Theme: Synergy of Ideas

The term ‘synergy’ is of Greek origin, deriving from the words sunergia meaning ‘cooperation’ and sunergos meaning ‘working together’. It is through these foundations that one may understand ‘synergy’ as being the interaction and cooperation between two or more agents with which a greater combined effect is built.

Throughout human life the interaction and collaboration of thoughts, ideas and concepts has had exceptional value in global society. Through the discoveries, construing and contributions involved in the synergy of ideas, modern life is becoming ever more complex, efficient and connected.

In a series of thought-provoking talks, synergy of ideas will be showcased at TEDxSussexUniversity 2015. The conference aims to inspire and inform through original ideas, talented performances and opportunities for all to network and contribute to the synergy of ideas as a whole, a practice that has greatly helped mould the world we live in today.

Fulton A Lecture Theatre
Fulton Building
University of Sussex, Falmer
Brighton, Brighton and Hove, BN1 9NZ
United Kingdom

Salome

Salome is a psychologist, a psychotherapist, a writer, a columnist, a mother and a cook. She is the author of a book titled 'We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For'.

Andres Guadamuz

Andres Guadamuz is a Senior Lecturer in Intellectual Property Law at the University of Sussex and an Associate Researcher of the CREATe Centre for Copyright and New Business Models in the Creative Economy. He is an international consultant for the World Intellectual Property Organization, and has been involved with Creative Commons in various roles since 2005. His main research areas are open licensing, software protection, digital copyright, and complexity in networks. Andres has published two books, the most recent is “Networks, Complexity and Internet Regulation”. He blogs about IP and Technology issues at Technollama.

George Siantonas

George Siantonas is currently a Doctoral Researcher and an associate Tutor at SPRU, University of Sussex. He established SIA Group in 1982, a company which grew into a thriving learning and development consultancy, serving the needs of a diverse range of clients on a global basis. In July 2011 the business was sold to The Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Since 2011 he has been the Managing Director of Neos Partners Limited, a company providing consultancy services to a range of clients, including start-ups, established SMEs and multi-national corporations. He is also a Volunteer Business Mentor providing young people who have a business idea they want help to explore with one-to-one support, guidance, and encouragement.

John Child

John Child is a lecturer at the Law School at the University of Sussex. Previously he was a lecturer at the Oxford Brookes Law School. He completed his PhD at the University of Birmingham. He also worked as a research assistant on the Criminal Law Team at the Law Commission for England and Wales.

Kim Steinberg

Kim Steinberg is a teenager who has lived in Brighton all his life. His main out-of-school activities are playing badminton and chess, drama and capoeira.

Mafalda Dias

Mafalda is a theoretical cosmologist, currently working at the University of Sussex, in Brighton. In her research, she try to learn about the physics governing the very early Universe by studying the mechanisms that gave rise to structures we can observe today. She like the idea of using observations of the sky as a laboratory to probe fundamental physics.

Margarita Steinberg

Margarita Steinberg is a Tango teacher. She has been dancing for 20 years, initially ballroom, then salsa and Egyptian, and for the last 15 years Argentine Tango. Margarita was born in Russia and has lived in the UK since she was 16. After University, she trained as a Shiatsu practitioner. Her other interests include improvisational acting and psychology.

Rhiannon Colvin

Rhiannon Colvin is the founder of AltGen. She founded it when she got tired of applying for endless unpaid internships and decided young people could create something better if they started working together.

Tamsin Hinton-Smith

Tamsin Hinton-Smith is a Senior Lecturer in Higher Education in the School of Education and Social Work at the University of Sussex. She is also Associate Director of the Centre for Gender Studies and a member of the Centre for Higher Education and Equity Research (CHEER).

Yuan Yang

Yuan Yang is the co-founder of Rethinking Economics, an international network of students and citizens organising to change economics. She did her undergraduate degree in Philosophy and Economics at Balliol College, Oxford University. She then worked for a year at the Oxford University Student Union as a full-time Vice-President, working on gender equality. This opened her eyes to how much a small group of passionate can do, even in the face of long-established institutions. Yuan then went to study an MSc. in Economics at the London School of Economics. She has also worked for London Citizens, a community organising group.