Business School Annual Lecture Series

Asia-Pacific Family Business Symposium 2024

Virtual event on Wednesday 25 September, 4pm – 6pm AWST

In collaboration with the Western Australia WEB3 Association and the Global Fintech Institute, this event hosts “fireside chats” and case study presentations from academic and industry WEB3 technology experts on how SMEs use WEB3 technologies in their business. The event is moderated by Dr Andrzej Gwizdalski, WAWEB3 Chair and UWA Honorary Research Fellow with Prof David Lee Kuo, Global Fintech Institute Chair.

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Virtual Symposium Thursday 26 September, 12pm AWST (Perth WA Time) Family Business and Ecosystem Dynamics: Past, Present and Future.

This event hosts presentations from academics, students and practitioners on research relevant to the Symposium theme and family business studies.

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The Shann Memorial Lecture

The annual Shann Memorial Lecture was introduced to honour the memory of the Foundation Professor of Economics at UWA, Edward Owen Giblin Shann. Edward Shann has been regarded as the pioneer of the academic development of economics and traditional Australian economic history and he was a strong advocate of individual intellectual freedom and developing a sense of social responsibilities. He penned several books and essays on the economic history of Australia and was a major influence in formulating financial and fiscal policies in Australia.

About Edward Shann

Edward Shann was born in 1884 and graduated with first-class honours in history and political economics from Queens’ College, University of Melbourne. He won several scholarships and went on for higher studies at the London School of Economics. He returned to Australia from England in 1910 and was lecturer-in-charge of history and economics at the University of Queensland from June 1911 to December 1912. He joined the University of Western Australia in its inaugural year of 1913 as the Foundation Professor of history and economics. He then went on to work at the University for a total of 22 years and was Vice-Chancellor from 1921 to 1923. Edward Shann’s life was cut tragically short when he died at the age of 51, in 1935.

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View the full list of keynote speakers since 1963

Year	Author	Title of lecture
2024	Chris Richardson	Australia: Why we are where we are... [PDF, 294KB]
2023	Gary Banks AO	Australia’s productivity malaise - reflections on the ‘debate’ [PDF, 258KB]
2022	Meghan Quinn	A perspective of the financial system through COVID and beyond
2021	Guy Debelle	Monetary policy during Covid [PDF, 367 KB]
2020	No lecture due to COVID

The Contemporary Issues in Family Business Lecture

The annual Contemporary Issues in Family Business Lecture is held each September, and is supported by Family Business Australia. Family businesses are the backbone of the Australian economy with almost 70% of businesses in Australia being family owned and operated. Each year the lecture is held to coincide with National Family Business Day and to recognise the contribution that family business make to the Australian community, economy and culture. The lecture hosts an eminent business or academic practitioner who gives an address on a contemporary issue facing family business.

The John Taplin Memorial Lecture

John Taplin AM had an enormous impact on transport economics, being a pioneer in the area of modelling travel choices and demand elasticities, applying genetic algorithms to optimise transport investment decisions. He was an early developer of AI techniques that could be applied to transport and was one of the first to predict the future growth in electric vehicles. After a distinguished career in senior leadership roles in economics and transport (among others, Director of the Bureau of Transport Economics 1972-75 and Deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth Department of Transport 1975-77), and a professorship intermezzo at the University of Tasmania 1978-82, John became the WA Director General of Transport (1982-1990) and represented the State government’s principal transport policy advisor until late 90s. Many strategic transport decisions are linked to his name, both in WA and at a national level. John returned to academic life at in 1991 joining UWA, eventually retiring in 2010 as Professor of Transport and Logistics and remaining an active Emeritus Professor and Senior Honorary Research Fellow, until he passed away on the 17th March 2019.

In 1990 at the Sydney Australian Transport Research Forum (ATRF), the John Taplin Award for the Best Paper was first proposed by Professor David Hensher, in recognition of John’s major contribution to the conference, for which he was one of the six founders and Chair of the first Forum in 1975.

The Bateman Memorial Lecture

This lecture is supported by an endowment established in 1966 by Mrs Mary Bateman in honour of her husband, the late Mervyn John Bateman. It is held according to demand. In recent decades this lecture series featured high profile speakers such as Gale Johnson (Chicago), John Taylor (Stanford), David Hendry (Oxford), and Shangjin Wei (Columbia).

About Mervyn John Bateman

A direct descendant of John Bateman who arrived in Western Australia on board the Medina in July 1830, Mr Bateman established an electrical and auto-electrical business, M.J. Bateman Pty Ltd, in 1912 and was Managing Director and major shareholder until his death in 1955.

View the full list of keynote speakers since 1982