Theme: Fast and Curious

We live in a world where everything is moving at an incredibly fast pace, both literally and metaphorically. The Earth is orbiting our Sun at roughly 69,000mph. Four babies are born every second. Transatlantic journeys now take 7 hours. Data transfer is near instantaneous. The Rosetta mission succeeded in landing a spacecraft on a comet. Teleportation has moved from the realm of sci-fi into reality. All this and more in the space of just a few short decades.

Our civilization faces many challenges and if we are to solve them, it will no doubt be due to human curiosity and an insatiable thirst for knowledge. That, however, is not enough. Solving pressing global issues requires interdisciplinary and international cooperation. In order for the human race to endure the next millennium, our generation will have to act FAST and be CURIOUS.

Management Building
University of Surrey
Guildford, Surrey, GU27XH
United Kingdom

Mr. Gee

Mr. Gee is a Poet and Radio presenter. He has presented on BBC Radio 4's "Rhyme & Reason", "Bespoken Work" & "Poetic Justice". He is also credited for being the first performance poet to ever do a set at the O2; this was as support for Russell Brand's "Messiah Complex" tour. Some of his other accomplishments include starring in a role on the West End run for "Into the Hoods", and winning the 2014 Independent Music Award for Best Song using Spoken Work "Salvation".

Aaron Grant-Booker

Aaron is a poet from North London, Tottenham and he has been writing for almost a year now. He is a law graduate from Bucks New University. Since graduating last summer he says he found himself caged with a number of thoughts and ideas that he had to put on paper. Poetry and writing in general has allowed him to express himself in a creative, positive and constructive way.

David Smith

David is recognised as a leading strategic futurist who combines the experience gained from a 35 year IT and business career with strategic visioning to help organisations better prepare for the future. His career has spanned European and US corporations. He is a much sought after keynote speaker and is the author of many works on embracing change and the drivers of change.

Elaine Stabler

Elaine is a blogger, performance poet / spoken word artist and social media enthusiast, studying at the University of Surrey. She is currently working towards establishing herself in the poetry community, by taking part in Spoken Word master classes and performances across the country. Elaine uses poetry to provoke thought and express and communicate difficult or new ideas. Currently, she is in the midst of developing her own mode of expression, one that combines social media, poetry, video and British Sign Language.

Ivan Sergejev

Ivan is an architect, blogger, sci-fi fan and data centre researcher, based in Estonia. Ivan is currently occupied with developing Project Rhizome – a design start-up which aims to synergize the interests of internet infrastructure expansion with the creation of an attractive urban environment, and is also bootstrapping his independent architecture practice.

Mohsin Kazmi

Mohsin Kazmi is a conservation photographer specializing in tropical ecosystems. His work has taken him from the montane forests of Madagascar, to the steaming lowlands of the West Amazon, focusing on the complex interaction between humans and nature on the frontier of our planet’s most important biomes. His work has been featured by Mongabay.com, Yale Environment360, Ecology.com, and at the United Nations International Forum on Forests.

Ryan MacDonald

Ryan MacDonald is one of the final 100 Astronaut Candidates in Mars One's Astronaut Selection Programme. A one way trip to the red planet! He is a Physics Master's student at the University of Oxford where he is carrying out preliminary design work on a sample return mission to Mars's moon Phobos.