such as the schools and media. He is a Chancellor’s Research Fellow in Social and Political Sciences at

How did Australia's first family violence refuge come about?

How has the depoliticisation of the domestic violence movement affected outcomes for women and children?

While we now understand that domestic and family violence is more than physical violence, how do we continue to recognise and not turn away from the very real physical violence that Aboriginal women experience?

What would take to build services that both prevent and respond, that are not just nonviolent in the way that we construct them, but anti-patriarchal?

What are the opportunities right now to make change?

Ashlee Donohue: CEO of Mudgin-Gal Aboriginal Corporation, author, educator, and advocate for Domestic and Family Violence awareness

Jess Hill: Award-winning journalist, author of See What You Made Me Do, and Industry Professor, UTS Business School

Dr Anne Summers AO Professor of Domestic and Family Violence, UTS Business School

This episode has been lightly edited. Impact Talks at UTS is produced by UTS Impact Studios.

What if your right to a secure home was protected by law?

Why is Australia one of the only liberal democracies without housing rights protection?

Could a Human Rights Act help fix Australia’s housing crisis?

Everyone should have a safe, secure and healthy place to call home, regardless of your postcode or bank balance. But this is not the reality for far too many people in the community.

A new report on the right to housing commissioned by the Human Rights Law Centre and authored by Professor Jessie Hohmann from the UTS Faculty of Law, helps shifts the focus of discussion to people.

Cassandra Goldie: CEO of Australian Council of Social Service and Adjunct Professor with UNSW Sydney.

Professor Jessie Hohmann: is an Associate Professor at the UTS Faculty and Law, and an internationally recognised expert on the right to housing in international law.

Tania Thompson: is the founder of Golden Oldies and a housing advocate with lived experience.

Caitlin Reiger: is CEO of the Human Rights Law Centre and a human rights lawyer.

Amy Persson: Pro Vice-Chancellor (Social Justice and Inclusion) for the University of Technology Sydney (UTS)

This event in February 2025 was hosted by the UTS Faculty of Law, Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion and the Human Rights Law Centre.

This episode has been lightly edited.

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

How will AI really shape our everyday lives?

Is AI just a cover for data theft and surveillance capitalism?

Are we on the brink of machines outsmarting us at everything?

Professor Emily M. Bender is the co-author of The AI Con: How To Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want. She was featured in TIME100's inaugural list of most influential people in AI in 2023, and is a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Washington, USA.

Emily is in conversation with Professor Carl Rhodes, Professor of Business and Society at UTS Business School and author of Stinking Rich: The Four Myths of the Good Billionaire and Woke Capitalism, with opening remarks from Professor Sally Cripps, Co-Director of the Human Technology Institute at UTS.

This episode has been lightly edited.

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

Is the finance sector equipped for the transition to net zero?

What are the origins of ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) and what is its role today?

What is 'responsible investment' in a rapidly changing world?

How can building skills across the sector drive change?

Paul Clements-Hunt is the former head of the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative, and coined the term ESG.

Professor Martina Linnenluecke is Director at UTS Centre for Climate Risk and Resilience.

Gordon Noble is Research Director at the UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures.

Rachel Alembakis is Stewardship Manager at U Ethical Investors.

Nayanisha Samarakoon is Head of Policy and Advocacy at the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA).

This event was presented by UTS Business School on 27 May 2025, in collaboration with the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA) and the UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures.

This episode has been lightly edited, and the audience Q&A has been left out.

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

What stories does America tell itself - and who do they serve? In this episode of Impact Talks, we launch the 2025 Vice-Chancellor’s Democracy Forum with acclaimed historian, author and cultural critic Sarah Churchwell. In her thought-provoking lecture, Sarah explores the national myths that have shaped the United States. She examines how narratives of freedom and opportunity often conceal histories of exclusion, inequality, and disinformation.

Following her address, Sarah is joined in conversation by celebrated author Anna Funder and economist Roy Green. Together, they reflect on the fragile state of democracy around the world and the urgent need to reimagine civic discourse, media and education in an age of misinformation.

Guests:

Sarah Churchwell

Professor of American Literature and Public Understanding of the Humanities, University of London. A leading voice on American cultural and political identity, Sarah Churchwell is the author of Behold, America and The Wrath to Come. Her work examines the myths that shape national consciousness, particularly around democracy, freedom and populism.

Anna Funder

Author of Stasiland and Wifedom. Anna Funder is an award-winning writer known for her powerful investigations into truth, memory, and authoritarianism. Her latest book, Wifedom, reframes the story of George Orwell through the lens of his first wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy, shining new light on women’s erasure from political and cultural history.

Roy Green

Emeritus Professor, UTS; Chair, Port of Newcastle. An economist and innovation expert, Roy Green has advised governments, businesses, and universities on productivity, industry policy, and economic transformation. He is a passionate advocate for inclusive, sustainable growth and the role of knowledge institutions in democratic renewal.

Presented as part of the Vice-Chancellor’s Democracy Forum at the University of Technology Sydney.

This episode has been lightly edited.

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

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 MCed by Susana Ng, City of Sydney Multicultural Development Officer, Sand the panel 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...

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.