Frege’s Puzzle and Nature of Semantic Facts
Seminar
Frege noted that sentences that differ from each other only by the substitution of coreferential proper names can differ in their role in rational linguistic activity. For example, “Robert Zimmerman is Bob Dylan” can be used to make an informative assertion; “Bob Dylan is Bob Dylan” cannot.…
Human Instruments: Sensory Science and the Exclusions of Perceptibility
Lecture/seminar
In this paper, Dr Ella Butler analyses how perceptibility is organised as a social process in a scientific experimental setting. Specifically, she details how an American sensory science lab conducts a form of test called descriptive analysis which aims to transduce the sensory experience of a…
'My study is an archive of my mind': The making of Greg Dening
Seminar
Pacific historian and anthropologist Professor Greg Dening (1931-2008) was a man of many silences. Trawling through the large Dening archive in the State Library of Victoria, I am struck by the silences, the gaps and the stories left untold. In one of Greg’s many metaphors, that of ‘…
Middle East Update No.4: US/ Israel War on Iran The Long Road Ahead (in-person + online)
Panel discussion
As the US/Israel War on Iran enters into its third month, the regional and international orders are being reconfigured, and the global economic costs keep mounting. The gathered Panellists/Middle East scholars will offer critical insights and updates on the stances of key states and discuss…
2026 Short course: Comparing Populations
Continuing education
In this 2-day course, we'll learn skills that help demographers, policymakers, and health and social researchers measure differences between populations, and techniques that allow valid comparisons to be made across populations with differing compositions.Populations can be compared in many ways,…
Integrating Artificial Intelligence into Quantitative Political Research
Workshop
3rd Annual APSA Workshop on Quantitative MethodsAs artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into research and empirical analysis, Large Language Models (LLMs) have rapidly emerged as powerful tools for political scientists. By enabling new approaches to data collection, text analysis…
2026 Short course: Analysing Time to Events
Continuing education
This 2-day course introduces the foundation for understanding how and why certain events do or do not occur, such as when young people leave home, length of employment, or time to first home ownership.The skills learned are widely applicable to demographic, health, and social science and policy…