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).

University of Queensland
St Lucia, Queensland, 4072
Australia

Alex Haslam

Alex Haslam is Professor of Psychology and Australian Laureate Fellow at the University of Queensland. His research focuses on the study of group and identity processes in social and organizational contexts. Together with over 200 co-authors, Alex has written and edited 11 books and published over 200 peer-reviewed articles on these topics, and his work had been cited over 20,000 times. In 2013 his book The New Psychology of Leadership won the International Leadership Association’s Outstanding Leadership Book Award. He is a Senior Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and former Editor of the European Journal of Social Psychology. In 2016 he won the British Psychology Society Presidents’ Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychological Knowledge.

Alexander Braczkowski

Originally from Durban, South Africa, big cat biologist Alexander Braczkowski has handled lions, leopards and caracal for the past eight years. After completing a masters in science at the University of Oxford examining issues surrounding the trophy hunting of leopards in Africa, Alexander joined renowned photographer Steve Winter, serving as a photographic assistant and second cameraman on the biggest story on leopards ever covered by National Geographic Magazine and Television. Recently joining the University of Queensland as a doctoral researcher to try find innovative ways of raising funds for big cat conservation in Africa, Braczkowski’s work encompasses the key issues of Corporate Responsibility, Carbon sequestration and insurance policies for big cat-livestock conflict.

Claire Ashman

Ashman shares awakening for cult-member’s friends, colleagues and family members to recognize the signs and be present to support upon exiting a cult. Ashman is now happily married, of her own free will, to a supportive raising their 10 kids together. By day she motivates women to take control of their own lives, by night she drives people to free thinking in her Uber.

Ernst Wolvetang

Prof Wolvetang obtained his PhD from the University of Amsterdam and subsequently helped pioneer human embryonic stem cell research in Australia. In 2009 He took up a group leader position at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at the University of Queensland. His laboratory employs induced pluripotent stem cells as in vitro disease models and genome editing to interrogate the underlying gene regulatory networks and epigenetic bases of monogenic and complex neurological diseases. He leads “Cell reprogramming Australia”, was awarded the 2014 LSQ regenerative medicine prize and is a principal investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence “Stem Cells Australia”. His life goal is to help find cures for common (e.g Alzheimers disease) and rare (e.g childhood leukoencephalopathies) brain disorders.

Geoff Goodhill

Professor Goodhill did a Joint Honours BSc in Mathematics and Physics at Bristol University (UK), followed by an MSc in Artificial Intelligence at Edinburgh University and a PhD in Cognitive Science at Sussex University. Following a postdoc at Edinburgh University he moved to the USA in 1994, where he did further postdoctoral study in Computational Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine and the Salk Institute. Professor Goodhill formed his own lab at Georgetown University in 1996, where he was awarded tenure in the Department of Neuroscience in 2001. In 2005 he moved to a joint appointment between the Queensland Brain Institute and the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Queensland.

Hosam Zowawi

Hosam Zowawi, PhD is a clinical microbiologist interested in hospital-acquired infections caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria (aka, superbugs). Hosam and his team at The University of Queensland, Centre for Clinical Research have initiated the first region-wide surveillance program to monitor the spread and emergence of superbugs in the Gulf States. Their work is acting as an important piece of the puzzle to complete the global picture of antimicrobial resistance and be the foundation for an active ongoing surveillance in the GCC states and beyond.

John Ahern

John Ahern is the award-winning author of On The Road…With Kids, the hilarious and inspiring story of his family’s one-year journey through 30 countries in an old campervan. A self-professed serial ‘escapist,’ John has taken multiple career sabbaticals, independently travelling through over 85 countries. In the process, he has been shot at, poisoned, locked up in an African jail, been a stow-away in a Columbian cargo plane and a passenger in two train derailments. While conventional wisdom suggests extended time off equates to career suicide, instead John rose to be a successful executive; one of six in the global leadership team of a 15,000-employee public-listed company. Internationally published, John is now a writer, business advisor, and an advocate for ‘the rejuvenating power of time out.’

Mandyam Srinivasan

Srinivasan's research focuses on the principles of visual processing, perception and cognition in simple natural systems, and on the application of these principles to machine vision and robotics. He holds an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from Bangalore University, a Master's degree in Electronics from the Indian Institute of Science, a Ph.D. in Engineering and Applied Science from Yale University, a D.Sc. in Neuroethology from the Australian National University, and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Zurich. Srinivasan is presently Professor of Visual Neuroscience at the Queensland Brain Institute and the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering of the University of Queensland.

