2022 Don Aitkin Memorial Lecture

University of Canberra

The University of Canberra invites you to the 2022 Don Aitkin Memorial Lecture

Ann Harding Conference Centre, University of Canberra

Instituted by the University of Canberra, the Don Aitkin Memorial Lecture is delivered by prominent Australian and international scholars bringing to bear their research and insights on major contemporary social, scientific and cultural issues. The lectures bring to the University distinguished scholars, artists and critics for discussion, debate, seminars and workshops — and enable a variety of interactions with staff, students and the community at large. T﻿he 2022 Don Aitkin Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Stan Grant entitled Yindyamarra Winganganha - a world of respect in a world worth living in."Yindyamarra is a Wiradjuri way of being. It is a gift from my ancestors. Yindyamarra centres respect in all we do. Look around our world? Is it a world of respect? We are riven with division, hatred and violence. Tribalism and toxic identity are testing the world apart. Authoritarianism is on the march and democracy is in retreat. We are at a hinge point of history where the answers of the twentieth century can’t satisfy the questions of the twenty first." Stan Grant draws on four decades of journalism covering the biggest stories of our age to ask if there is another way of imagining our world. He explores the philosophical underpinnings or modernity and wonders of modernity itself is the problem. Stan draws on his Wiradjuri heritage to define new ways of being Australian and human.D﻿ate: Monday 28 November 2022T﻿ime: 6pm-8pmV﻿enue: Ann Harding Conference Centre, 24 University Drive South, Bruce ACT 2617L﻿ecture followed by drinks and canapes. Registration required by midday Monday 21 November 2022.P﻿ARKINGThere is ample parking in section P22 opposite the venue on University Drive South. Parking is complimentary after 5.30pm. <a href="https://www.canberra.edu.au/__data/assets/image/0004/1613947/UCEM0093_UCMapsUpdate2020_Parking-Transport_201207.png" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">See map</a>. A﻿CCESSIBILITYThe Ann Harding Conference Centre is an accessible venue with dedicated accessible parking directly outside the entrance. Read more <a href="https://www.canberra.edu.au/on-campus/facilities/accessible-facilities" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">here</a>. L﻿IVE STREAMING/RECORDINGTo attend virtually, please register via Zoom <a href="https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VE8XzKYAR1y62Mk9u5LYSw#/registration" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">here</a>.

Stan Grant is the International Affairs Editor for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, a multi-award winning current affairs host, an author and an adventurer.Well known for having brought the former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to tears when interviewed about Indigenous affairs on The Point, Stan’s keynotes are insightful, engaging, always professional and at times, controversial.Stan Grant’s Aboriginal heritage has shaped his dynamic, resilient personality. Born in Griffith in south-west New South Wales, in 1963, Stan Grant’s mother is from the Kamilaroi people and his father is of the Wiradjuri.Stan spent most of his childhood on the road living in small towns and Aboriginal communities across outback NSW. His father was an itinerant saw-miller who worked when and where he could. Stan moved so often he attended 12 different schools before he was in his teens.The early traveling gave Stan a love of adventure and stories. He grew up listening to the tales of his grandfather and uncles and aunts. Despite poverty and an early sporadic education the security of his family and the larger Aboriginal community gave him a strong platform for life.Stan has hosted major news and current affairs programs on Australian commercial and public T.V. He has been a political correspondent for the ABC, a Europe correspondent for the Seven Network based in London and a senior international correspondent for the international broadcaster CNN based in Hong Kong and Beijing.In 2022, Stan became the solo full-time host of the ABC’s weekly flagship discussion program Q+A.Stan has written The Tears of Strangers and Talking To My Country (Harper Collins), and has published numerous articles and opinion pieces for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian.Stan Grant is passionate about justice and humanity. His years of international reporting has given him a deep understanding of how the world works. He is deeply immersed in the politics and history of Asia and the Middle East. He can link the importance of leadership and the impact of history and above all believes in the power and resilience of people.

The Don Aitkin Lectures are named after a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Canberra (1991-2002). Professor Don Aitkin AO, a historian and political scientist, has been a noted public intellectual in Australian life since the 1960s. He was Professor of Politics at Macquarie University in the 1970s, and then Professor of Political Science in the Research School of Social Sciences in the ANU. In 1988 he was appointed the foundation Chairman of the Australian Research Council, and it was from this post that he joined the University of Canberra in 1991. He was best known at UC for his role in the transformation of the University from a college of advanced education, developing the University's identity and profile overseas, as well as in Australia, over a wide range of endeavours.D﻿on passed in April 2022. The University of Canberra are proud to continue the lecture series in his name.

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