Monday 25 March – It was a great privilege to spend an hour and a half in the company of Rt Hon Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, along with a few hundred others for course! She was joined in stage of the ANU Manning Clark Lecture Theatre by Professors of the ANU Sharon Friel, Arnagretta Hunter and Bina D’Costa, in a conversation organised by the Australian Global Health Alliance. The event was opened by Professor Genevieve Bell, the new ANU vice-chancellor. She spoke about the many firsts that she brings to the role (first female, first social scientist , etc but only the second redhead!).
The conversation ranged widely across the title topics of policy, politics and a healthy human future. I particularly appreciated Helen’s words on leadership being for the people, and the importance of asking questions like is this idea good for inclusion? For resilience? For sustainability? I also liked that Bina mentioned the importance of data and statistics in countering false claims – so I can claim that this talk was relevant to my working role too!
There was only time for a couple,of questions at the end, followed by closing affirmations about the importance of interdisciplinary research. A rousing way to end the first day of the working week!
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