Matt Trau

Matt is currently a Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Centre for Personalised Nanomedicine at the University of Queensland. His research is dedicated towards developing innovative nano-diagnostics to help transform the healthcare system towards early detection of disease, and also to help enable the emerging “Wellness Industry” which aims to dramatically extend high quality human life through a combination of innovative diagnostic technology and preventative measures. Matt is internationally recognised for his innovative and cross-disciplinary research at the interface between chemistry, nanotechnology, biology and medicine. He has co-authored more than 140 publications, many of which appear in the highest impact journals in his field.

Natalie McKirdy

Natalie is a final year PhD student who understands the importance of not only conducting and publishing research with clinical relevance, but communicating those findings to the wider community to generate support for, and an appreciation of, rigorous scientific research. After an undergraduate degree in Medical Science at Queensland University of Technology, Natalie pursued an Honours research project at the Queensland Eye Institute (QEI) to develop a transplantable layer of cells grown upon a silk membrane with the aim of restoring sight to patients with Corneal Endothelial Dystrophy. After two years working in clinical trials and feto-maternal research, she returned to her first love – ophthalmic research – to earn her PhD enrolled through the University of Queensland School of Medicine and located at the QEI. Her PhD project investigates compounds from raw silk for their potential application as a cell transplant scaffold to treat blindness caused by retinal degeneration.

Nicki Cassimatis

Nicki Cassimatis completed her Bachelor of Arts at UQ, in 1991, majoring in languages and linguistics. Over two decades, she has taught in primary and high schools as language specialist and pastoral care teacher. She has four children of her own. Over her working life, the juggle of professional responsibilities, family life and community service led to recurring bouts of depression and anxiety. Desperate to find balance, healing and meaning in this suffering, she instinctively turned to poetry to find her ‘inner voice’, process her pain, and reclaim her joy, hope and peace. Accidental poet, post-graduate student of mental health practice, workshop facilitator, teacher and activist for personal empowerment and integral living through poetry and creativity – this is her new path.

Nkosana Mafico

Nkosana is an African Australian Changemaker obsessed about social and economic development. He is currently a research student at the University of Queensland, Australia, Founder of Shanda Enterprises and CYALA - the Council for Young Africans Living Abroad.

Renae Beaumont

Renae Beaumont PhD is a clinical psychologist and Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York Presbyterian Hospital. Renae is a UQ alumnus, completing her PhD in Clinical Psychology at UQ in 2006. For her PhD, Dr Beaumont developed a gaming-based social-emotional skills training program for children and families – Secret Agent Society (SAS). Given the challenges that many children face in navigating our modern world, Dr Beaumont’s work is fundamental to optimising the wellbeing and success of our future generations. Dr Beaumont was the 2011 recipient of the American and Canadian Academies of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Senior Researcher Award. In 2014, her Secret Agent Society Program won the Autism Spectrum Australia National Recognition Award for Advancement and the Secret Agent Society Family Kit won the US Learning Magazine Teacher’s Choice Award for the Family.

Shannon Zimmerman

Shannon Zimmerman is a peacemaker specializing in understanding how ideas of peace and security interact. She is currently a PhD researcher at the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect based at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Her research focuses on the intersections of the Protection of Civilians (PoC) and counter-terrorism norms within United Nations peacekeeping missions. She specifically looks at how these norms interact with each other at the field level and their impact on the structure and nature of contemporary peacekeeping missions. Shannon holds a Masters in Conflict Resolution from Georgetown University in Washington D.C. Previously, Shannon worked at the United States Institute of Peace and the North American branch of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Wendell Rosevear

Dr.Wendell Rosevear.O.A.M, M.B.,B.S. Dip.RACOG. FRACGP.J.P. (Qual.) Dr. Rosevear co-founded the Gay & Lesbian Health Services in Brisbane in 1990. He founded GLADS-Gay & Lesbian Alcohol & Drug recovery group in 1991 and MARS-Men Affected by Rape & Sexual Abuse in 1993 helping 1,231 male victims and 141 perpetrators. He helps victims and perpetrators of both genders find resolution. He's worked in Prisons from 1975 to 2005 and in HIV/AIDS since 1985 before we had anti-viral treatments. He also works in Transgender and Intersex health, Relationship Counseling, General Practice and in Suicide Prevention. He is on the State Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Council. He worked in Hong Kong and Nepal 1986 to 1989. He has many National and Local awards including the Order of Australia Medal, 1996 AMA “Best Individual Contribution to Health Care in Australia” and 1996 Brisbane Citizen of the Year.

Winnifred Louis

Winnifred Louis is an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Queensland. Her research interests focus on the influence of identity and norms on social decision-making. She has studied this broad topic in contexts from violence and hate crimes to politics and community activism to health and environmental choices. Winnifred is the author of over 100 peer-reviewed articles in scholarly journals, book chapters, peer-reviewed conference papers, and scholarly reports. Louis has won numerous awards for research, teaching, and service, and is a longstanding activist herself.