Beaker Street Festival: Tas van Ommen & Maggie Walter

Festival Hub at TMAG 

Saturday August 7, 6:20-7:10pm.

(with Auslan interpretation)

Session #1: Prof Maggie Walter & Dr Tas van Ommen 

Talk 1
Pursuing Indigenous Data Sovereignty in Lutruwita
Prof Maggie Walter
How much does non-Indigenous Tasmania know about the Palawa population in Lutruwita? The answer is — even when being generous — not much. And what is known, as elsewhere, is a function of how the State ‘sees’ its Indigenous population. The results are data that resolutely focus on measures of social inequality such as health, employment and education. This statistical narrative of deficit produces two pejorative outcomes. As the evidence base for Indigenous-related policy, such data are directly implicated in the long record of Indigenous policy failure. The deficit focus also excludes the production of data needed by Palawa for nation rebuilding. Globally, the Indigenous response to this data issue is the pursuit of Indigenous data sovereignty; the right of Indigenous Peoples to govern the collection, management access, interpretation, dissemination and reuse of data related to them. This presentation unpacks the need for Indigenous Data Sovereignty in Lutruwita.

About the Speaker
Maggie Walter (PhD; FASSA) is Palawa, a member of the larger Briggs Tasmanian Aboriginal family. She is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of Tasmania and was the inaugural Pro Vice Chancellor Aboriginal Research and Leadership at the University (2015-2020). Professor Walter’s research develops alternative empirical evidence and theoretical explanations of the embedded inequity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in Australian society. Within this she is a national and international leader in the Indigenous data sovereignty movement.  Related publications include: Indigenous Statistics: A Quantitative Research Methodology (co-authored with C. Andersen 2013 Routledge – now cited more than 430 times) and Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Social Policy (with Tahu Kukutai; Stephanie Russo Carroll and Desi Rodriguez Lonebear, Routledge, 2020). In May 2021, Professor Walter was appointed a Commissioner with the Yoo-rrook Justice Commission in Victoria and is moving to Emerita Professor status with the University of Tasmania. 

Talk 2
Ice and Climate – Using the past to understand our future 
Dr Tas van Ommen 
Our understanding of Earth’s climate rests on observation. In its ever-changing patterns we see the interplay of forces that drive variations from seasons to the ice ages. One of the most powerful tools for understanding climate is the detailed history laid down among snowflakes and buried in the polar ice sheets. Cores drilled from this ice show in stark relief that humans have become a planetary
force and illustrate powerfully the connection between carbon dioxide and climate. They also point the way to understanding connections and improving our capacity to know our climate future. In this presentation Dr Tas van Ommen will show what it is like drilling ice cores in remote Antarctica, revealing some of the major findings in this field and outlining a large new project underway to drill the oldest ice core from Antarctica, extending more a million years into the past.

About the Speaker 
Tas van Ommen leads the Antarctic Climate Program with the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD). He is a physicist and glaciologist, gaining a PhD in astronomy at University of Tasmania in 1993. He has held positions at University of Tasmania, NASA, and the AAD. His specialty areas of research are the study of past climate using ice cores and airborne studies of the Antarctic ice sheet. His work includes use of ice cores to identify links between Antarctic snowfall and Australian drought, and extensive mapping of the topography of East Antarctica. He oversees Australia’s new project to drill
the oldest ice core from Antarctica, well beyond a million years. His six field expeditions to Antarctica, include deep ice coring camps, over snow traverse and airborne campaigns.

Doors open at 6:00pm, talk begins at 6:20pm.
This is a 50-minute session.

COVID-19 Entry Conditions
All visitors 16 years and older are required to register their details on entry via the Check In TAS app. Please maintain social distancing especially when queueing or at our bars. If you are unwell, please stay home.

For visitors to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) 
Due to capacity limits at our Festival Hub at TMAG, patrons may be required to wait for admission to the site. Ticket holders for pre- booked talks will be given priority entry to TMAG, but may be asked to move directly to the talk venue.

Cancellations and Late Arrivals for events at TMAG
If for any reason you cannot attend your event, refunds will be available up to 1 day before your event. The Festival cannot guarantee refunds beyond that window. Event organisers reserve the right to reallocate your seats if you or your party have not claimed your seats within 15 minutes of the advertised start time of the talks or events. 

A Seat at the Table
Beaker Street Festival's pay-it-forward initiative, A Seat at the Table, helps make our science and art offerings accessible to those who can't afford to purchase a ticket. Ticket buyers have the option to donate towards the cost of a stranger's ticket. You won't know who you've helped, but your donation will go directly to allowing someone else to access this great event.

Need a seat at the table? Email: seatplease@beakerstreet.com.au with your name, email address, post code, your age (if you don't mind - it helps us gather data), which event you're interested in, and whether you would like one or two tickets. Your information will never be shared or made public. If we can offer you a seat, we'll notify you by email within a week of the event.

More about Beaker Street Festival 
Beaker Street Festival is an annual celebration of science and art in lutruwita/Tasmania. Stop in to the Festival Hub at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery for fascinating talks by world-leading scientists, live music in the underground Speakeasy bar, art/science installations and performance, hands-on microscopy, and Tassie food and drink. 
Venture further afield for the Sci Art Crawl around Hobart, a Dark Sky Party on at Spring Bay Mill, scientist-led tours and cruises, small-group talks and dinners with scientists on the Tassie Science Road Trip, and so much more! View the entire program at www.beakerstreet.com.au 

BEAKER STREET FESTIVAL 
AUGUST 6-14 2021