Smart Talk

A wide variety of conversations with expert guests recorded in front of audiences around Aotearoa.

Various RNZ presenters talk to smart people about their big ideas.

A podcast cover for "Smart Talk" with a black and white picture in the background featuring a lot of people sitting in a room and listening to someone.

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Voices in the Air: Sarah Johnston on 100 years of radio

Sound historian Sarah Johnston explores 100 years of radio in a talk at the National Library, focusing on the early decades and the innovative World War II radio Mobile Unit recordings.
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Prof. Peter O’Connor on how education can respond to terrorism

In an update of his 2017 talk, Prof. Peter O'Connor explores the complexities of terrorism from an educator's perspective. From the online version of Auckland University's Raising the Bar.
Billy Goat Gruff crossing the bridge

Assoc. Prof. Mike Lee provides a marketer’s insights into vaccine hesitancy

Marketing expert Dr Mike Lee has kept a ten-year watch on the anti-vaccination movement. In this illuminating talk, he explores how we could develop herd immunity against harmful misinformation.
Dr Mike Lee

Siouxsie Wiles on Covid-19, conspiracies and a life in science, at the 2021 NZ International Science Festival

Science communicator Siouxsie Wiles spoke about Covid-19, conspiracy theories and how being a goth teenager led her into microbiology, at the 2021 NZ International Science Festival.
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A panel of experts at the 2021 NZ International Science Festival on gene editing, mātauranga Māori and pest control

A team of experts discuss the future of gene editing to control pests, and how it connects with mātauranga Māori. A highlight of the NZ International Science Festival from July 2021.
The New Zealand kererū

Angler Dougal Rillstone and surfer Derek Morrison on being in wild places, at the 2021 Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival

Angler Dougal Rillstone and surfer Derek Morrison talk to fellow explorer Bruce Ansley about their love for the wild places of Aotearoa.
A detail from the cover of 'Surf Dreams' by Derek Morrison

Four Māori scholars discuss what it’s like to teach and study in the university, at the 2021 Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival

Prof. Jacinta Ruru talks with fellow Māori academics about being Māori in a university. A highlight of 2021's Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival.
Maori graduates at the University of Otago

Jared Savage and Steve Braunias discuss crime writing at the 2021 Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival

Jared Savage and Steve Braunias explore the art of crime writing in Aotearoa. Rob Kidd chairs this highlight of 2021's Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival.
A woman kneels next to candles and flowers near a photo of murdered British backpacker Grace Millane during the vigil for murdered British backpacker Grace Millane at Civic Square Park in Wellington

Becky Manawatu discusses her novel Auē at the 2021 Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival

Lynn Freeman talks with Becky Manawatu about her acclaimed debut novel Auē in this highlight of 2021's Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival.
Becky Manawatu

HG Parry on her alternative history novel A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians at the 2021 Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival

The emerging author HG Parry writes complex and engaging fantasy novels. She talks to Lynn Freeman about reinventing the 18th century in this highlight of 2021's Dunedin Writers Festival.
Slaves cut sugar cane on the Caribbean island of Antigua in this 1823 illustration by William Clark.

The eminent author Witi Ihimaera talks at the 2021 Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival

Master storyteller Witi Ihimaera talks with Jacinta Ruru about Navigating the Stars: Māori Creation Myths, in which he explores Māori history and identity through its mythology.
Writer and poet Witi Ihimaera

A panel discussion at Creative Matakana considers how the visual arts world has changed since 2019

Lisa Reihana, Ane Tonga, Scott Lawrie and Deborah Rundle discuss a time of change for visual art with Claire Ulenberg at Creative Matakana. Recorded in May 2021.
A non-fungible token (NFT) is a special type of cryptographic token which represents something unique.

A Wanaka Festival of Colour panel discussion about taxes - good, bad and inevitable

A panel at Wanaka's Festival of Colour considers whether taxation is love. Lynn Freeman talks to Max Rashbrooke, Prof. Lisa Marriott and Shamubeel Eaqub in April 2021.
hand grabbing money bag

A panel discussion about how democracy can be improved, at the 2021 Wanaka Festival of Colour

Lynn Freeman talks about democracy with Max Rashbrooke, Oliver Hartwich and Katherine Errington in this highlight from Wanaka's Festival of Colour in April 2021
Signs around Christchurch

A trans-Tasman panel explores how e-commerce can reduce its environmental footprint

A trans-Tasman panel explores how e-commerce can operate in an environmentally sustainable way. Paul Barclay hosts this ABC discussion with experts from NZ and Australia.
Packages on a courier's trolley