On 20-22 September, the Faculty of Arts in partnership with the Macquarie School of Social Sciences and the Australian Political Studies Association (APSA) proudly hosted the 67th APSA conference ‘Politics in the Age of Uncertainty’. The conference has been held annually since 1957 except in 2020 after the Organising Committee cancelled the event at the onset of the global pandemic.

The members of the Organising Committee were from the Discipline of Politics and International Relations in the Macquarie School of Social Sciences. This includes Dr Sung-Young Kim (Chair), Ms Kelli-Lee Drake, Associate Professor Ian Tregenza, Dr Jumana Bayeh and Dr Francesco Stolfi.

APSA is the representative body for all fields of political studies research and teaching in Australia and this was reflected in the diversity of the almost 60 panels in the conference program. There were a total of 280 registered presenters and audience members from Australia, the United States, India, Europe, Asia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Pleasingly, 130 delegates were ‘early career/unwaged/ postgraduate’ researchers, which bodes well for the long-term future of political studies in Australia and around the world.

The conference was officially launched by the Vice-Chancellor and President of Macquarie University, Professor Bruce Dowton; Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Strategy), Dr Leanne Holt; and the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Professor Martina Möllering. It featured a number of other recorded special events including by the APSA President, Professor Helen Sullivan (Australian National University) whose speech was titled 'How Political Studies can save the world (providing we can get out of our own way)'. Professor Rodney Smith (University of Sydney), the Immediate Past President of APSA, spoke on the topic of 'What can we learn about politics from contemporary Indigenous Australian novels?'. The Keynote Lecture, entitled ‘Thought on Uncertainty’ was delivered by Professor John Keane, based at the University of Sydney and WZB (Berlin).

The conference was by all accounts, a highly successful event, notably for its inclusive and welcoming approach to all delegates. It showcased the University’s commitment to the flourishing of politics and international relations and the social sciences more generally. As the Conference Chair, Dr Sung-Young Kim, conveyed in his remarks as MC, “the success of the conference reflected the collective efforts of ‘Team Macquarie’ from the Faculty of Arts, the Events and Domestic Protocol Team, Conference Support Assistants, and Research Stream Leaders.”