The Center community gathered in the building’s Atrium to celebrate our stellar achievements since 2012 and to hear the first performance of a specially commissioned composition, Something from Nothing, a creative celebration of the first multidisciplinary institute from the University of Sydney.
In 2022, the Charles Perkins Center celebrates a decade since its creation in 2012, supported by the proceeds of an anonymous donation of a painting by Pablo Picasso, Jeune Femme Endormie. Proceeds from the sale of the painting supported the endowment of four chairs to augment the work of the Centre, under the leadership of Professor Stephen Simpson as the inaugural Academic Director, which began in April 2012.
The Charles Perkins Center was established to bring together researchers from across the University and from various disciplines to address the perverse social problems of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and related conditions. It was to serve as a new model for translating the depth and breadth of the University’s disciplinary research into social benefit through collaboration and partnership.
“In June 2012, the Senate approved our strategy for what would become the Charles Perkins Center, The Triumph of the Commons. It outlined a concept for the center that was based on complex adaptive systems theory, in my case, inspired by locust swarming, but without the cannibalism,” said Professor J Simpson AC, Academic Director of the Charles Perkins Center at the 10th anniversary event. .