Do you lie awake at night worrying about volcano eruptions, asteroid impacts, global pandemics, evil robots, or nuclear warfare? What can we do today to prepare for the unimaginable?

Our increasing intrusion into the natural world is creating strange new risks and endangering the future of all life. How can we think about not just surviving, but thriving in the Anthropocene?
 

How can we learn to deal with the unexpected? And how can we teach the skills that the unexpected depends on – creativity, collaboration and never giving up?

When writing policy for public health and welfare, what changes can be made to improve the health and well being for everyone in our community?

Professor Anthony Burke shares his Vision for the Anthropocene - a global democracy worthy of its challenges.

Professor Ben Newell, Academic Co-Lead for the Grand Challenge on Thriving in the Anthropocene shares his Vision for the Anthropocene - for humankind to be able to ‘do the right thing by the environment’ without having to think about it. 

In January we watched helplessly as Australia burned. Over 18 million hectares were destroyed, and more than a billion animals were killed. It was clear to those on both sides of politics that Australia needed immediate climate action.

UNSW’s Grand Challenge on Trust, led by Dr Katharine Kemp, reaches a broader audience in fortnightly conversations with national and international thought leaders.

Affluence trashes our planetary life support systems. It also obstructs the necessary transformation towards sustainability by driving power relations and consumption norms. To put it bluntly: the rich do more harm than good.

UNSW Sydney’s last Grand Challenge, led by Professors Anthony Burke and Ben Newell, will focus on how humans can thrive in our contemporary, globalised world.