In a world in motion, it is important that opinions are shared and people stand up for what they believe in. As TEDxGhent we are ready to trigger ideas in your mind with this years selection of speakers. Here is a sneak preview of some of the ideas that will be shared. Dare to speak up or even sing. How can your personality shine through your voice? One of our speakers is an opera singer who will share insights on the power of the human voice and how it can enhance your life. What is the aftermath of the Brussels terrorist attacks? Who dares to bring people together and give them a voice? Our youngest speaker will speak up. Let your mind be challenged with a perspective you do not hear every day. In a world where the climate debate is getting heated, how can we use science to help us? How can waste CO2 gasses be catalyzed into something positive? Action needs to be taken and every breakthrough leads to new creative possibilities. In a previous life a lawyer, but now since many years an avid solo traveller, entrepreneur and Ghent-Authentic tour guide, Kristel Vereecken has a knack for inspiring places. In her talk she reveals the power that lies within them, explores how we can benefit from them and what to do in order to pass them on to future generations. Kristel is the founder and owner of Ghent-Authentic, a private tour company in Ghent/Belgium, taking tour guiding to a more personal level. Until recent she was engaged by the European Commission as a ‘European Female Entrepreneurship Ambassador’ and has won the Ghent ‘start-up’ award 2012. The truth can be hurtful or unsettling, so is it not better then to bend it a little? If you start endorsing false beliefs, however, you better proceed with caution. Some illusions are harmful, as they motivate reckless and dangerous behaviour, or may have unpredictable side-effects, even if they look innocuous at first. Sooner or later they collide with reality. And in any event: is it even coherent to think we can choose our own beliefs? Maarten Boudry (1984) is a postdoctoral fellow at Ghent University. He studied in Vienna, Boston and New York. In 2011, he defended his dissertation on pseudoscience: “Here Be Dragons. Exploring the Hinterland of Science”. He is also co-editor and co-author of books. His current research deals with evolutionary epistemology, in particular the problem of human irrationality. Other research interests include naturalism, skepticism and the conflict between science and religion. Distorted perspectives on females have been created in the subconscious of our society, creating a confidence crisis that endangers the current and future female generations. Urgent action is needed to stand up against how women are portrayed. Emma provides an insider perspective on the media’s obsession with the personal lives of female celebrities perpetuating an inherent belief that the value of a woman is physical. From being a BBC News reporter to producer in politics, economics and social affairs. In recent years she has worked a lot within the fields of arts, culture, media and tech. The type of work ranges from interviewing to live presenting for news or film festivals such as Sundance and Cannes. Co-founder of Noble Media and Electra Media – a media channel that speaks for women in the film industry. There is the choice of stigmatizing youth in Brussels or giving them an opportunity to lead. Reversing the negative cycle requires a perspective shift and the right focus on talent. Hassan provides an insight on what it takes to build up a community. Through his foundation he gives opportunities to youth from diverse backgrounds, providing them a way to channel their energy back into their own environment. Hassan is the founder of AGE Consultancy, where young talent advises companies on age, gender and ethnic diversity. With Youthtalks Foundation he helps build community projects led by local youth. As youngest consultant of the Benelux he received recognition from the media and policy makers. He has spoken as a youth representative at the European Commission and given a voice to Brussels youth in the media. Human activities have resulted in increased concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere, altering nature’s carbon cycle and leading to climate change. New technologies powered by catalysts could serve the dual purpose of reducing dangerous build-up of CO2 in the atmosphere and of producing high-value products using CO2 as a C1 building block. This is one of the biggest scientific challenges of our time. Kasun Kalhara Gunasooriya is a doctoral fellow at Ghent University in the Laboratory for Chemical Technology under Professor Mark Saeys and Professor Guy B. Marin. Kasun was born and raised in Sri Lanka. He moved to Singapore to complete his BEng and MEng degrees in Chemical Engineering at the National University of Singapore. For his PhD, Kasun designs catalysts by gaining insights in to the catalysts structure and mechanism using computers. Have you ever thought about what your voice says about you? In this talk, Martine Reyners will make a connection between our singing voice and our true nature. Through her own experience and many examples of the people she coaches, she shows how our voice can become a compass in our lives. One leading us to more joy and inner freedom. A unique, never-ending quest! Martine Reyners has devoted more than 20 years to singing onstage and as a path to deepening awareness. In addition to her career as a professional soprano and opera singer, she runs a successful singing and coaching practice. Based on approaching the voice in a holistic manner, Martine has achieved breakthrough results