A crash course in classical liberal philosophy, this longstanding program is aimed at giving students a forum for testing and challenging their ideas about freedom and individual liberty. Liberty and Society is a program for undergraduates, recent graduates, and postgraduates. It’s a conference for young people who may be questioning the standard answers they are getting regarding social, political, and economic issues.
Applications Open Soon For 2023
This is a 2-day event for those interested in exploring important economic, political, and philosophical issues from a classical liberal and libertarian framework. It offers an exciting forum for you to meet and network with other like-minded people from Australia and New Zealand as well as an opportunity to challenge yourself and build upon your existing philosophical framework with the support of CIS and our lecturers.
Introductory & Advanced Options
We offer the Introductory Liberty and Society conference for undergraduates, recent graduates, and postgraduates over the age of 18 who live in Australia, New Zealand, or the South Pacific and have an interest in liberal ideas.
From time to time, we offer an Advanced Liberty and Society conference for people who are part of the L&S Alumni and have pursued their interest in liberal ideas. The Advanced conference has more practical learning, with practitioners in government and business involved. The advanced format also provides a forum for participants to present a paper or article on a topic covering liberal issues or perspectives.
Who can attend?
The conferences are open to undergraduates, recent graduates, and postgraduates over the age of 18 who live in Australia, New Zealand, or the South Pacific.
Applicants can be studying any subject. It is not a prerequisite to have in-depth knowledge of classical liberalism. We are interested in people who are inquisitive about society and how it works.
The conference is not available to students in high school.
Scholarships
Participation is free. Subsidised by our generous supporters, scholarships cover all meals, accommodation, and session costs. We do not guarantee travel expenses. However, interstate students may wish to apply for additional scholarship funds to reimburse for flights and transfers to the conference.
Background
Students attend sessions and discussions on economics, political thought, law, and social policy over the weekend, interspersed with arguments about foreign policy, education, and politics.
The live-in weekend conference explores the world from a ‘classical liberal’ perspective. This means hypothesising about classical liberal principles and questioning:
- How much individual freedom is possible?
- How much government do we need?
- What are the practical implications of reducing government?
- What are the necessary foundations to build a free, open society?
