Theme: Empathy & Transformation

In the words of Senator J William Fulbright, “The essence of intercultural education is the acquisition of empathy–the ability to see the world as others see it, and to allow for the possibility that others may see something we have failed to see, or may see it more accurately. The simple purpose of the exchange program…is to erode the culturally rooted mistrust that sets nations against one another.”

Fulbright alumni often describe their scholarship period as a deeply transformative experience, during which they adopt a different frame of mind to empathise and interact with their hosts overseas. Our speakers, all Fulbright awardees from diverse fields, will address the theme “Empathy & Transformation”. TEDxFulbrightCanberra will thus showcase Fulbrighters as thought leaders.

Reflecting the Fulbright exchange program, TEDxFulbright seeks to facilitate an experience that embodies the continued power of progress through international, cross-cultural, and interdisciplinary connection and community action. TEDxFulbright events have been held since 2012 in several cities including Cambridge (MA), Frankfurt am Main, Dublin, Washington (DC), Santa Monica (CA), Melbourne, Bogotá and now Canberra.

Building 25, University of Canberra Pantowora St, Bruce
University of Canberra
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, 2617
Australia

Diane Stone

1991 Fulbright Postgraduate Scholar to Georgetown University. Diane is a Centenary Professor in the Institute of Governance and Policy Analysis at the University of Canberra. She is also a Professor at Warwick University and Vice President of the International Public Policy Association. From 2004 to 2008, she was a European Commission Marie Curie Chair and founding Professor of Public Policy at Central European University (CEU) in Budapest. She has been a Board member of the Think Tank Fund, Network of the Open Society Foundation and was on the Governing Body of an international organisation – the Global Development Network. She worked at the World Bank in 1999.

Katherine Thurber

2011 Fulbright Anne Wexler Scholar to the Australian National University. Katherine (Katie) Thurber is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Program at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health (NCEPH), Australian National University. From 2011-2013, she undertook a Masters in Epidemiology at NCEPH on the Fulbright-Anne Wexler Scholarship in Public Policy, and she continued this research by undertaking a PhD in Epidemiology from 2013-2016. The aim of her research is to improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing, through building on strengths of families and communities.

Katie Thurber

2011 Fulbright Anne Wexler Scholar to the Australian National University. Katherine (Katie) Thurber is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Program at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health (NCEPH), Australian National University. From 2011-2013, she undertook a Masters in Epidemiology at NCEPH on the Fulbright-Anne Wexler Scholarship in Public Policy, and she continued this research by undertaking a PhD in Epidemiology from 2013-2016. The aim of her research is to improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing, through building on strengths of families and communities.

Kim Rubenstein

1991 Fulbright Postgraduate Scholar to Harvard University; 2002 Fulbright Senior Scholar to Georgetown University. Kim Rubenstein is a Professor in the ANU College of Law at the Australian National University. She is Australia’s leading citizenship law expert, with the second edition of her book Australian Citizenship Law recently published. She was appointed a consultant to the Commonwealth in its redrafting of Australian citizenship legislation, resulting in the 2007 Act and later was a member of the Independent Expert Committee set up to review the Australian Citizenship Test that reported in 2008. In 2012 she was named in the first batch of Westpac ‘100 Women of Influence’ Australian Financial Review awards for her work in public policy.

Manav Ratti

2009 Fulbright Scholar to New York University; 2016 Fulbright Canada-Royal Bank of Canada Awardee to Salisbury University. Manav Ratti is Associate Professor of English at Salisbury University in the University of Maryland system, U.S.A. Educated at Oxford University (D.Phil., M.St.), Cambridge University (M.Phil.), and the University of Toronto (B.A. Hons), he has twice won awards from Fulbright Canada. He is the author of the critically acclaimed book The Postsecular Imagination: Postcolonialism, Religion, and Literature (Routledge, 2013; pbk. 2014), which he presented at the Ottawa International Writers Festival. He has held research fellowships at Queen’s University Belfast, the Institute of Advanced Study at Jawaharlal Nehru University in India, and the Humanities Research Centre at the Australian National University.

Michelle Evans

2013 Fulbright Postdoctoral Scholar to the University of Hawaii – Manoa. Michelle holds an Associate Professorship in Leadership at Charles Sturt University where she is project lead of the Indigenous entrepreneurship Pop Up innovation hub WALAN MAYINYGU. Michelle is also co-Founder/Program Director for Australia’s Indigenous Business Master Class program, MURRA, based at Melbourne Business School, through which she has personally taught and mentored one hundred and thirteen Australian Indigenous business people. Michelle has a unique combination of professional experience in management, community engagement and facilitation coupled with her excellent track record in research, having attracted three highly competitive Australian Research Council grants over the past four years.

Nicholas Southwood

2003 Fulbright Postgraduate Scholar to Princeton University. Nicholas Southwood is an Associate Professor and ARC Future Fellow in the School of Philosophy at the Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University. He is also Director of the Centre for Moral, Social and Political Theory and Co-Editor of The Journal of Political Philosophy. He is author of two monographs, Contractualism and the Foundations of Morality (OUP, 2010) and Explaining Norms (OUP, 2013) and many articles in journals including Ethics, Mind, Noûs, Philosophical Studies and Philosophy & Public Affairs. His current research investigates the nature and proper role of feasibility in politics.

Vincent Redhouse

2015 Fulbright Anne Wexler Scholar to the Australian National University. Vince Redhouse is a Navajo man, and was the 2015 Fulbright U.S. Anne Wexler Scholar. He graduated Summa Cum Laude with Honors in Philosophy, Politics, Economics, & Law from the University of Arizona in 2015. While at the University of Arizona, Vince earned many distinguished awards, including Outstanding Native American Student of the Year. He was also named an Honors College Pillar of Excellence and was a university medalist. For his Fulbright tenure, Vince is pursuing a Master of Philosophy degree at the Australian National University. His thesis is on political reconciliation between indigenous peoples and settler colonial states.