A Storybook of Culling - Associate Professor David R. Cole

The year is 2095, the devastating effects of climate change persist despite global efforts to mitigate their impact. Set in the Persianized city of Sal’lad, this tale explores the collision of two disparate narrative within the same tumultuous backdrop.

An academic finds himself ensnared in a perilous liaison with a captivating Persian woman, while behind the scenes, a clandestine society orchestrates what they believe to be the greatest act in human history.

As the twenty-first century lurches from crisis to crisis, humanity remains mired in unresolved turmoil. Unbeknownst to the world, a secret society devises a solution to the planet’s woes. Yet, their plans are shrouded in mystery, guarded by the threat of death for any who dare to speak of them.

Navigating the treacherous landscape of impending catastrophe and lost love, only the innocence of a child-like consciousness may comprehend the precipice navigate the precipice of these singularly horrific acts. This is a Storybook of Culling – a tale of heartbreak and the chilling rationalization of acts too unspeakable to fathom.

David R. Cole is an Associate Professor in Education and Cultural Analysis at Western Sydney University. He has lived in Egypt, South America and Australia. In the 1990s, he was at the University of Warwick, UK, and studied theory-fiction alongside the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit (CCRU). He has previously published two works in this genre, A Mushroom of Glass and The Nook in the Stream. He has been working in teacher education in Australia since 2004, and during that time has published 18 academic books that have helped to define the knowledge field of Deleuze and Education. He believes that creativity and imaginative thought are under threat in contemporary society, and their renewal is the key to humanity’s future survival.

From: 12:00pm Monday, November 10, 2025
To:  1:00pm Monday, November 10, 2025
Location:  Parramatta City Campus
Campus:  Parramatta City
Audiences:  General Interest, Post-graduate students, Western staff
Categories:  Thought Leadership Events
Registration:  Registration is required for this event.

Native Insect Crop Pollinator Diversity - Dr Amy-Marie Gilpin and Professor James Cook

Around 75% of Australian crops benefit from pollination. Some — including most apple cultivars — can’t produce fruit without it. Most pollination is enabled by commercial hives and feral nests of the introduced European honeybee (Apis mellifera). O verall, insect pollinators have declined worldwide in recent years, due to pesticide use, pathogen exposure, habitat destruction and climate change. Now, another major threat looms in Australia, a mite known as Varroa destructor.

The rapidly spreading parasite can wipe out honeybee colonies. Despite biosecurity controls, Varroa was detected near Newcastle in 2022, and in September 2023, the National Management Group, which coordinates the national Varroa mite response, declared that the species had established itself beyond the possibility of eradication.

Entomologist Professor James Cook, from Western’s Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, says farmers can no longer take honeybee pollination for granted.

Farmers and scientists are investigating whether native wild insects — which are not directly attacked by Varroa — might pick up some of the pollination slack. While the lion’s share of Australia’s crop pollination work currently falls to honeybees, native insects ferry pollen around crops too. To discover how much they contribute to orchard pollination, a fieldwork team led by ecologist Dr Amy-Marie Gilpin, also from Western, conducted insect surveys at other NSW apple orchards in Bilpin and Orange.

Join us for this engaging event, exploring the potential of Australian native insect crop pollinators.

Please note: This event is hybrid (in-person and online attendance)

Physical location: Hawkesbury Campus, Building L2, Ground floor, Room 30

From: 12:00pm Wednesday, November 26, 2025
To: 1:00pm Wednesday, November 26, 2025
Location:  Hawkesbury Campus
Campus:  Hawkesbury
Audiences:  Academics & researchers, General Interest, Post-graduate students, Western staff
Categories:  Community Events, First Nations Events, Thought Leadership Events
Registration:  Registration is required for this event.

Thought Leadership Panel: Climate Justice Through Reuse and Repair

Join researchers, council representatives, activists, and community organisers for a dynamic conversation on how everyday practices of reuse and repair such as clothing swaps, mending, and circular sharing, can be harnessed for climate justice. This panel will explore how local action can drive broader systems change, build post-election climate momentum, and revalue care-based practices as legitimate climate strategies. A low-emissions, plant-based lunch will be served in a relaxed networking setting. This will be followed by a keynote address by Nina Gbor, founder of Eco Styles.