with her clients using this original method. We are living in exponential times. With increasingly smart technology and growing international competition, many questions arise. In this talk Bruno Delepierre explores the themes of robotics, globalization and how capitalism impacts our happiness. Where are things broken in our current system? And above all: how we can upgrade our economic system to enhance the quality of our lives? Bruno Delepierre is a social entrepreneur on a mission. His big hairy audacious goal? To help upgrade capitalism so we can maximise the quality of our lives. He recently wrote “Happonomy – Roadmap to Utopia”, a book about work, money and happiness. Among other things he launched his own digital media start-up and is a talent scout, the organizer of TEDxLeuven and home of Happonomy – a movement for happiness economics. How do independent activist filmmakers compare to the Hollywood studios and their Superhero franchises when producing films that aim to drive change? Alex Dunnett discusses the importance of real heroes, fictional heroes and anti heroes in the film world. Alex Dunnett is the Head of Production at Corniche Media, who specialise in Film, TV and Theatre production. Alex has previously worked on movies such as ‘20,000 Days on Earth’, ‘Brahman Naman’ and ‘We Are The Giant’ and is currently working with Lord David Puttnam on the feature film ‘Arctic 30’. After having travelled a year voluntarily living in different prisons across five continents and travelling again later on meeting the victims of acts that are difficult to grasp, Jan found out empathy is a guarantee for a more sociable world, a tolerant society, and more personal happiness. But how do we come to forgiveness? And isn’t there a perpetrator and a victim in each of us? Jan de Cock started as a street educator in Latin America where his experiences led him to become a prison worker. For a year he lived in different prisons throughout five continents, in search of the human face of the detainees. He founded the organization ‘Within-without-walls’, creating dialogue between prisoners, victims of crime and society. He is the author of books like ‘Hotel prison’ and ‘Hotel pardon’. Abre was born from the need for expression from two brothers that, like so many kids today, had some issues dealing with divorced parents. Abre comes from “abre los ojos” meaning “open your eyes” in Spanish. Our message is for people to stay open, express themselves in any way that is best for them, and open their eyes to all the possibilities and amazing things that make this world. Sam (19) & Tom (20) grew up in in the suburbs of Brussels. Sam doesn’t like tomato’s very much, Tom’s not the greatest fan of cucumbers. There was a time where we didn’t really get along, until the music brought us closer together. Tom’s now studying computer science while Sam’s thinking about economics. We both love the world and everyone /thing in it very much. Investigating the universe can be a hard task! The only information astronomers receive from their object of study, is the light emitted from these distant stars. Recently, astronomers are increasingly being inspired by everyday phenomenons and natural laws to design new forms of artificial intelligence algorithms. These enable us to extract new insights from old information, and unlock new levels of understanding of our incredible universe. Gert De Geyter is a data-analytics consultant, a co-organiser of Data Science Ghent, and an invited lecturer on data analytics at Toulouse School of Economics. Gert holds a PhD in Astronomy, where he focused on creating an artificial intelligent program to recreate 3D models of galaxies from 2D observed images. Blockchain technology is disrupting industries worldwide, bypassing established authorities and encouraging experimentation with peer-to-peer networks in business and in life. This values-driven system stimulates creativity and bravery. Understanding what is behind blockchain can provide insight into our changing world. Caterina’s background is in education and non-profits. Through her efforts developing more scalable opportunities and tapping existing resources via peer-to-peer technologies, she became involved in bitcoin and blockchains. Caterina consults internationally, focusing on non-technical audiences, and joining the effort to decrease wealth disparities in the world through education and improved access to financial systems. Wanthanee started out as a student in ‘art science’, but in the end couldn’t resist the call to also create her own music. Her music was discovered through a competition called ‘De nieuwe lichting’ at Studio Brussel. Since then she’s recorded her first song, which was produced by Orson Wouters. More of her songs are in the making and will come to us soon. The VR short film Captain Einstein brings relativity to everyday life, allowing for a direct experience of Einstein’s wonderful theory. In his talk Karel Van Acoleyen will explain the fantastic technology and science behind this film. Expect a story of graphical processors, the tourist boats of Ghent, cosmology, the LHC and GPS. In other words: a trip from everyday Ghent to the edge of the Universe and back. Karel Van Acoleyen (1977) is a theoretical physicist at Ghent University. His research revolves around elementary particles, quantum mechanics, gravity and cosmology. He lectures the theory of relativity, but he is also very fond of bringing science outside the classroom: from speaking at bars, street fairs and (film)festivals to teaching the band de Portables on Killing horizons. With “Captain Einstein” he is now exploring relativity in virtual reality.
