Events

How do the gut and brain speak? Nerves continually communicate between gut and brain. They are the ‘crossroads’ of human bodies. But how does this feel?

This arts-science hands-on workshop – led by medical artist Emily Fong and medical humanities researchers Dr Paige Donaghy and Dr Jacinthe Flore – will engage a public audience in imagining how the gut and the brain chatter through nerves, sensations, and emotions.

Through serious play with a range of materials and modalities, the audience will explore embodied moods, experiences, and the mystery of bodies beyond medicalisation, as a community.

18+ participants only.

What to expect:

A three-hour hands-on arts-science workshop using creative play, materials and collaborative body mapping.

This workshop is part of a series, held over two separate dates and please note that the second session is a repeat - follow the below link for information on the other session.

Nerves speak, too: crosstalk in the gut-brain axis - 12 November

2026 Arief Budiman Lecture

Join Dr Jemma Purdey, Adjunct Fellow at the Australia-Indonesia Centre, as she explores how partnerships between Australian and Indonesian researchers, educators, activists, artists and media professionals are more crucial than ever.

In the late 1990s, Indonesian studies in Australian universities was booming. At the University of Melbourne, enrolments in Indonesian language were close to record highs. Students could choose from a wide range of Indonesia-related subjects and gain a deeper understanding of the country at a time of major political change in its history, with the fall of the Indonesian New Order government in 1998.

Today, the picture is very different. Indonesian studies is no longer thriving in Australian universities as it was, while the public’s understanding of Indonesian culture and politics is limited. At the same time, the hope and optimism of Indonesia’s reformasi era is fading, and in its place, there is growing concern at the declining democratic standards and increased restrictions on basic freedoms.

Dr Purdey’s presentation will investigate how collaboration can help protect academic freedom and human rights, as well as improve public understanding of one of our closest neighbours.

The Arief Budiman Public Lecture is held in honour of scholar, activist and public intellectual Arief Budiman (1941-2020). The Arief Budiman Lecture is supported by the Asian Studies Trust Fund and the Indonesian Studies Program at the Asia Institute, The University of Melbourne.