Panel: 12:00 -1:00pm

Lunch: 1:00–1:45 PM

Keynote: 2:00–3:00 PM

Panellists:
Dr Jenna Condie – Western Sydney University / Blue Mountains Parents for Climate
Rob Morrison, Blue Mountains City Council representative – Local government climate & reuse strategy
Nic Seton, CEO Parents for Climate – Community-based climate action
(Chair/MC): A/Prof Stephen Healy, Western Sydney University

Keynote: Fashioning Justice: Local-Global Politics of Clothing, Waste, and Stewardship by Nina Gbor
Facilitated by: Alison Gill

Nina Gbor—founder of Eco Styles, sustainable fashion educator, campaigner, and clothes swap innovator—will explore how circularity in fashion and textiles can inspire broader systems change for environmental and social justice. Her work spans community education, policy influence, and creative activism, showing how share and reuse can be a foundation for community transformation and fashioning justice.

Come along to be inspired, challenged, and connected.

Please note: This event is hybrid (online via Zoom or in-person)

Physical location: Parramatta City Campus, Peter Shergold Building, Level 9, Room 2.

From: 12:00pm Tuesday, September 9, 2025
To: 3:00pm Tuesday, September 9, 2025
Location: Parramatta City Campus
Campus: Parramatta City
Audiences: Academics & researchers, General Interest, Post-graduate students, Undergraduate Students, Western staff
Categories: Community Events, Thought Leadership Events
Registration:  Registration is required for this event.

How Autobiography Helps Health Professionals Understand Women’s Experience of Postpartum Psychosis

Dr Diana Jefferies is a senior lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Western Sydney University. She has a clinical background in mental health and HIV/AIDS nursing and an academic background in the humanities. It is this interdisciplinary combination of knowledge that has sparked her interest in exploring how women make meaning of their mental distress after childbirth, their access to healthcare, their response to treatment, and any strategies they may use to promote recovery.

One method of accessing how women make meaning of their experience of postpartum mental distress is through published autobiography. As this is the woman’s writing, unmediated by the health professional’s lens, their thoughts about their illness become a pure distillation of their experience. This experience can then be read against current clinical knowledge and guidelines to identify if gaps in services exist and could be improved from these personal accounts.

Dr Jefferies will discuss three autobiographies of women’s accounts of postpartum psychosis, which occurs in 1-2 women in 1000 in the first four to six weeks following childbirth. This condition is a frightening and traumatic experience for the woman as she experiences rapid mood swings, hallucinations, delusions and confused thinking. Many women are reluctant to disclose their symptoms as they worry about losing custody of their child. Even though women may recognise there is something wrong, they may not receive treatment until the illness has become very severe.

These autobiographies are:

1. The Book of Margery Kempe (c.1400), Oxford University Press (2015)
2. Thomas Walsh, Amanda (2022): A Mother’s Mind: A Story of Postnatal Psychosis, Anxiety and Depression, Green Olive Press.
3. Beetson, Ariane (2024): Because I’m Not Myself: A Memoir of Motherhood, Madness and Coming Back from the Brink, Black Inc.

Reading about women’s experience of postnatal psychosis from the early 15^th century to the present demonstrates a long view of an illness that remains constant. It is from this perspective that it can be read against current clinical guidelines to ensure that women have optimum health outcomes.

Location: WSU Parramatta City Campus, Peter Shergold Building, Level 9, Conference Room 2 or via Zoom.

From: 1:00pm Tuesday, September 16, 2025
To: 2:00pm Tuesday, September 16, 2025
Location: Parramatta City Campus
Campus: Parramatta City
Audiences: Academics & researchers, Future students, General Interest, Post-graduate students, Western staff
Categories: Thought Leadership Events
Registration:  Registration is required for this event.