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).

HMC, Abertay Student Centre
1-3 Bell Street
1-3 Bell Street
Dundee, Angus, DD1 1HP
United Kingdom

César Parent

Student

Cesar Parent fell in love with space watching recordings of the Apollo missions as a kid. Since, he got a Mechanical Engineering degree before coming to Abertay to study computing, in order to one day program rockets and spacecrafts. On days off, he is usually watching rocket launches, making video games or playing the guitar.

Christopher Watkins

Lecturer

Dr Christopher Watkins joined Abertay University in 2012 after completing his PhD at the University of Aberdeen. He is interested in how we evaluate others based on facial and vocal cues and using this knowledge to understand how our romantic feelings and preferences work and how we make snap-judgements about potential rivals such as their dominance and trustworthiness. His work merges cognitive and social psychology with theory from evolutionary biology and anthropology. He has presented his work at many international conferences, has 24 peer-reviewed publications and has attracted media attention from national outlets and international magazines such as Nature and Science.

Karolina Jacobsson​

studnet

I am a 4th year Computer Arts BA (Hons) student with the University of Abertay Dundee. My passion for diving goes back over a decade, to when I tried diving, for the second time, in the frigid and murky waters of Scapa Flow. The following year I came back and, at the age of eleven, I passed all the tests and became a certified diver. From then on I kept pushing the boundaries, gaining certification after certification till I became a scuba diving instructor at the age of 19. On the way I became an avid fan of wreck diving and a big advocate for their preservation. Thanks to my studies at Abertay I have been able to understand and participate in the digital preservation of these, often forgotten, historical monuments.

Kenny McAlpine

Senior Lecturer

Dr Kenny McAlpine joined Abertay University as part of the team who developed the university’s degree programmes in Computer Game Technology and Computer Arts in the late 1990s, where he leads teaching and research in sound production and music performance. More than just ‘a bit of a geek’, Kenny’s interest in music and technology has taken him to some interesting and unusual places. He has developed gameplay-based and participatory soundtracks for theatre and a unique digital harpsichord exhibit for the National Trust in London. Kenny performs live from time to time as a jazz organist, and can often be found playing covers of classic 8-bit video game themes, about which he is currently writing a book for Oxford University Press. When he’s not thinking about music, Kenny can generally be found rolling around the hills of Fife on a mountain bike with a GoPro strapped to his handlebars, huffing his way round a marathon course with a GoPro strapped to his chest.

Natalie Clayton

Studnet

Natalie Clayton is an Edinburgh born Trans-Woman, who started studying Games Design and Production Management at the University of Abertay in 2013. She has a burning passion for videogames; having worked for short periods in games studios between studying, and actively participating in multiple game jams as an artist/designer. Outside of this, she is exceptionally well-travelled, and has worked across Northern Europe and Scandinavia; volunteering anywhere from dairy farms to husky sled tour sites. Currently, Natalie can be found drowning in coursework, socializing at Tabletop, LGBT and other societies, or continually failing to tune her guitar. ​

Nikolai Zhelev

Professor

Dr Nikolai Zhelev is Professor of Medical Biotechnology at Abertay University. He is also honorary professor in eight universities in UK, China and Bulgaria. Prof. Zhelev has been involved in founding four start-up biotech companies. He has published 3 books and more than 80 research papers and patents in the field of DNA damage response, cell cycle regulation and drug discovery and development in oncology and cardiology in reputed journals such as Nature Medicine. Prof Zhelev is Managing Editor of BioDiscovery – the first open access international scientific journal in the field of Life Sciences and Medicine, published in Scotland and currently the President of the European BioDiscovery Federation.

Orion Mavridou

student

​Not doing well with hot weather, Orion moved from Greece to bonnie Scotland in 2008 where they happily discovered a year-long winter. After completing a BA with Honours in Computer Arts in 2012 and a Masters in Games Development over the following year, their interests turned to academia. Currently working towards a PhD on the intersection between fandom and gaming. Rumour has it Orion is using the singular ‘they’ as a personal pronoun due to secretly being 20 cats in a sweater.

Ryan Locke

Lecturer

Ryan is a Lecturer of Media Design in the School of Arts, Media and Computer Games at Abertay University. After three years Lecturing at Abertay, Ryan considers himself a ‘hands on’ design educator, believing the best results for achievement in both students and himself are delivered through innovative forms of engagement, practice and dialogue. Leaving Bangor Grammar School after his A-Levels, Ryan first pursued a career in the fine arts at the University of Ulster, Belfast, but in a change of direction he pursed the visual communication trades. It is during this time Ryan decided that new forms of dynamic communication and digital arts such as computer games, were simply much more fascinating and decided at long last to pursue a career as a game maker. Looking to Dundee, Scotland, Ryan made one final move into academia, gaining an Honours Degree, a Professional Master's and a PGCE Higher Education Teaching and Learning.