Shows
Pillar TalkPPE Survival Guide III: Getting Involved!In response to absolutely ravenous fan demand, Pillar Talk is back! We round out our programming for this semester in Lachie and Aunima’s welcome company, trying to explain a little about the social side of PPE. Our two interviewees join Kaya in an engaging group discussion, talking a little about how they were introduced to the PPE community (big shoutouts to netball), their favourite events, the role of drinking within the program, and what they get up to as executives in the society! Perfectly times to coincide with third-round Soiree tickets coming out this Wednesday, our thi...2025-05-2727 min
Pillar TalkPPE Survival Guide II: Jobs, Jobs, JobsIn our second episode, the Publications team dives into the murky pool that is the PPE job market! With graduate job applications in full swing (and PPE Pathways coming up on the 19th of March!), it seems high time to have a chat to some employment experts and find out their perspectives on getting students into jobs.Our two guests for this week are Lucy Boyle, UQPPES Vice President of Vocations, and Devika Moss, a 2024 PPE graduate currently working in the Queensland Government's Policy Futures graduate program. As well as discussing what strategies this...2025-03-1732 min
Pillar TalkPPE Survival Guide I: So, What is it You Study Again?It's a new year, and with it comes new UQPPE initiatives! This is the first episode of the PPE Survival Guide, a series of interviews organised by the UQPPE Publications Portfolio to help communicate different perspectives on the degree. The PPE cohort has always been brimming with warnings, stories, and advice: our hope is that this series helps broadcast these experiences throughout the degree, as well as to give people outside of the degree a bit of an insight into what studying PPE is all about!Our first guest is Jack Sutton, the current president of the...2025-03-0317 min
Economics ExploredThe Power of Economics: A Look Back at the Past 20 Episodes - EP221This episode features highlights from the past 20 episodes. Economics Explored host Gene Tunny plays clips that illustrate key themes like using economics as a scientific framework, considering different perspectives, and remembering the limitations of models. The clips feature discussions on COVID policies, the role of experts, projections of resource depletion, nuclear energy, and the challenges of development economics. Gene hopes listeners find the highlights thought-provoking and looks forward to feedback on improving the podcast in the new year.Don't hesitate to contact us with any questions, comments and suggestions by emailing us at contact@economicsexplored.com or...2024-01-0228 minEconomics ExploredPrivate vs public sector jobs, consulting scandals & economics as an ‘imperialist discipline’ w/ UQPPES - EP209Show host Gene Tunny speaks with students from the University of Queensland Politics, Philosophy and Economics Society. They discuss topics such as private versus public sector jobs, the future of consulting, and the risks of outsourcing for government officials. Gene takes an historical perspective and goes back to the time of convict transportation to Australia. He also talks about, among other things, his time working in Treasury during the Rudd Government, and how psychology is relevant to economics. The students express concerns about the consulting sector in light of a recent scandal involving PwC partners misusing confidential government information.2023-10-1050 minPillar TalkCameron Murray on How Australia can Solve Housing AffordabilityIn the final episode of season one of Pillar Talk, Will and Ollie chat with Dr Cameron Murray. Cameron is a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Sydney Henry Halloran Trust, specialising in the economics of property and urban development, environmental economics, rent-seeking, and corruption. This conversation covers a lot of these topic areas, beginning with Cameron’s work on corruption, before honing in on the ongoing crisis of housing affordability, and Cameron’s proposed solution: a policy he calls HouseMate.To read more about this and other ideas of Cameron's check out his subs...2023-02-041h 10Pillar TalkAdrian Moore on Buddhist Philosophy and East-West SynthesisIn this episode, I join Will at the table as we chat with Dr Adrian Moore.Adrian is an academic philosopher, with a keen interest in both continental and Eastern philosophy, especially existentialism, anarchism, and Buddhism. You can read his PhD thesis, which we discuss in the podcast, here.In this conversation, we cover these topic areas, and much more. It was a really interesting conversation to be a part of, and both Will and I found ourselves taking long