Cognitive economics

A world-first economics Institute at UNSW Sydney will investigate how human reasoning influences financial and other decision making, helping people to make better economic choices.

Student insights inform UNSW review

The inaugural Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching Symposium, held at UNSW, explored data-driven approaches to enhancing the student experience and learning across Australia.

America’s ill wind could blow Australia some good

The Trump administration’s attacks on research funding could see some of the world’s top academic talent head to our shores if Australia boosts its investment in research.

Community resilience

A new initiative advocates engaging more with people affected by events such as bushfires and floods to improve recovery after disaster.

Fair shares for all?

The idea of taxing personal fortunes has long been discussed to reduce the growing disparity in wealth distribution, but remains unlikely to happen.

Their foot’s in the door

While The Last of Us remains a work of fiction, real-life scientists are worried about rising rates and severity of fungal infections worldwide.

Rush hour

State governments could look to a new road pricing strategy to help ease traffic gridlock in our increasingly congested cities.

A park in your pocket

Population pressures and higher density housing are consuming the private gardens which once greened our cities and suburbs, increasing the importance of ‘pocket parks’ to offer wildlife and residents a welcome home.

Renewable backup power can boost disaster resilience

Households need more support to implement alternative energy solutions to help manage outages during bushfires and extreme weather events.

Using farm dams for pumped hydro storage

Tens of thousands of small-scale hydro energy storage sites could be built from Australia’s farm dams, supporting the uptake of reliable, low-carbon power systems in rural communities.

Fire down below

The recent devastation caused by wildfires across Europe and Hawaii has sparked concerns about the return of catastrophic bushfires in Australia, but despite the forecast of a hotter, drier summer, a repeat of recent ‘black summers’ appears unlikely.

Judgement day

A lot of people would welcome the widespread replacement of lawyers by AI, but the legal profession – like every group of workers threatened by mechanisation or automation before it – is gearing up to argue for its indispensability.