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American Australian Association Benefit Dinner

6 June 2013

The American Australian Association hosts Benefit Dinners to recognise prominent individuals who have made significant contributions to business, economic, social and cultural relationships between the United States and Australia. Proceeds from the dinner go towards building the Association's Education Fund. This year the AAA was proud to honour Mr Andrew Liveris, Chairman and CEO of the Dow Chemical Company and Richard Warburton AO LVO, Chairman of Westfield Retail Trust, Magellan Flagship Fund and Citigroup Pty Ltd.

Delivering a Sustainable Future City: Three Day Workshop

4 April 2013 - 6 April 2013

The US Studies Centre developed the Delivering a Sustainable Future City program to support local government leaders in building low carbon, sustainable and liveable communities. As part of the program this three day workshop, led by experts in urban re-design and sustainable development from the United States and beyond, focused on the issues that each community brings for discussion, strategic options and strategy formulation. Follow this link to learn more about the program.

Kurt Campbell on the US, Australia and China

14 March 2013

Former US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Kurt Campbell, said he was bullish about the US/China relationship in his first public address since leaving office earlier this year. Widely recognised as a key architect of the Obama administration’s pivot to Asia, Dr Campbell was a central figure in advancing the US-China relationship and was a key player in the historic normalisation of bilateral ties between the United States and Burma/Myanmar. He is currently Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Asia Group and is writing a book about his experiences in the Obama administration with the title The Pivot.

New South Wales Advanced Biofuels Industry Roundtable

22 February 2013

The NSW Advanced Biofuels Industry Roundtable brought together Australian and American experts from the agricultural, aviation, maritime and defence sectors. They considered a NSW-based approach to this emerging industry, as well as public policy frameworks that will enable the industry to achieve its full potential, maximize the State’s existing competitive advantages and add value to the State’s resources and economy. The experts discussed how to leverage the US Navy’s interest in sailing the Great Green Fleet into Sydney Harbour in 2016 and the success of the Sustainable Maritime Fuels Forum that the US Studies Centre convened in February 2012.

Delivering a Sustainable Future City: Open House

7 February 2013

The US Studies Centre, with the support of the New South Wales Government, invited local communities in New South Wales to participate in an exciting program which provided leaders of cities and towns the opportunity to explore, discover and test innovative ways to address some of the challenges they face. There was an Open House to provide all prospective participants of the Delivering a Sustainable Future City program the opportunity to discuss the program further. Follow this link to learn more about the program.

Evidence-based policymaking: Best practices for policy design and evaluation

29 January 2013

The term evidence-based policy; is in wide use today, but there is a large gap between the empirical analysis that academic experts recommend and what is typically done in policymaking circles. Partly this reflects a lack of communication between scholars and practitioners about advances in methodologies. A major development in the social sciences in the past two decades has been the refinement and application of experimental and quasi-experimental techniques for empirical analysis. In particular, scholarly work has emphasized the value of randomised evaluations as a method for measuring the effects of policies and programs. The approach has been applied to study a diverse range of issues, including job training, policing of domestic violence, health insurance, school vouchers, immunizations, microfinance, and household savings.

Election Day Spectacular

7 November 2012

After months of intense campaigning by Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, Americans finally went to the polls to decide who would hold the keys to the White House for the next fours years. Friends, colleagues and political foes gathered to witness the US election results live at the Manning Bar. This special event included live CNN coverage, prize giveaways, an opportunity to have your photo with the presidential candidates, as well as complimentary popcorn and fairy floss. US Studies Centre experts were on hand to offer analysis.

Defence workshop

29 October 2012 - 30 October 2012

Leading defence and security strategists from America and Australia will meet in Canberra next week to discuss the future of the Australia-United States alliance with regard to defence force collaboration, nuclear disarmament and the threat of Islamic terrorism.

Education and Innovation Workshop

17 October 2012 - 18 October 2012

As part of the Alliance 21 project, the theme of Education and Innovation will explore shared policy interests between Australia and the United States.

Under innovation, the position papers will cover topics such as how innovation drives productivity through an economy and what policies are needed to promote innovation across the economy.

The education component will focus on improving learning and teaching in schools, practical approaches to school improvement, teacher performance development, and using student assessment to improve student performance. In higher education, it will focus on the need to adapt to global competition for students and research status, and innovation in higher education delivery and organisation.

The overlap within the education and innovation themes offers the opportunity to share ideas between school education, higher education and innovation, and to consider the impact of school education and higher education on innovation and productivity.

The findings from these papers will contribute to the Alliance 21 Report, which the project’s co-directors, Geoffrey Garrett and Robert Hill, will present to the Commonwealth Government at a final conference in Washington DC in the first half of 2014.

The Impact of the US Presidential Election on Australia & the Asia Pacific

26 September 2012

The United States Studies Centre in association with the NSW Government and the American Australian Association held a forum on the Impact of the US Presidential Election on Australia & the Asia Pacific featuring expert panelists The Hon Andrew Stoner MP, NSW Deputy Premier; Professor James Fallows, Chair in US Media at the United States Studies Centre and National Correspondent for The Atlantic; and Huw McKay, Senior International Economist, Westpac Banking Corporation. The moderator was Geoff Elliott from the The Australian.