Theme: Edge

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

St. Lawrence Theatre
27 Front Street E.
Toronto, Ontario, M5E 1B4
Canada

Surround Sound

The Faculty of Music A Cappella Group ('Surround Sound') is a student-run music organization that seeks to create a pure-voice ensemble composed of university students in both the Faculty of Music and from various University of Toronto programs.

Angela Schoellig

Angela Schoellig is a professor at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) and associate director of the Center for Aerial Robotics Research and Education (CARRE). She is one of Robohub’s “25 women in robotics you need to know about (2013)”, winner of MIT’s Enabling Society Tech Competition, finalist of Dubai’s 2015 $1M “Drones for Good” competition, and youngest member of the 2014 Science Leadership Program, which promotes outstanding scientists in Canada. Angela received her Ph.D. from ETH Zurich (with Prof. Raffaello D’Andrea), and holds both an M.Sc. in Engineering Science and Mechanics from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Prof. Magnus Egerstedt) and a Masters degree in Engineering Cybernetics from the University of Stuttgart, Germany (Prof. Frank Allgower). Her Ph.D. was awarded the ETH Medal and the 2013 Dimitris N. Chorafas Foundation Award (as one of 35 worldwide).

Ben Criger

Ben Criger is one of 100 candidates for Mars One, a private venture dedicated to starting a permanent colony on Mars. During the day, he works in Germany and the Netherlands on fault-tolerant architectures for quantum computing, having obtained his PhD at the Institute for Quantum Computing in 2013.

Bonnie Stern

For over 40 years Bonnie Stern has been showing Canadians how to make cooking healthful, easy and fun through her twelve bestselling cookbooks, national television shows, weekly newspaper columns and cooking classes.

Christopher Stalzer

Christopher Stalzer was born in Born in Atlanta, Georgia and trained at the Rotaru Ballet School in Atlanta. Mr. Stalzer danced with Houston Ballet before joining The National Ballet of Canada in 2007 and was promoted to Second Soloist in 2012. Mr. Stalzer’s repertoire includes Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet, Mad Hatter in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alain in La Fille mal gardée, The Fool in Swan Lake, Garcia in Carmen and Sancho Panza in Don Quixote as well as roles in Cinderella, The Merry Widow, the second detail, Etudes, Soldiers’ Mass, Glass Pieces, Elite Syncopations, Emergence, among others. In 2013, Mr. Stalzer received the David Tory Award and in 2009, the Patron’s council Award of Merit by The National Ballet of Canada. Mr. Stalzer retired from the stage in June of 2016 to pursue a degree at the University of Toronto.

Jane Souralaysack

JANE SOURALAYSACK a.k.a. "PSYREINE" is a Canadian musician born and raised in Toronto. Jane has a passion for beatboxing; and experiments with it by combining beatbox with singing and playing piano. She is currently a full-time student at the University of Toronto studying Cognitive Science, Linguistics and French. At school, she is the Co-President of UNITY @ U of T, planning hip-hop events, workshops and open mics.

Jooyoung Lee

Jooyoung writes about Hip Hop, Gun Violence, and Health Disparities and is the author of Blowin' Up: Rap Dreams in South Central.

Lisa Boivin

Lisa Boivin is a member of the Deninu K’ue First Nation in Northwest Territories. She is an interdisciplinary artist and a bioethics specialist at University of Toronto. Lisa uses digital painting and image-based storytelling to bridge gaps between bioethics and aspects of Indigenous cultures and worldviews. Her academic focuses are: arts-based medical discourse, informed consent, cultural safety and cultural reclamation. Lisa confronts the clinical/colonial gaze of the Indigenous patient while illuminating the resilience of Indigenous peoples. Lisa strives to humanize clinical medicine through image-based storytelling as she situates her art in the Indigenous continuum of passing knowledge through images.

Nazar Poladian

Nazar is a serial & social entrepreneur who recently moved to Canada as part of the Syrian refugees resettlement program. He brings continuous entrepreneurial spirit in business development, communication planning, digital marketing, and project management. With his primary focus being on bringing positive change to the Middle East, he works with various social organizations across the world, including Arab Community Centre of Toronto and Talent Beyond Boundaries in Washington DC, through sharing his professional and personal expertise.

Patrick Lavoie

After 12 years as a First soloist, Patrick Lavoie retired from the National ballet of Canada in 2015. Known for his elegant presence onstage, Mr. Lavoie danced such roles as Romeo and Paris in Romeo and Juliet, Siegfried and Rothbart in Swan Lake, Prince Ivan in The Firebird and the Golden Slave and Petrushka in John Neumeier’s Nijinsky. He was also the recipient of the Patron Merit Award in its inception and, more recently, of the David Tory Award. Patrick is now in pursuing a degree in life sciences.

Peter Katz

After 3 successful national and international tours in support of his 2012 release ‘Still Mind Still’, Peter spent the better part of the past 2 years writing well-over 50 new songs while collaborating on some of them with an impressive list of co-writers (a new approach for Peter who had always typically written alone). His hard work paid off when he attracted the attention of co-producers Royal Wood (multiple Juno-Award Nominee) and Bill Lefler (Ingrid Michaelson, Cary Brothers), who signed on to help him turn those songs into Peter’s most sonically-rich album to date.

Sara Hughes

Sara Hughes identifies policies and strategies cities can use to become more sustainable. She is an assistant professor in the political science department at the University of Toronto, where she teaches urban politics and policy making. She has worked in Canada, the U.S., Mexico, India, and Australia and holds a PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Swarochish 'Swish' Goswami

Swarochish (Swish) Goswami, 18, is a recipient of Canada’s Top 20 under 20 award and is the co-founder of World Thinks, FoodShare and RafikiMedia. He has been recognized as one of Canada’s top young social entrepreneurs and is one of the curators of the world’s first youth social capital fund. He is also an avid debater and as part of Canada’s national debate team, Swish was a Grand Finalist at the 2015 World Schools Debating Championships in Singapore. Recently, Swish was invited to speak at the 71st Session of the United Nations commencing in September 2016.

Timothy Harrison

Dr. Timothy P. Harrison is Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology and Chair of the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto. He has conducted numerous archaeological field projects in the Middle East over the past thirty years, and is currently directing the Tayinat Archaeological Project on the Plain of Antioch in southeastern Turkey (http://sites.utoronto.ca/tap).