Theme: Exploring Reality

What is reality? Does everyone perceive it in the same way? Can it ever be rationalised and explained? And why is it important to let our imagination take flight and escape it once in a while? These are just some questions we will be addressing throughout this event, as we explore reality in all its various manifestations.

The event will be divided into four sessions.

Celebrate Reality - The world around us is magical, and we humans can be pretty extraordinary too. In this session we will celebrate the reality of the natural world and the magnificence of human achievements too.

Dissect Reality - Everyone has their own unique experience of reality, but why do we perceive it in the way we do, and how do we know that what we think we know is true?

A Rational Reality - Scientists and mathematicians have always tried to make sense of the world we live in, and in this session we will explore some of the latest research about the universe around us, and look at the importance of at least attempting to rationalise reality.

Escape from Reality - Humans have always told stories, and in the present day many of us use the alternate realities created in films and novels as a form of escapism. Still others choose to lose themselves in art or music. This section explores the importance of our imagination, creativity and dreams.

University of York
Heslington
York, York, YO10 5DD
United Kingdom

Ben Wright

Ben Wright is an Applied Social Science (Crime and Criminal Justice) student at the University of York. This is his second TEDx talk, his first being in 2013 at a conference in Chiang Mai, Thailand where he was studying at the time. With a keen interest in Psychology and human behaviour he hopes to finish his degree at York before pursuing a career in human rights. Currently he is a member of Derwent College and is gaining a much better appreciation of just how much university students can drink.

Carmen Lefevre

Carmen is a psychologist with research interests centring on appearance and perceptions of other’s appearance. After completing her PhD at the University of St Andrews in 2013 she has held research positions at the University of York and University of Leeds before moving to her current position at Northumbria University.

Daniel Meeson

Daniel Meeson is studying for his Masters of Mathematics degree, and is very interested in applying this quantitative training to solve real-world problems. He spent his previous summer with the charity WaterAid, helping design surveys that measure the effectiveness of their work building toilets and taps in developing countries. Currently he is applying mathematical methods to small-scale African fisheries.

Deborah Talmi

Deborah Talmi is the director of the emotion-cognition lab at the University of Manchester. She has completed interdisciplinary studies in Tel Aviv, a PhD in psychology in Toronto, and further training at UCL. Her research focuses on emotional value representation and how emotion influences learning, memory and decision-making.

Eliza Gkritsi

Bio: Eliza Gkritsi is a second year PPE student. She grew up in Greece, graduated with an IB diploma. Whilst in school she took up debating, winning several national competitions. She writes and edits for student magazines. But mostly she eats Oreos.

Gustav Delius

Delius has worked to describe physical reality at its most fundamental level. This involved fascinating mathematics, in particular infinite-dimensional symmetry algebras in superstring theory and quantum field theory. Recently he has turned from the fundamental to the useful aspects of reality and is currently working on mathematical models of ecological systems. After research jobs in Stony Brook (New York), Boston, Geneva, Bielefeld and London he is now at the Department of Mathematics at the University of York. He enjoys passing on the excitement of mathematics.

Joe Reddington

Dr Joe Reddington is dedicated to levelling the playing field. As the principal of White Water Writers, a project that trains teachers and youth leaders to run inspiration literacy camps, he dreams of a world where every child can hold in their hands a book they have written. As a big brother to a severely disabled sibling, he researches ethical issues around power and control in the context of communication disability, produces open datasets for assistive technology provision, and campaigns to eliminate postcode lotteries for vital equipment. He blogs on creativity, disability, and technology issues three times a week at joereddington.com

Jonathan Kingdon

The Millennium issue of American Scientist named Kingdon’s seven volume East African Mammals. An Atlas of Evolution in Africa as one of the ‘One Hundred Books that Shaped a Century of Science’. Richard Dawkins has described Kingdon as ‘a world class zoologist, ecologist and writer ... a Living World Treasure.’ Born in Tanganyika, Kingdon taught at Makerere University, Kampala, for many years and is now at the Department of Zoology, Oxford University, where his main interest is in the evolution of visual signals.

Phil Wiggins

In 2014, Charity Fundraiser Phil Wiggins, known as Wiggo to friends and family, completed 6000 miles of swimming, cycling and running over the course of one year. He did all this at the age of 40, having done no exercise in the run-up and whilst holding down a full-time job! Along the way he battled illness and injury, became a regular in local media, drank champagne in Paris with the Tour de France riders, and met more celebrities than he can count. He has run in over eleven different countries, but nothing quite beats cycling 100 miles round a roundabout! Awards: York Community Pride Award ‘Fundraiser of the Year 2014’ – Winner, Daily Mirror Pride of Sport Awards ‘Charity Challenge’ – runner-up, York Community Pride Award ‘Person of the Year 2014’ – Runner-up.

Tom Crosbie

“This is Tom Crosbie; he is a very creative, funny, clever human. As a magician he is very passionate about magic. His methods are often as impressive as his effects.” - Garrett Thomas, writer/consultant to David Blaine. Taken from the foreword of Tom’s book, Just Be Croz. Often described as one of Britain’s finest young magicians, Tom Crosbie performs magic professionally to audiences across the world. At the age of just 23, his ideas and creations have already been published in magazines and books, and he has produced two DVDs and a book. He has studied the art form since the age of four and Tom is now considered the UK’s and even the world’s leading authority on certain aspects of magic.