If you are a University student from regional Victoria or interstate you can fill out the form on our “Need a Couch?” page. We will do our best to find you someone to stay with in Melbourne who is attending the convention.

“Got a Couch?”
“Need a Couch?”

Please know that we cannot guarantee accommodation for anyone. Even the matching of individuals does not guarantee accommodation. We are just facilitating the swapping of contact details, the final decision concerning whether or not to stay with an individual in Melbourne or to have an interstate student stay with you is your decision. As such we suggest you should ensure you are comfortable with the situation by corresponding via numerous means such as email, telephone, or Skype.

We’ll be hosting a Student Leadership Conference on the eve of the Global Atheist Convention at the Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre on April 13, 2012.

More details, including registration, to be announced soon.

Subscribe to our Newsletter and we’ll keep you posted.

SkeptiCamps are informal, community-organized conferences borne from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. Everyone from casual skeptics to the experienced participate, give talks and get to know each other. Above, members of the University of Melbourne Secular Society outside the Redmond Barry Lecture Theatre, where they co-hosted Melbourne Skepticamp this weekend. The event follows a Australia’s first Skepticamp held in Sydney earlier in the year. A third Skepticamp will be held on the regional coast of Victoria in January next year. The Melbourne event has broken all previous attendance records in the history of Skepticamps, with over 150 people attending. To find out more information about Skepticamp Open Events head to http://www.skepticamp.com/

Location: Bar on the Hill – University of Newcastle.
Host: University of Newcastle Atheist Society.
Date: Wednesday 14th of September.
Time: Doors open at 7:00pm.
RSVP and invite friends on Facebook.

Brett Edman, President of the University of Newcastle Atheist Society, spoke about the event on 1233 ABC Radio Newcastle earlier today:
“Atheists have sense of humour” claims President by Maynard Productions

We’re excited to share with you that the Atheist Foundation of Australia has launched a student grant initiative which will offer an initial 10 free tickets to the 2012 Global Atheist Convention to the Freethought University Alliance.

The Global Atheist Convention, to be held in Melbourne in April 2012, boasts an impressive line-up of world renowned speakers including Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and many, many more.

The Freethought University Alliance will be allocating the free tickets to the 10 most active affiliated groups located outside of Victoria.

This list includes the following groups:

- Australian National University League of Extraordinary Atheists
- University of Newcastle Atheist Society
- Macquarie University Atheists League
- University of Wollongong Secular Freethinkers
- University of Sydney Atheist Society
- James Cook University Society of Atheist Philosophy
- University of Tasmania Atheists
- Bond University Rationalists, Skeptics and Thinkers
- Griffith University Skeptics and Freethinkers
- University of Western Australia Atheist and Skeptic Society

Allocation of the tickets will be at the discretion of the group, and decided upon by their own student committee. This could include competitions, fundraisers or splitting the costs of one ticket between a group of students to offer each student a small discount.

It is possible that a second round of grants may be announced at a later date, and it is our hope that we will be able to offer a free pass to every affiliated group with the Freethought University Alliance who are located outside of Victoria.

Travel and Accommodation Grants

Additionally, thanks to generous donations from organisations and individuals, the Freethought University Alliance will be offering a limited number of travel and accommodation grants for additional assistance to any student traveling from interstate. The allocation of such grants will be subject to availability and expressions of interest can be sent to scottsharrad@freethoughtalliance.org.au.

Student Leaders Conference

Finally, we would like to announce that the Freethought University Alliance has commenced planning for a “student leaders’ conference” to be held as part of a fringe event to the Global Atheist Convention. This will include lunch, workshops, student panels and guest speakers and take place on Friday 13th April 2012. We encourage students traveling from interstate to consider planning their itinerary to arrive on Friday morning or Thursday evening if they wish to take part in this event.

We will endeavour to keep registration for this event at a low cost to ensure it is accessible to all students attending the Global Atheist Convention.

Jason Ball, President of the Freethought University Alliance, sat down to have a chat with Think Inc organisers Sean Kwan, Desh Amila and James Gallichio (above). This is what went down.

JB: Thanks for joining me guys – can I start by asking what’s the motivation behind organising Think Inc?

SK: For me, it was very much about looking for a reason to bring down some of my heroes. I’ve spent countless hours on youtube listening and watching Neil deGrasse Tyson and Christopher Hitchens speak.