We give you access to virtual worlds and new experiences! Meet each other in VR and work together to accomplish your missions. Grab your chance to experience real virtual reality. Subscription needed at event. This fun little ball pit is a creative way to start conversations between our attendees. Dive into this quirky conversation starter with a complete stranger, you will find topics to talk about in the ball pit! Check your booklet to see when your favorite speaker will be in the ball pit and just enjoy the conversation! Rather than just a company, OPSORO is a community that wants to democratize social robot and A.I. technology to the broad public. Young and old, experienced and inexperienced, profit or hobby. They have designed a platform that combines hardware, electronics and software, which makes it very unique and interesting to work with. Discover these robots in the lobby and ask Opsoro about these curious AI robots! Get your profile pictures taken at the TEDxGhent – nøcomputer photo booth and be part our TEDxGhent #daretospeakup visual identity. nøcomputer, our partner for visual branding, will use pictures of our attendees, speakers and team to create a generative visual identity throughout the event. With your help we can make it grow throughout the day. Curious, get your picture taken, be part of it, and be amazed! Do you want to see what’s going on at TedXGhent through the eyes of others? With @looklivecam you can ask anyone at the event to be your livestreamer. What are you waiting for? Time to be part of the story! The Look crew (@looklivecam) is going to be present at TedX Ghent as well! Profound content is a creative studio that sees nature in all its forms as their biggest source of inspiration. We believe in making art, we stop life for a moment, to really stand still and absorb what nature is offering us. In stopping life, we are creating life. Need to get away from the business of your daily life? Take a little break and just enjoy this little room of pure relaxation. Have you ever tried an escape room or you just love it? Then this is the perfect opportunity to emerge yourself into the world of riddles and puzzles! This little brother of an escape room will give you a taste of what this all looks like. Discover in 15 minutes how you can escape form one of our rooms at this TEDx event. Subscription needed at event. Winnie Poncelet is a biohacker, enterpreneur, and science communicator. He is one of the first biohackerspaces in Belgium and will show you around in his fascinating biohacking lab here at TEDxGhent! Jump into our virtual reality boat with Captain Einstein, he will take you on a virtual trip to our beloved Graslei in Ghent and explain the theory of relativity! So sit back, relax and be amazed! Toastmasters International is a world leader in communication and leadership development. Join our workshop to improve your speaking and leadership skills this afternoon! Subscribe at the event! Making something from nothing, everything is made up on the spot. Hereby you are sharpening your creativity and you will become better in generating new ideas. Try this entertaining improvisation session with Rozemarijn and Vincent! Through these basic exercises you will taste a bit of improvisation theatre. Go and subscribe at the event, only 30 people can participate! During our lives, and often “to survive”, we build all kinds of protective layers around our voice. These blockages prevent access to our own life energy, and conceal layers of frustration and uncertainty, unexpressed emotions and stress. Singing has the power to release and transform them, each in its own rhythm. Your pure, powerful voice slowly but surely takes the lead with music, deepening your connection to yourself, and your creativity can flow freely again! Anyone is welcome who feels that something inside calls for greater self-expression. Come and join our speaker Kristel to visit one of her most inspiring places in Ghent. This little 45-minute adventure will open your eyes and make you rediscover the beauty of the Ghent Altarpiece. Only a 5-minute walk from the Miry, this will be an experience not to forget! Subscribe at the event only 20 lucky ones can join Kristel this afternoon.
A square meter of soul
What if false beliefs make you happy?
The Toxic Female Gaze
From radicalisation to talent development
Hacking the Carbon cycle using computers!
Harmony through singing
How capitalism can increase our happiness
Filmmaking’s obsession with Superheroes
Hotel prison, hotel pardon
Stay Open
Understanding the universe by recreating nature’s intelligent composition
How blockchain breeds bravery
Only shadows remain
Captain Einstein
13:15 – 14:00
Doors open
14:10 – 16:00
TEDxGhent talks – Part I
16:00 – 17:30
Coffee break & Workshops
17:30 – 19:00
TEDxGhent talks – Part II
19:00 – late evening
Party – Reception and Free Drinks
Be Virtual: Virtual Reality arcade
Serendipity Conversation Ball Pit: Studio Minie
Social Robots: Opsoro
Photo Booth TEDxGhent
Look: Live media
Profound Content – Relaxation room
Escape Truck
Biohacking lab
Captain Einstein VR by UGent
Toastmasters: Public Speaking Workshop
Improvisation Workshop
Harmony trough singing workshop by Martine Reynders
Visit of an inspiring place in Ghent by Kristel Vereecke
