System Error: a late night show at 6:30pm

Join us for System Error - a late night show at 6:30pm. We’re rethinking what a public lecture can be, and asking big questions about the role of technology in our society. Expect academic insight, humour, a little audience participation, a musical guest, and a new way to think about AI and the role it’s playing in our democracy.

We can't wait to hear from our special guests...

Tash York, multi-award-winning singer, improviser, cabaret performer, producer, podcaster, and emcee. Known for her enthusiastic voice, dynamic energy, and on-the-spot rapping, she has been called “the queen of Australian cabaret comedy.”

Andrew Perfors, Director of the Complex Human Data Hub at the University of Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences. Andrew runs the Computational Cognitive Science Lab where he works to understand the why and the what within higher-order cognition: concepts, language, decision-making, information and misinformation transmission, and cultural and social evolution and change.

Charlie Perelini, Global Experience Delivery Lead at HEX, a VC-backed impact ed-tech startup delivering for-credit innovation and entrepreneurship programs to students worldwide. Charlie is an energetic creative with a passion for startups, tech, marketing, brand, social media, and design.

Dr Caren Han, Senior Lecturer at the University of Melbourne and honorary Associate Professor at the University of Sydney. Carey co-leads AD-NLP, Australia’s deep learning NLP group, where she works to advance natural language processing through deep learning: visual-linguistic multimodal learning, abusive language detection, document layout analysis, explainable AI, and recommender systems.

Imogen Crump, Journalist and editor with three decades of experience at major public broadcasters including the BBC and ABC. She is now editor of Pursuit, the University of Melbourne’s research news platform. Her career has taken her through conflict zones, political upheavals, global sporting events, and major scientific breakthroughs. She has a strong interest in how mis- and disinformation shape the media, public discourse, and political debate.

Jacob Varghese, CEO of Maurice Blackburn. His achievements include major shareholder settlements exceeding $100 million, Australia’s largest food safety class action, and a successful case securing visas for 109 babies of asylum seekers. He also led the Federal Court challenge to unfair poker machines. Jacob holds Honours in Law from the University of Melbourne.

Being Human 2025

This project was produced in collaboration with the 2025 Being Human Festival. Founded in the UK as the only national festival of the humanities, Being Human is now a global celebration dedicated to demonstrating the breadth, diversity and vitality of the humanities.

View the full Festival program here.

Your host....

Cory Alpert is a social psychologist and writer specialising in the intersection of artificial intelligence and democracy. With experience working on presidential campaigns and at the White House, Cory brings a unique perspective on how technology shapes societal trust and political engagement. His research focuses on how AI disrupts traditional democratic norms and explores ways to rebuild agency and efficacy in the age of algorithms. Cory is a regular columnist in The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, writing about technology, politics, and global issues. His columns have also appeared in The Straits Times (Singapore), the Kyiv Independent (Ukraine), the Post and Courier (USA), Haaretz (Israel), and Pursuit. He is a frequent commentator on Australian radio and television.

Your director...

Wes Snelling is a performance-maker, writer, director, producer, actor, acclaimed cabaret artiste, singer, comedian, radio presenter, production/stage/tour manager and mentor. His home-grown performances have seen him tour throughout Australia, Denmark, Germany, Indonesia, South Korea, the UK and USA. Directorial credits include working with Aboriginal Comedy Allstars, Judith Lucy & Denise Scott, Sammy J & Randy, Em Rusciano, Otto and Astrid, and many more.