JG: What’s more, we wanted to do our part to help promote some of the things we’re really passionate about. We’re three young guys who want to live in a smarter, more rational society. Bringing some of the world’s best minds to Melbourne to discuss the future of the planet is our small attempt at advancing that cause.

SK: Yeah… that too.

DA: The concept for Think Inc was to create a conference unlike other conferences with themes in science or rationalism. I’d been to some in the past and personally found them to be a little too dragged out and repetitive. Drawing from my background in entertainment we conceptualised a conference similar in style to a mainstream music event – an intellectual big day out, if you will. I really want to see a diverse and much younger crowd attend the Think Inc conference.

JB: What’s behind the name “Think Inc”?

SK: We wanted a name that was catchy, encapsulated what the conference was trying to achieve (promote rational thought) and accessible. After many days of brainstorming for a suitable name (it was nearly going to be called Smart People) we came up with Think Inc – and I love the name. It plays perfectly to the essence of the conference – an institution of thought and big ideas.

JB: What got you personally interested in science and rationalism?

SK: Ever since my grade 3 volcano demonstration, and the many years wanting to be an astronaut I guess. I’ve always been a tech-geeky sort of guy, and science and science fiction is just so interesting. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy definitely had a huge role too.

JG: Sean and I also went to a pretty conservative Catholic high school where our view of the world was limited by some, let’s face it, archaic policies and practices. Desh had it worse though.

DG: Yeah, I had it worse. I grew up in Sri Lanka. Rational, scientific discourse was anything but the norm.

JG: Basically we’ve all experienced the dark sides of society, where science and rationalism aren’t celebrated in the slightest. Once you get out of that system your eyes really open up to the world.

JB: Why “Melbourne” as a location?

Sean: Because it’s the best city in the world of course! But seriously, Melbourne is often considered the intellectual hub of Australia. We’ve got some of the world’s leading universities, CSIRO, a great appreciation of the fine arts, and the best coffee. Plus all of the organisers are from Melbourne, so I guess that swayed the decision somewhat too!

JG: And, moreso, because we want to help Melbourne to become the intellectual capital of the world. No small task, but we’re nothing if not ambitious.

JB: The event has been met early on with scepticism from some groups within the freethought community. Why do you think that is, and what would you have done differently if you could go back in time and re-launch the event?

JG: For one, we’re not directly affiliated with any specific freethought groups; we’re not part of any big organisation; we don’t even have a board of directors. We’re just three guys trying to put on a great event -

SK: Exactly. Naturally, and especially within a community that celebrates scepticism and encourages people to be inquisitive and not take things at face-value, three unknown guys coming along with a pretty huge line-up of speakers causes a bit of a stir.

JG: There’s not much we could have done differently though. Sean and Desh have a longstanding background in events management, and we have vast network of agents and management contacts which we were able to use, just like when we put on events of a different nature.

SK: Scepticism comes with the territory when you’re the new players on the block, but it can wear you down when there is just complete disbelief as to how some passionate guys can seemingly put on a conference of this nature and scale. Fortunately, we have had tremendous support from the very beginning from some people within the freethought communities such as Meredith Doig from the Rationalist Society of Australia.

JB: Who’s funding the event?

SK: Initially we were hoping for government assistance from the city of Melbourne. Unfortunately that didn’t come through this year so we’ve had to rely on personal investment and support from our investors of Crisp (our events
management company).

JG: It’s quite a daunting task to be on our own so to speak, but hopefully we’ll receive support in future years once we’ve gone out and done it ourselves. We’ve have lot’s of wonderful support from industry and some societies which have been a big help in getting the word out about Think Inc. We’re truly appreciative of that.

JB: What are the plans for Think Inc. heading into the future?

SK: Ideally, I’d personally love to see Think Inc. become a free event for all Australians to attend. I definitely want to have the conference run for many years to come, and to become an Australian events staple. I want to see the event become more and more accessible, and something for younger generations to see as being cool to attend. Science should be cool. I want to see it become larger than TED! I’m just a little ambitious…

JB: What has been biggest challenge you’ve faced in organising the event so far?

