Venue
About
The UQ Religious Studies Experience Day (formally called World Religions Symposium) will be held at St Lucia Campus on Wednesday 23 July, 2025.
Secondary school students from across South East Queensland are invited to the St Lucia campus for a day of discovery. Students choose to attend a number of sessions throughout the day that cover topics such as Islam and Society, Science and Religion, Hinduism, Spirituality in the Everyday and Galileo and the Church.
The World Religions Symposium grants students the opportunity to:
- experience a day at the St Lucia campus of The University of Queensland
- hear from world-leading scholars
- learn about specific religions, and the place of religion in the contemporary world
- participate in a Q&A session
Event Details
Date: Wednesday 23 July, 2025
Time: 9:30am - 2.00pm
Location: UQ St Lucia (View Map)
Expressions of interest now open
Due to increased interest in this event, we kindly request that you register your school’s interest. We will follow up with schools in 2025 to confirm participation. This Expression of Interest (EOI) process will assist us in planning and organising the event to ensure a fun and positive experience for all schools.
Registration details and a full program will be updated in early 2025. Sessions from 2024 and links to SoR curriculum is below. Please be aware that there may be changes for the 2025 event. Schools will be notified once registrations have opened.
Register your Expression of Interest here
Program
9:30am: Arrivals and welcome
10-10:45am : Session block 1
10:45-11:10am: Morning Tea
11:15am-12pm: Session block 2 (repeated sessions from block 1)
12pm - 12:45pm: Lunch
12:55pm - 2pm: Panel session
2pm: Finish
Session descriptions and links to SoR unit*
Session: Islam and Society
Presented by Dr Ryan Williams
- Description: How do Muslims connect to the Islam of the past? What does Islam mean for Muslims in a Muslim-minority country like Australia? This session will explore the texts, rituals, and ethics that connect Muslims in Australian society.
- SoR Unit Themes: Sacred texts and religious writings; Religion and ritual; Religious ethics
Session: Science & Religion Conflict
Presented by Associate Professor Tom Aechtner
- Description: Are religion and science in conflict? This session explores answers to that controversial question, and it explores religion-science relationships throughout history to the present-day.
- SoR Unit Themes: Sacred texts and religious writings; Religious ethics
Session: Hinduism: Sacred Texts
Presented by Associate Professor Adam Bowles
- Description: This session will explore the sacred texts in the Hindu tradition. Why have some texts been elevated over others? Does Hinduism have ‘a sacred text’?
- SoR Unit Themes: Sacred texts and religious writings; Religion, rights and the nation-state
Session: The Ethics and Reception of Job
Presented by Dr James A.T. Lancaster
- Description: The problem of pain (theodicy) raised by Job’s suffering in the Bible has motivated thousands of years of discussion and debate. This session will explore the authorship, text, and reception of the Book of Job as a means to understand its ethical importance.
- SoR Unit Themes: Sacred texts and religious writings; Religious ethics
*2024 sessions, please note these may change for 2025.
Contact
Please contact engagement@hass.uq.edu.au for enquiries.
Kindly be aware that this event is exclusively for high school students.