Sydney Environment Institute

Sydney Environment Institute The Sydney Environment Institute, based at the University of Sydney, brings together expertise from across disciplines to address key environmental issues.

While the latest wave of bites has raised public safety concerns - it also points to bigger questions about the health...
25/02/2026

While the latest wave of bites has raised public safety concerns - it also points to bigger questions about the health of our .

🦈 How do public narratives about sharks and other marine animals shape policy responses to ocean conservation?

🦈 In a climate-changing world, how do we strike the balance to protect both wildlife and humans?

Join political scientist Dr Chris Pepin-Neff and Australian wildlife scientist Dr Vanessa Pirotta for a lively discussion about Australia’s changing relationship with the ocean, and how we can protect all forms of life - from the surface to the seabed. Hosted by Helen Sullivan, Senior Journalist BBC News.

Date: Wednesday 11 March
Time: 6:30 – 7:30 pm
Location: The Sibyl Centre (Women’s College), University of Sydney.

🔗 Linktree in bio to register

This event is presented by Sydney Ideas and Sydney Environment Institute for Climate Action Week Sydney.

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How might Indigenous ideas about time help us navigate the ecological crisis? In his latest article for .aunz , PhD Cand...
25/02/2026

How might Indigenous ideas about time help us navigate the ecological crisis?

In his latest article for .aunz , PhD Candidate Philip McKibbin explores how non-linear understandings of time - such as the Māori concept wā - might reshape the way we approach the climate, biodiversity and extinction crises.

🔗 linktree in bio to read the full article

Women and LGBTQIA+ people play transformative roles before, during and after disasters - yet these contributions are of...
25/02/2026

Women and LGBTQIA+ people play transformative roles before, during and after disasters - yet these contributions are often unseen.

A new review by Dr. Rebecca McNaught, Dominica Meade, and Jo Longman for Gender and Disaster Australia, explores the distinct contributions made by women and LGBTQIA+ people during disasters - including caregiving, community organising, and grassroots innovation.

🔗 Linktree in bio to read the review

What to find out more?

Next Monday 2 March, Dr. Rebecca McNaught will present frontline stories of women’s leadership and grassroots agency in disaster recovery at the 2026 McCalman lecture, hosted by Sydney Environment Institute.

📆 Event details

2 March 2026
6-8pm
University of Sydney

🔗 Linktree in bio to register
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In a climate-changing world, communities are stepping up in extraordinary ways - rewriting disaster response norms.At th...
18/02/2026

In a climate-changing world, communities are stepping up in extraordinary ways - rewriting disaster response norms.

At the 2026 Ian McCalman lecture, Dr. Rebecca McNaught will share stories of grassroots collaboration, creativity, and hope from the Northern Rivers - a region at the epicentre of compounding disaster events.

Hosted by Sydney Environment Institute, the lecture will also include a response by global resilience expert, Beck Dawson.

Beck Dawson is the former Chief Resilience Officer for Greater Sydney. She has championed the use of robust community and technical research in her roles at the NSW Reconstruction Authority, Resilient Sydney, Resilient Cities Network Cities, and the Greater Sydney Heat Taskforce.

Don’t miss these leading share insights from decades at the forefront of resilience and disaster policy, research and practice.

Date: Monday 2 March
Time: 6-8pm
Location: The Great Hall, University of Sydney

🔗 Register now: https://lnkd.in/gx_ukEms

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About the speakers:

- Dr. Rebecca McNaught is a Research Fellow - Rural and Remote Health with the School of Public Health, University of Sydney. She is based at the University Centre for Rural Health in Lismore, NSW.

- Beck Dawson is currently the practitioner-in-Residence at the Henry Halloran Urban & Regional Research Initiative at the University of Sydney.

[Climate Resilience, Climate Adaptation, Resilient Cities, Resilient Places, Disaster Adaptation, Urban Planning, Risk, Sustainability, Community Development]

We’re pleased to announce Dr. Rebecca McNaught will present the 2026 Iain McCalman Lecture titled ‘Communities in an era...
17/02/2026

We’re pleased to announce Dr. Rebecca McNaught will present the 2026 Iain McCalman Lecture titled ‘Communities in an era of compounding disasters: stories of hope from the Northern Rivers’.

Dr. Rebecca McNaught is a Research Fellow - Rural and Remote Health with the School of Public Health, University of Sydney, and is based at the University Centre for Rural Health in Lismore, NSW - a region at the epicentre of compounding disaster events.

🤝 Drawing on two decades of experience in international and work, Rebecca will explore lessons from the Northern Rivers, including the ways are leading disaster recovery through collaboration, creativity and a culture of care.

📅 Event details

Date: Monday 2 March
Time: 6-8pm
Location: The Great Hall, University of Sydney

🔗 Linktree in bio to register




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The Iain McCalman Lecture celebrates Sydney Environment Institute’s co-founder and former co-director Iain McCalman’s dedication to fostering and pioneering multidisciplinary environmental research. The lectures aim to highlight the work of early to mid-career researchers working across disciplinary boundaries to impact both scholarship and public discourse.

