Flinders University has an inescapable presence at the 2013 Adelaide Festival of Ideas (AFOI).

Flinders is not only the major sponsor of the exclusive festival appearance of Malaysian Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim on Saturday, but also presents a number of individual speakers and panel discussions.

Associate Professor Robert Phiddian, Deputy Dean of the School of Humanities and Chair of the AFOI Advisory Committee, said the University was intellectually, physically and symbolically well-represented at this year’s event.

Ian Gibbins, neuroscientist, Professor of Anatomy and Histology at Flinders and a fellow Advisory Committee member, will take part in the panel discussion Brain Dance: The Art and Science of Movement as a member of a four-person team exploring the mind and body experience.

Disability advocate and senior lecturer Dr Lorna Hallahan will join a panel tackling the vexed issues of birth control, family planning and population explosion.

Strategic Professor of Palaeontology, John Long, is involved in three AFOI sessions. Dawn of the Deed: Sex, Death and Evolution will explore how, when and why reproduction by sexual copulation evolved; while two other cross-disciplinary events examine art, trekking and deserts on one hand, and space, new technologies and imaging on the other.

And Julian Meyrick, Strategic Professor of Creative Arts, will join distinguished playwright Andrew Bovell and theatrical doyenne Robyn Archer in an discussion on how we can and should value the arts, and the people and organisations that delvier them in Art Costs: Entertainment Pays.

The Adelaide Festival of Ideas runs until 20 October.