Events
Upcoming events 2009
- UWA vs Gray: What Does it Mean for Universities? - 17 November 2009
- Melbourne Institute Public Economics Forum: Re-setting Priorities in Health Reform - 23 November 2009
- Doing well by doing good: A seminar about sustainable and community-friendly business practices - 25 November 2009
- Public lectures at the University of Melbourne
Recent events
- 70th Annual CPA Lecture: Professor Mary Barth - 12 October 2009
- Foenander Lecture: Professor Barbara Pocock - 21 October 2009
- Downing Lecture: Professor Stephen Jenkins - 22 October 2009
Upcoming events 2009
UWA vs Gray: What Does it Mean for Universities? - Tuesday 17 November 2009
Time: 6pm - 7pm (Refreshments from 5:30pm
Speakers: Professor Ann Monotti & Dr Jason Coonan - Chaired by: Professor Chris Arup
Venue: Melbourne Law School, 185 Pelham Street, CARLTONIntellectual Property Research Institute of Australia (IPRIA) proudly presents this free public seminar in Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane on the ownership of inventions in the education sector.
In September, the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia unanimously upheld the first instance decision in University of Western Australia v Gray. (Leave to appeal to the High Court is already being sought.) The Court’s decision meant that UWA did not automatically own the inventions developed by its academic staff in the course of their employment. This seminar will consider the implications of this decision from both the legal and university perspectives.
You must register for this free public seminar.
Melbourne Institute Public Economics Forum: Re-setting Priorities in Health Reform - Monday 23 November 2009
Time: 12.00 - 1.45pm, lunch provided
Venue: National Ballroom, Hotel Realm, 18 National Circuit, Barton, Canberra
Options for substantial reform of the health care system have recently been proposed by the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission, The National Primary Care Strategy, and the National Preventive Health Taskforce. The proposals include reforming the structure of the Australian health care system, including changing funding arrangements, and a strong emphasis on improved performance and outcomes for health care providers. Do the proposals go far enough? Do they solve the widespread fragmentation and inefficiencies in the current system? Which reforms are most likely to improve efficiency and health outcomes? How will patients benefit? How will health care providers respond?
The major challenges and opportunities of health care reform will be discussed by:
- Dr John Deeble, Health Economist, and one of the architects of Medicare
- Professor Anthony Scott, a leading health economist
- Ms Mary-Ann O’Loughlin, from the COAG Reform Council and who was a member of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission.
To register, please fax the registration form to 03 8344 2111or contact 03 8344 2149 or email melb-conf@unimelb.edu.au
Doing well by doing good: A seminar about sustainable and community-friendly business practices
On Wednesday 25 November, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, founders of famed US ice cream company Ben & Jerry's, will deliver a seminar on their business model and how it has impacted on the way they have grown their brand. The seminar is part of the Melbourne GSM Creating Future Leaders Series.
Back in 1978, close friends Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, armed with a $5 correspondence course in ice cream making, opened their first Scoop Shop in a dilapidated gas station in Burlington, Vermont. Whilst they occasionally disagreed on the size of the chunks going into the ice cream, one thing they did agree on was having fun. As Jerry put it, “ If it’s not fun, why do it?” They also decided from the start that business has a responsibility to give back to the community in which it operates, a philosophy that is still important to the business today. 30 years on, with a continued focus on sourcing the finest ingredients to create euphoric chunks & swirls, Ben & Jerry’s now operates in over 30 countries, spreading joy for the belly and soul across the globe with a mission to make the best possible ice cream in the nicest possible way, using business as a tool for social and environmental change.
The seminar will be held at Level 5, 198 Berkeley Street, from 12 to 1 PM on 25 November. Entry is free, and all are invited to attend. More information
Public lectures
The University of Melbourne hosts a selection of public
lectures by prominent local, national and international speakers. The
content of the lectures is selected for general interest and accessibility.
Schedule of
Public Lectures
Recent events
70th Annual CPA Lecture : Professor Mary Barth (Stanford University)
Accounting Research and Global Financial Reporting
The presenter, Professor Mary Barth, is a member of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). Her research focuses on financial accounting and reporting issues, particularly topics of interest to accounting standard setters. This lecture considers the various financial reporting issues that the IASB has had to evaluate in recent times with a focus on specific issues like fair value and the effects of globalisation.
The University of Melbourne and CPA Australia’s annual research lecture was established to promote and stimulate research and encourage original contributions to accounting.
Foenander Public Lecture 2009: Professor Barbara Pocock (Centre for Work + Life, University of South Australia)
What Makes for Meaningful Work in the 21st Century: Terms, Conditions and Contexts
Australians are giving more and more time to paid work. Many employees draw much meaning in their lives from their paid work whether it is from their pay, the tasks they do, the difference these tasks make to others or their communities, the skills they exercise, the things they make or learn, or the relationships, laughs or social connection work brings. What kinds of meaning do we draw from work, how much does it matter, and how does meaning vary between people, over the life course, and compared to other things we do and are? The lecture reflected on how the meaning of work varies between jobs and by socio-economic status. Professor Pocock argued that particular terms, conditions and contexts matter a great deal to the meaning we draw from work, and that what the makers of these terms and conditions do - employers, unions and governments - can help make work more meaningful in lives that are increasingly shaped by the stamp of work.
Professor Barbara Pocock is Director of the Centre for Work + Life, at the University of South Australia. Barbara's research has included work, industrial relations, trade unionism, pay and pay equity, vocational education and inequality in the labour market. In 2003 she was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship to study the intersections between work, family and community. Barbara has published many books, articles and book chapters and given visiting lectures in the US, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, Switzerland, and China. She is actively involved in policy development and public commentary on work issues in Australia, and undertakes many public contributions on these issues each year. She is Deputy Chair of The Australia Institute, a member of the Strategic Council of The Climate Institute, a member of the Festival of Ideas Committee in Adelaide, and has been President, Vice-President and Conference Convenor of the Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand (AIRAANZ).
Downing Lecture - Professor Stephen Jenkins (Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, UK)
Spaghetti unravelled: how income varies with age
Knowledge of how income varies with age on average, and the extent to which individual trajectories differ from an average profile, is relevant to many aspects of social policy making. For example, how your income varies over your life is an important determinant of your spending possibilities and hence economic well-being at different ages, and your ability to save for old age, whether privately or through company, occupational, or state pension schemes. Even if income increases with age on average, this is consistent with considerable year-on-year fluctuation in the incomes of a minority, or a mixture of subgroups with rising income and subgroups whose income is falling. Such heterogeneity complicates the design of effective policies for fostering saving by all. The lecture presents new evidence about the shape of people’s income-age trajectories. Stephen explained that, collectively, trajectories look like cooked spaghetti – they are a complex mix of wiggly lines. But the spaghetti can be unravelled. The lecture summarised the key features of income-age trajectories – both the average trajectory for groups of individuals with similar characteristics and the differences from the average within groups (which are substantial).
Stephen Jenkins is a professor of economics in the Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, UK. He has just completed a term of office as ISER Director, and is visiting the Melbourne Institute in October for two months. Stephen has wide-ranging substantive research interests in income distribution and labour market topics, and methodological research interests in microeconometric methods for longitudinal data. He is a member of the UK’s National Equality Panel. He was President of the European Society for Population Economics in 1998, and Chair of the Council of the International Association for Research on Income and Wealth, 2006–8.