By Melanie O'Brien, Professor of International Law, The University of Western Australia
This is a crucial moment for international law in the face of concerted efforts by the Trump administration to undermine and discredit it.
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By Jenna Imad Harb, Research Fellow, School of Regulation and Global Governance, Australian National University
Shanine Ryan, Ngarluma Traditional Owner, Director of the Ngarluma Yindjibarndi Foundation Limited, Indigenous Knowledge
In July 2026, more than 200 community members gathered at Mandoon Bilya (Helena River) in Perth’s eastern suburbs. They planted more than 3,000 native flora as part of a wetland restoration project. The hopeful scene was a stark contrast to what the river might have become.
Until recently, Mandoon Bilya was the proposed site of a hyperscale artificial intelligence (AI) data centre. It was scheduled to be one of Australia’s…
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By Jada Watson, Associate Professor of Digital Humanities, School of Information Studies (Faculty of Arts), L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Dolly Parton’s chart history tells a pointed story of an artist who built her independence one song at a time.
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By Sarah Dees, Associate Professor of American Religions, Iowa State University
As soon as news broke about the death of beloved songwriter Dolly Parton, I began receiving condolence messages from across the country, and around the world.
They came from friends, family and colleagues who knew I’d been working on a biography of the country legend – everyone from a conservative Catholic monk to advocates for queer and trans rights. The list reflects the even more diverse array of fans, people from countless backgrounds, who are mourning her loss.…
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By Trang Chu, Associate Fellow, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
Tim Morris, Emeritus Professor, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
Shortly before entering Downing Street, Andy Burnham made a promise that appeared to be reassuring in its simplicity. “I won’t change,” he said. “I have a style. It’s my style.”
Burnham’s political appeal partly rests on the impression that there is little distance between the politician and the person. His black T-shirt and jacket, attachment to Everton football club…
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By Michael Sanders, Professor of Public Policy, King's College London
A new government-commissioned report has laid bare the tragedy of care leaver deaths.
The review was conducted by social work leader Clare Chamberlain and journalist Ashley John-Baptiste, who grew up in care himself. It found that isolation and a drop-off in support contributed to the early deaths of 112 care leavers aged 18 to 24 in England in 2025.
This is a staggering death…
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By Kingsley Ivande, PhD Candidate, Social Psychology, University of Victoria
Stacey Fitzsimmons, Associate Professor of International Business, University of Victoria
Canada actively recruits highly educated and skilled immigrants through programs, yet many of these immigrants struggle to find work matching their skills and experience.
Nearly one in three immigrants with a post-secondary education report that they are overqualified for their jobs. Statistics Canada data from 2024 and 2025…
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By Anna Turns, Senior Environment Editor, The Conversation
This roundup of The Conversation’s environment coverage was first published in our award-winning weekly climate action newsletter, Imagine.
At school, I was told by my teachers I wasn’t allowed to take art A-level alongside biology and chemistry. I’ve always regretted listening to them. The crossover between the arts and sciences fascinates me. The space where creative thinking mixes with rational logic to problem solve in fresh and innovative ways. Many researchers agree that this is where the magic lies.
Here at The Conversation, I love finding new ways to communicate…
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By Francesco Grillo, Academic Fellow, Department of Social and Political Sciences, Bocconi University
Europe’s relationship with American technology increasingly resembles an addiction. The patient knows it’s bad for them but cannot quite bring themselves to break it, because they don’t not know where to start. And yet everyone agrees that the longer the addict waits, the higher the price of the addiction becomes.
That is the real question that decades of conferences on what we rhetorically call Europe’s “digital sovereignty” have talked around without ever answering.
What Europe has lost is not simply any leadership in what are called “digital markets” – it is actually…
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By Tandeep Sidhu, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Criminology, University of Manitoba
Christopher J. Schneider, Professor of Sociology, Brandon University
Since the release of ChatGPT in 2022, artificial intelligence (AI) has dominated the cultural landscape. Uptake across various sectors, including law enforcement, quickly followed, usually with minimal foresight and little to no guardrails, like effective policies or laws, to govern AI use.
The largely unregulated use of AI in law enforcement is deeply concerning; it jeopardizes police legitimacy and could compromise the integrity of the justice system because it means the public cannot trust that
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