JG: We’ve had a very interesting (and stressful) few weeks actually. From our old website getting hacked, to speaker’s being too busy to do press, and the general scepticism around the event from people we were expecting to be supportive, it’s not been a smooth ride to say the least! But we’re pressing on, and lately things have been much, much more positive.

SK: In a way it’s definitely strengthened our resolve to put this event on and make it a big success. We’re incredibly excited about the conference next month and we hope our audience is as well!

JB: Recently you guys announced that all Victorian secondary and primary school science teachers would be able to get a free ticket to Think Inc. That’s an incredibly generous offer?

JG: We had a long discussion before making this decision, and the consensus was this: Think Inc. isn’t about making a lot of money; it’s not about pushing a political or ideological agenda; it’s about the future. We want to promote a world in which the pursuit of science and a genuine curiosity about the world around us is held in the highest esteem. In our eyes, there’s no better way to promote that than by giving our teachers free access to some of the best minds in the world.

JB: I appreciate your time guys, good luck with the event.

Tickets for Think Inc are on sale now.

Head to http://thinkinc.org.au to book or for more information.

The Freethought University Alliance are proud to be presenting the newest face in Australian politics across three campuses next month. Fiona Patten is founder and Convenor of the Australian Sex Party, and has had 20 years experience in advocating and lobbying for the rights of adult retailers, sex workers, HIV/AIDS groups and online businesses.

In 2000 she published a listing of all paedophile priests in Australia under the title of Hypocrites, which became the basis of a Four Corners program and the beginning of a more widespread movement against organised religion and sex crimes.

In 2008, frustrated and deeply disappointed with the increasing wowserism of the major parties, she decided to set up a political party dedicated to civil liberties, personal freedoms and curbing religious influence.

Averaged across all states, the Australian Sex Party outpolled the four religious parties at the last federal election, coming in fourth place in the Senate election. In the last Victorian State election she missed out on an upper house seat by a mere 3,000 votes.

You may remember her from a now infamous debate on national TV, where she went head to head with Family First and Australian Christian Lobby state director Wendy Francis on Sunrise, which took place before the 2010 Federal Election.

Fiona is also the latest edition to the stellar line up of speakers presenting at next year’s Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne.

All speaking events are free and open to the public.

1:00pm Wednesday 3rd August
Lowe Theatre, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
Hosted by the University of Melbourne Secular Society
RSVP on Facebook

12:30pm Thursday 4th August
University Function Room, RMIT
Hosted by the RMIT Secular Society
RSVP on Facebook.

6:30pm Friday 5th August
Rotunda Building, MONASH UNIEVRSITY
Hosted by Rationalist Association of Monash
RSVP on Facebook.

The Freethought University Alliance will be coordinating efforts across its 23 affiliated campus groups, providing literature, posters and stickers to be dispensed during mid-year orientation carnivals and festivals over the next few weeks.

- that conservative religious lobby groups use census data to hold an uneven influence over political parties, and have contributed to the lack of progress on some social issues including gay marriage, euthanasia and abortion, as well as the funding of education.

More information can be found at http://censusnoreligion.org
Join the 15,000+ strong “Mark No Religion” Facebook event

To get a free “Mark No Religion” Census pack sent to your campus group, please email jasonball@freethoughtalliance.org.au

For media contact: 0407781406.

I had previously sealed the deal on my journey to atheism with The God Delusion. The process from hardcore Catholic to Sunday Christian to agnostic to atheist had taken a good ten years. It had been a part-time job but I collected my pay in full at the end, and I was free of the shackles of guilt, superstition and ignorance. I had to forge my own path now, after all, if bad things happened to me, I had to step up to the plate, take ownership and orchestrate my own salvation/escape plan!

I’d always been a general big-mouth – public speaking champion, debating captain, school politician, even stand-up comic… so it was a win for the side of reason when I jumped fence, if I do say so myself. Ingrid is from secular Norway and hadn’t grown up with any religious influences, so was surprised that atheism was a “movement” and not the norm. She is a reddit fan and cheeky hoarder of irreverent internet posters that satire religion and the status quo, and she has also amassed a winning collection of ‘fail’ cartoons! Ingrid’s undergraduate degree is in biomed and she is a rare breed of scientist, skeptic and hot babe – the devil likes p-values!

