Professor Chubb will be speaking at the festival on August 17 at the University of Canberra, along with seven other leaders in their field, under the theme of "faces of change for the common good". The other speakers are athlete Melissa Breen, humanitarian Valerie Browning, advocate Caitlin Figueiredo, 18-year-old Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi, entrepreneur Sophia Hamblin Wang.

A former vice-chancellor of the Australian National University, Professor Chubb has given his address has a tongue-in-cheek title - "From my generation to yours - good luck!". But it has a serious message - asking whether past and current generations have failed future ones.

"The obvious one is climate change, which we still argue over in a pathetic way," he said, adding that one of the worst legacies left to this generation was "the trust deficit we leave behind in our leaders and our institutions".

Professor Chubb's speech will go beyond climate change but is also a call to arms for action on a looming crisis.

"The first thing is, we should own the problem," he said.

"The second thing we should do is to organise how we would transition from what we now do to something that is still able to give people comfortable lives. And if we do it in a strategic way, we could achieve that. But, instead, we don't."

Professor Chubb does take heart from the passion shown by young people, including the Radford College Year 12 students who organise the annual Dirrum Festival.

"That gives you hope, doesn't it? That a group of students want to do something like this and have that conversation, I think, is a critical step in the right direction," he said.

"So, yes, I do have confidence in the coming generations."

Year 12 student Jaz Chua, 17, one of the organising committee, invited Professor Chubb to speak. She suggested Dirrum, this year, was also about thinking globally and acting locally.

"Although we do have super-big and inspirational speakers and leaders, we also have a lot of faces of local change," Jaz.

"People can get overwhelmed: 'This person has done so much with their life, how can I possibly do that?'. But this year we have a lot of local faces."

There will be food, coffee, art, music and stalls as part of the festival, until 9pm. Tickets are available here.

The Dirrum Festival is taking place on August 17 at Boiler House Lecture Theatre, building 14 at the University of Canberra on Pinaroo Street, Bruce.

The sessions are at noon to 4.15pm and 5.30pm to 7.20pm.

There will also be a screening of Kevin Hines' Suicide: the ripple effect on Sunday at 1.30pm at the Heath Lecture Theatre at Radford College.