Date: Thursday, 5 November 2026, 8.30 am for 9.00 am – 5.00 pm AEDT.
Venue: Government House, Sydney: in person by invitation, and live-streaming.
Registration: Members of the Royal Society of NSW will be invited to apply for a face-to-face place at the event. Closer to the event, registration will open for the live stream.
Entry: No charge.
The Forum is held under the auspices of Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, Governor of New South Wales. The Royal Society of New South Wales acknowledges the generous support of Her Excellency and the Office of the NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer.
SUMMARY
Derek Parfit writes: “We live during the hinge of history… If we act wisely in the next few centuries, humanity will survive its most dangerous and decisive period… What now matters most is that we avoid ending human history.” (On What Matters, 2011 vol. 2)
Humanity may be entering a period in which actions of a single generation shape the long-term trajectory of civilisation. Climate instability, rapid technological transformation, geopolitical tension, and social fragmentation are converging in ways that may constitute a “hinge of history”.
The RSNSW Forum brings together leading thinkers across science, medicine, technology, governance, economics and philosophy to examine whether we are indeed at such a hinge point—and what this means for Australia’s future prosperity, security, and resilience.
OPENING SESSION
| Time | |
| 8.30–9.00 am | Registration and Guests seated |
| 9.00–9.10 am | Official Opening and Governor’s Address Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC Governor of New South Wales. |
| 9.10–9.15 am | Welcome and Acknowledgements Emeritus Professor Christina Slade FRSN FRSA President and Forum Chair, Royal Society of NSW. |
KEYNOTE SESSION
Chair: Emeritus Professor Huw Price FRSN FAHA FBA
Emeritus Bertrand Russell Professor of Philosophy, Trinity College, Cambridge, UK.
| 9.20–10.00 am | Dr Toby Ord Senior Researcher, Oxford Martin AI Governance Initiative University of Oxford. |
| Recommended Reading | Toby Ord, The Precipice Revisited, (2024). |
SESSION 1: When Technology Changes History: Who Shapes What Comes Next?
Chair: Professor Simon Ringer FRSN FTSE FIEAust
Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research Infrastructure), Professor of Materials Science & Engineering, University of Sydney.
| 10.00–11.15 am | Mr Jason Collins CEO, European Australian Business Council, and Honorary Consul, Consulate of Belgium in Sydney. |
| Ms Patty Gilchrist APAC Research Partnerships & Business Development Lead Google. | |
| Mr David Thodey AO FTSE FAICD Chancellor University of Sydney. | |
| Dr Jenny Tran General Manager of Product Xero. | |
| Recommended Reading | MacAskill, Are We Living at the Hinge of History? (Global Priorities Institute, Working Paper No. 12-2020). O’Grady, Derek Parfit Obituary, The Guardian (2017). |
MORNING TEA (11.15–11.45 am)
SESSION 2: Climate Change: Risks, Responses and a World Under Pressure
Chair: Scientia Professor Matthew England FAA FAGU FAMOS
Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for our Future Oceans, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, UNSW Sydney.
| 11:45–1.00 pm | Scientia Associate Professor Negin Nazarian Scientia Associate Professor, ARC Centre of Excellence for the Weather of the 21st Century and School of Built Environment UNSW Sydney. |
| Professor Ollie Jay FACSM Professor of Heat and Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health University of Sydney. | |
| Dr Megan Evans Senior Lecturer, School of Business UNSW Canberra. | |
| Dr Timothy Neal Senior Scientia Fellow, Department of Economics and Institute for Climate Risk & Response (ICRR) UNSW Sydney. | |
| Recommended Reading | Nazarian, et al, Urban Climates and Climate Change. Neal & Newell, Climate change has already made Australians in one state much poorer, and more’s to come, The Conversation (2026). Ho, et al, Navigating the obstacles of carbon-negative technologies, 7(9), 1471-1476 (2024). Ebi, et al, Hot weather and heat extremes: health risks, The Lancet, 398, 698-708 (2021). |
LUNCH (1.00–2.00 pm)
SESSION 3: Health, Medicine and Human Futures
Chair: Professor Catharine Coleborne FRSN FAHA FASSA SFHEA
Professor of History, School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Sciences, College of Human and Social Futures, University of Newcastle.
| 2.00–3:00 pm | Professor Ainsley Newson FSRN Professor of Bioethics, Sydney Health Ethics, Faculty of Medicine and Health University of Sydney. |
| Professor Julie Leask AO Professorial Research Fellow, Infectious Diseases Institute and School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney. | |
| Dr James Dunk Director St James Institute. | |
| Recommended Reading | Anderson & Dunk, Planetary Health Histories: Toward New Ecologies of Epidemiology? Isis, 113(4), 767–78 (2022). Attwell, et al, COVID-19: talk of ‘vaccine hesitancy’ lets governments off the hook. Nature 602(7898), 574-577 (2022). Ghinea, et al, Environmental considerations in human genomic data governance: overcoming normative challenges. BMC Medical Ethics, 27, 64 (2026). |
SESSION 4: Governance at the Hinge – Geopolitics, Economic Transformation and Societal Stability
Chair: Professor Sean Brawley FRSN
Honorary Fellow, University of Wollongong.
| 3.00–4.00 pm | Dr Aruna Sathanapally Chief Executive Officer Grattan Institute. |
| Professor Helen Sullivan FASSA Dean, College of Asia and the Pacific Australian National University. | |
| Professor Michael Wesley Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global, Culture and Engagement) University of Melbourne. | |
| Recommended Reading | Shultz & Timbie, A hinge of history: governance in an emerging new world. Hoover Institution Press (2020). Roussos, et al, Survey Article: When and What Is the ‘Hinge of History’?, Political Philosophy 2(2) (2025). |
CLOSING SESSION
Chair: Professor Merlin Crossley AO FRSN
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Quality), UNSW Sydney.
| 4.30–5.00 pm | Professor Simon Ringer FRSN FTSE FIEAust Scientia Professor Matthew England FAA FAGU FAMOS Professor Catharine Coleborne FRSN FAHA FASSA SFHEA Professor Sean Brawley FRSN |
| Royal Society of New South Wales | |
| Date: | Thursday, 05 November 2026, 09:00 AM |
| Venue: | Government House Sydney: in person, by invitation, and live-streaming |
| Entry: | No charge |
In Person Event
31 December 2026
Various face-to-face and online venues 