It started with a message from Ingrid. “Dawkins is speaking at some conference in Melbourne. It’s called the Global Rise of Atheism. Shall we go?” No hesitation, early convention tickets, plane tickets, one mystery wotif hotel booking and loads of anticipatory excitement later… We found ourselves in Melbourne. In the Hilton in Melbourne. Our coming-out party was not done in halves!

Our first foray into the world of activism was the inauguration of the Freethought University Alliance. We were quite intimidated by the movements on other campuses, but there and then we decided to start something at Bond University where we studied. It was a great introduction to the movers and shakers in our generation. Jason Ball, Jonathan Meddings, Reidar Lystad… look out for these names in the future. They will be policy makers, TED speakers and protest leaders. Ingrid and I are proud to call them friends now.

For those of you who were at the Conference, you know how amazing it was. For those of you who didn’t make it… It was a weekend jam-packed with rubbing shoulders with the greatest in the atheist world- scientists, writers, politicians, researchers, comedians, satirists, thinkers. We were whipped into a frenzy to affect real change back on the Gold Coast and we were hungry for more time with like-minded people. People of reason and courage. Highlights included meeting AC Grayling who amazed us with his kindness, amiability and approachability. We also became good friends with Simon Taylor, a psychology student turned illusionist in the style of Derren Brown. Simon has since spoken at a TEDx talk in Canberra in October 2010, which Ingrid and I went to too! And of course, we got a mountain of books signed by Grayling, Dawkins and Peter Singer. Ingrid and I eventually also met the wonderful, active Jayson Cooke, President of the Griffith University Skeptics and Freethinkers. It was at a “Skeptics in the Pub” meeting which he hosts at Brisbane’s Pig and Whistle. Jayson has been nothing but a source of inspiration and strength for us.

Elections for student council at Bond concluded at the end of September 2010 and I was elected to the role of Clubs Director. In not wishing to have any problems with any conflicts of interest, I set up BURST- Bond Uni Rationalist, Secularist, Thinkers and a facebook group, and then passed the reigns on to other students who showed interest. They have taken it from strength to strength and we have one of the most active Facebook groups on campus today!

BUSRT is a group still putting down roots at a small private university, notorious for its Liberal Party-leanings and strong faculties of law and business – hardly the setting for flourishing alternative-thought movements. We kind of like it that way for the moment. We are in our infancy, but with support and encouragement from Meddings the Queensland co-convener of the FUA, GUSSF’s president Cooke and our counterpart in Sydney, Lystad who is president of the Macquarie Atheist League who kindly gave us their constitution to model ours on… how can we not succeed in our mission to be the beacon at Bond for critical thought, rationalist perspective and a champion for the scientific method?

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Kylie Sturgess is an award-winning blogger and independent podcast host of The Token Skeptic Podcast. A Philosophy and Religious Education teacher with over ten years experience in education, Kylie has lectured on teaching critical thinking, feminism, new media and anomalistic beliefs worldwide. She is a Member of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) Education Advisory Panel and regularly writes editorial for numerous publications, and has spoken at The Amazing Meeting Las Vegas, Dragon*Con (US), QED Con (UK) and was the MC for the 2010 Global Atheist Convention.

The Freethought University Alliance are proud to be coordinating Kylie’s Victorian Tour. You’ll find her on campuses across Melbourne as well at the new Melbourne Skeptics in the Pub. Check out the listings below to find your nearest free event. Each talk has it’s own Facebook event, so make sure your RSVP and invite your friends to come along too:

Thursday 12th May: University of Melbourne Secular Society
“Fleeced – The Rise And Fall of a Aries’ Belief In Astrology”
1:00pm Harold White Lecture Theatre – Arts Centre, University of Melbourne
Facebook RSVP

Friday 13th May: Rationalist Association of Monash
“Very Superstitious – From Crossing Fingers To Friday The Thirteenth”
6:30pm, R1 Rotunda, Monash University
Facebook RSVP

Monday 16th May: RMIT Secular Society
“Feminine Intuition, Pseudoscience And How To Be More ‘Skep-chic’”
2:30pm, University Function Room, Building 8 Level 2, RMIT
Facebook RSVP

Monday 16th May: Melbourne Skeptics in the Pub
“Skeptical Books With Embiggen – feat. Warren Bonnett & Kylie Sturgess”
6:30pm, Mt View Hotel, 70 Bridge Rd, Richmond
Facebook RSVP