🎧 Sydney Environment Institute’s latest panel discussion, ‘How to Weather Together: Feminist Practice for Climate Change...
02/02/2026

🎧 Sydney Environment Institute’s latest panel discussion, ‘How to Weather Together: Feminist Practice for Climate Change’ is now available on the SEI series.

Leading feminist environmental humanities scholars, Associate Professor Astrida Neimanis and Dr Jennifer Hamilton draw on their decade-long collaboration - The Weathering Collective - to explore how anticolonial can help us “weather” not just heatwaves, storms, or floods, but also the social and political conditions that shape our lives.

Chaired by Dr Natali Pearson, this public discussion considers how playful, low-tech practices can help us connect the planetary to the personal, in the evolving polycrisis.

🔗 Linktree in bio to listen

Extreme heat is Australia’s deadliest environmental hazard. At Sydney Environment Institute, our members have been work...
02/02/2026

Extreme heat is Australia’s deadliest environmental hazard.

At Sydney Environment Institute, our members have been working closely with organisations like Sweltering Cities, Resilient Sydney, Heat and Health Research Centre and the Greater Sydney Heat Taskforce to set the agenda for a heat-safe Australia.

This Day - Wednesday 4 February - join the national conversation at the ‘Extreme Heat Awareness Day 2026: Australia needs a heatwave plan’ webinar to learn about practical actions we can take to build resilience to a warming planet.

Hosted by Natural Hazards Research Australia, Australian Red Cross and Sweltering Cities, this expert panel of speakers will discuss the impacts of rising temperatures on health, wellbeing and community resilience, where people are falling through the cracks and what a good heat plan looks like for community, organisations and government.

Wednesday 4 February
2-3pm
Online

🔗 Linktree in bio to register

🎧 How might help us (re)connect with the more-than-human world?In a new audio essay, Sydney Environment Institute memb...
27/10/2025

🎧 How might help us (re)connect with the more-than-human world?

In a new audio essay, Sydney Environment Institute members Diana Chester and Damien Ricketson explore ’s ability to connect us to Earth’s and vibrational information.

🎧 Linktree in bio to listen

Diana and Damien have been documenting Earth stories using custom listening - hydrophones, geophones, aeolian harps - that extend listening beyond our usual thresholds of .

Through extended deep , Diana and Damien demonstrate how a dialogic exchange with the can foster deeper between human and more-than-human . They exhibited their work through an interactive at New Annual Festival in Newcastle.

The ‘Listening to the Earth’ research project is supported by a Sydney Environment Institute Collaborative Research Grant.






🌱 Catch up on our latest panel discussion, ‘Rethinking growth: Post-Growth, De-Growth, Donuts and Well-Being’ This panel...
20/10/2025

🌱 Catch up on our latest panel discussion, ‘Rethinking growth: Post-Growth, De-Growth, Donuts and Well-Being’

This panel unpacks the limitations of green and growth-driven economies. It also explores initiatives that reimagine alternative economies built around , , and living within planetary boundaries.

Chaired by climate change investment specialist Zoe Whitton, this panel brings together leading thinkers:

🟢 Julia Steinberger, degrowth expert
🟢 Manfred Lenzen, sustainability expert
🟢 Sharon Friel, planetary health expert
🟢 Li Mengyu sustainable futures researcher
🟢 Annette Cowie, climate change expert

🎧 Now available on the Sydney Environment Institute series

🔗 Linktree in bio to listen






Sydney Environment Institute is proud to partner with Young Australians in International Affairs (YAIA) as a Climate and...
02/10/2025

Sydney Environment Institute is proud to partner with Young Australians in International Affairs (YAIA) as a Climate and Environment Fellow Sponsor.

🌱 Through this partnership, we’ll be collaborating with YAIA’s and Fellow, Chelsea Golding, to explore bold, innovative pathways toward a more future.

🌏 Young Australians in International Affairs (YAIA) is Australia’s largest national not-for profit organisation engaging emerging leaders in international affairs.

Find out more about their work

We’re thrilled to see the interest in our upcoming panel discussion ‘Rethinking growth: Post-Growth, De-Growth, Donuts a...
25/09/2025

We’re thrilled to see the interest in our upcoming panel discussion ‘Rethinking growth: Post-Growth, De-Growth, Donuts and Well-Being’ - tickets have sold out!

This panel will unpack the paradigm, exploring the limitations of and -driven . We’ll also discuss local and global initiatives that are reimagining alternative economies built around , climate , and living within boundaries.

The panel includes leading thinkers on economies, including:

🟢 Julia Steinberger, degrowth expert
🟢 Zoe Whitton (Chair), climate change investment specialist
🟢 Manfred Lenzen, sustainability expert
🟢 Sharon Friel, planetary health expert
🟢 Li Mengyu sustainable futures researcher
🟢 Annette Cowie, climate change specialist

If you’d still like to join us next Wednesday 1 October, please register your interest via the waitlist.

🔗 Join waitlist via Linktree in Bio






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The University Of Sydney
Sydney, NSW
2006

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