detours down philosophical rabbit-holes about the nature of consciousness and the self, non-dualism, and Pythagoras’s...2023-02-041h 31Pillar TalkJohn Quiggin on Climate Policy, Cost of Living, and COVID-19In this episode, Will and Ollie chat with UQ’s very own John Quiggin.John is a bit of a favourite among UQ PPE students. One of Australia’s most prolific academic economists, and an avid blogger, he is a common contributor to public debate, and isn’t scared to share his hot takes on topical issues. John takes the third year PPE course PPES3101, where he draws on his experience as a former member of the Australian Climate Change Authority to deliver a course focused on the economic and political dimensions of climate change. In this...2023-02-0447 minPillar TalkGeorge Brandis on National Security and Liberalism in AustraliaWhat is the biggest threat to Australia’s security right now?How can we balance civil liberties with national security?What’s the relationship between liberalism and conservatism?And is it even worth studying PPE?In today’s episode, Will and Ollie chat with the Honourable George Brandis KC, former Senator for QLD, Attorney-General for Australia, and High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, and newly-appointed Professor of National Security, Policy, and Law at ANU.This discussion took place as a follow-up after our Statecraft Winter Lecture, at which George shared...2023-01-1657 minPillar TalkStatecraft Keynote Lecture: George Brandis' Reflections on Politics and DiplomacyLast month, the UQ PPE Society hosted the Statecraft Keynote Lecture, featuring the Honourable George Brandis KC, former Senator for QLD, Attorney-General for Australia, and High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
This episode is a recording of that lecture, entitled "Reflections on Politics and Diplomacy". The lecture ends at around the 45 minute mark, after which we’ve included half an hour of the best questions from our audience Q & A.
Listen now to get George Brandis' takes on the future of the Liberal party, the Tory leadership contest, Scott Morrison's 'secret ministries' scandal, and the gene...2022-10-051h 16Pillar TalkBrendan Markey-Towler on Subsidiarity and Polycentric GovernanceWhat is the principle of subsidiarity?
How does it challenge conventional approaches to governance?
And how can it help us tackle some of the world's most wicked problems?
In this episode, Tom and Will chat with Dr Brendan Markey-Towler about the principle of subsidiarity and polycentric governance.
Dr Brendan Markey-Towler is a credit analyst with a background as an academic economist. His areas of interest include behavioural, institutional, and evolutionary economics, as well as the economics of technology, topics which he has explored in his books An Architecture of the Mind (2018) a...2022-09-181h 16Pillar TalkInflation Explained, with Begoña DomínguezWhat's causing inflation?
Is it 'always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon'?
What's the rationale behind central bank independence?
And what can policy-makers do to curb inflation?
In this episode, Will & Ollie chat with Dr Begoña Domínguez from the UQ School of Economics about all things inflation.
Dr Begoña Domínguez has a PhD in economics from the University of Barcelona, and today conducts research into fiscal and monetary policy, as well as teaching ECON3200 - Monetary Economics. She is also the Vice-President of the Australasian Macroeconomics Soci...2022-08-1435 minPillar TalkAlastair Stark on Deliberative Democracy and Crisis ManagementWhat does it mean to be a citizen?
What is the proper role of experts in a democracy?
How unique is the COVID-19 crisis?
And why do our institutions always seem to forget how to manage crises?
In the first proper episode of this season of Pillar Talk, your hosts Will & Ollie sit down with Dr Alastair Stark from UQ’s School of Political Science to address these questions and more, discussing deliberative democracy, crisis management, and institutional amnesia.
Dr Alastair Stark describes himself as a political scientist working in...2022-07-2945 minPillar TalkWhat is Pillar Talk?What's behind the name 'Pillar Talk'?
Why are we making a podcast at all?
How much could you win for reading all of Hobbes' Leviathan?
Is Ollie really a raging conservative, and Will a radical Marxist?
In this introductory episode, we answer all these questions and more, explaining why the UQ PPE Society is making a podcast, what you can expect from this new initiative, and what perspectives we bring to the podcast as hosts.
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Pillar Talk is published by the University of Queensland Politics, Philosophy & Economics S...2022-07-2523 min