The University of Melbourne is a global leader in higher education. Across our campuses we convene brilliant minds from different disciplines and sectors to come together to address important questions and tackle grand challenges. In a disrupted world, that capacity has never been more important.
Our vision is to equip our students with a distinctive, future-facing education personalised around their ambitions and needs, enriched by global perspectives and embedded in a richly collaborative research culture. As active citizens and future leaders, our students represent our greatest contribution to the world, and are at the heart of everything we do.
We serve society by engaging with our communities and ensuring education and research are inspired from the outset by need and for the benefit of society, while remaining committed to allowing academic freedom to flourish. In this, we remain true to our purpose and fulfil our mission as a public-spirited organisation, dedicated to the principles of fairness, equality and excellence in everything we do.
We strive for an environment that is inclusive and celebrates diversity.
Beyond our campuses we imagine an Australia that is ambitious, forward thinking and increasing its reputation and influence globally. We are committed to playing a part in achieving this – building on our advantageous location in one of the world’s most exciting cities and across the state of Victoria, in a region rapidly becoming a hub for innovative education, research and collaboration.
Universities should very rarely prevent controversial speakers from spreading their message.
To try and understand the Russian revolution outside of the broader social context of the time is to neglect the development of nationhood in the region.
Wikicommons
Archaeologists are trash sifters. They use clues preserved in artefacts, plant and animal remains that people threw away or left behind to reconstruct the past.
Up to 14% of toddlers have “hypomineralised second primary molars” (HSPM), where the enamel (outer layer) of the second baby molars doesn’t develop properly.
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Pelléas and Mélisande tells a story of forbidden love between its title characters, set in the fictitious kingdom of Allemonde. However the action offstage before the opera’s 1902 premiere was just as dramatic.
The advent of the internet has changed how politics and the media influence each other - and not always in a good way.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
Guardian Australia’s Katharine Murphy and former MP David Feeney on the digital disruption of media and politics
The Conversation62.5 MB(download)
Today on the podcast we're talking filter bubbles, fake news, opinion vs fact. Media Files asks two experts how the media and politics influence each other - and why that's causing concern.
Hazem Shammas in Trustees: his powerful incantations towards the end of the production will leave you reeling.
Nicolai Khalezin
This production, a collaboration with local theatre artists, stages a public debate hosted by the (made up) Melbourne Trust Forum. It unfolds as part media reportage and part gameshow.
Samuel Beckett wrote Watt while hiding from the Gestapo during the second world war. It describes Watt’s journey to, within, and away from Mr Knott’s house, where Watt lives for some time as a servant.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s tropical cyclone outlook is out today.
AAP Image/Bureau of Meteorology, Japan Meteorological Agency
Madeleine De Gabriele, The Conversation and Wes Mountain, The Conversation
Cyclone season approacheth, but this year there’s a twist
The Conversation, CC BY31.4 MB(download)
Australia must come to terms with some fundamental shifts in our weather patterns. This month, Andrew Watkins from the BOM and climate scientist Joelle Gergis explore what's in store.
Lake Taupo, in the North Island of New Zealand, is a globally significant caldera of a supervolcano that formed following a massive eruption more than 20,000 years ago.
from www.shutterstock.com
New research shows that carbon dioxide in groundwater can affect the aging of volcanic eruptions. The findings could help predict future eruptions.
Independent Kerryn Phelps has slumped in the polls ahead of the Wentworth byelection, which was likely caused by changing her position on preferences.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
A change of heart on preferences appears to have cost the high-profile independent in Wentworth, while the controversy around Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation has been of benefit to Donald Trump.
Black wattle is part of the huge Acacia family.
Wikipedia/The Conversation
Black wattle is part of Australia’s iconic acacia family, but it’s largely regarded as a pest overseas. But this fast-growing plant is a boon to gardeners, improving soil and sheltering other plants.
In the brave new world of information capital, data collected from wearables and other technologies could be a slippery slope to a new social hierarchy.
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An offer that appears beneficial on the surface, but can lead to unintended negative consequences is called a “perverse incentive”.
South Tower being hit during the 9/11 attacks. The events of September 11 2001 has significantly shaped American attitudes and actions towards fighting terrorism, surveilling citizens and othering outsiders.
NIST SIPA/Wikicommons
Though more consequences are likely to develop in the post-9/11 era, the war on terror, heightened government surveillance and Islamophobia are notable legacies of this early 21st century tragedy.
Seven years after Tahrir Square became the focal point of the Egyptian Revolution, towering metal gates now control access.
Ahmed Abd El-Fatah/Wikimedia
Today’s urban public spaces tend to represent governments and cities rather than people and citizens. Architects and urban designers should contribute to shaping spaces for freedom and interaction.
There is already a substantial list of research reports, reviews and inquiries into issues in the vocational education sector which could be used to build an action plan.
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We already have all the research reports, reviews and inquiries we need to make reform to the VET sector happen. What we need is proactive leadership and action.
Corruption isn’t always illegal. Transparency International defines it as the abuse of entrusted power for private gain.
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Beneath conflicting trends in corruption surveys is a clear truth: addressing inequality makes good economic sense.
The Melbourne Apartments Project developed by the Barnett Foundation offered 28 units to households living within 4km of the site and willing to leave their social housing.
Barnett Foundation
Shared equity models have a dual benefit of making home ownership affordable for people on modest incomes and freeing up scarce social housing for other households in need.
Cities overseas that have been able to overcome the affordable housing challenges facing cities like Melbourne have adopted a coordinated and systemic approach to scaling up solutions that work.