2026 Festival

Speaker Profile

Elizabeth Finkel

Elizabeth Finkel holds a PhD in biochemistry and spent ten years as a research scientist before becoming an award-winning journalist and author of The Genome Generation, among other books. She is a founding editor of Cosmos Magazine and a regular contributor to the US magazine ScienceRadio National’s Science Show and The Monthly. Her awards include a Queensland Premier’s Literary Award for Stem Cells: Controversy at the Frontiers of Science, the National Press Club’s award for Higher Education Journalist of the Year and the Eureka Award for Science Journalism. 

The Assault On Science: Are we in a post-truth world?

Thursday April 23
The Ballroom, The Continental
12.00pm / 60 mins

Peter Doherty, Elizabeth Finkel and Corey Tutt with Libbi Gorr

What has caused some communities to doubt science’s research, findings and facts? And how much of this new scepticism is fuelled by politics? 

This session is supported by DeadlyScience  

Humanities Need A Hug: Critical thinking in an AI-dominated world

Friday April 24
Portsea Village
9.00am / 60 mins

Elizabeth Finkel, Jane Montgomery Griffiths and Sean Scalmer with Inala Cooper