[Ideas] Elizabeth Pisani: Corruption

Elizabeth is a fearlessly outspoken epidemiologist, well known for her international work on HIV/AIDS. More recently she has turned her attention to Indonesia, writing an unforgettable book exploring why Indonesia, vast, populous and getting richer, is practically invisible to the naked geopolitical eye. She also has some startling thoughts on corruption and why attempts to stop it so often end in failure. Find out what she’s thinking in this talk.

While with us in Brussels, Elizabeth Pisani also held a lunch talk on what she knows best; sex and drugs. Under this controversial title Elizabeth addressed the increasing normalisation of HIV in contemporary society, but how living with it is far from “a picnic”.

ABOUT

When people ask Elizabeth Pisani what she does for a living, she says, “sex and drugs”. Writer, journalist and scientist, Elizabeth specialises in infectious disease epidemiology and has spent about two decades researching AIDS and joining international efforts to halt the disease. In parallel, she has recently turned her talents and passions to a close examination of the country that she knows best – Indonesia – making the case for why the world should pay more attention to the world’s third most populous democracy. Now she’s examining corruption – present everywhere and seemingly impossible to eradicate – but is it?

GOOD READS

Indonesia Etc.: Exploring the Improbable Nation (2014)

The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels and the Business of AIDS (2008)

KEY LINKS

www.wisdomofwhores.com, www.indonesiaetc.com, www.ternyata.org