Theme: The Truth of the Matter

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).

Room 1
Loughborough Students Union
Union Building
Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE11 3TT
United Kingdom

Cheryl Travers

Senior Lecturer in Organisational Behaviour and Human Resource Management

An academic Occupational Psychologist passionate about people development, Cheryl Travers has been in the business of 'giving Psychology away' for around 30 years. Working at the School of Business and Economics at Loughborough University, she has worked with a variety of business leaders and students across a wide range of industry sectors and levels, developing what she calls ‘Reflective Goal Setting’. This is a theory based, yet practical, approach to enhancing self-awareness and setting personal development goals with great results, especially regarding ‘softer skill’ goals. She helps people become more self-aware and supports them in becoming ‘self-coaches’, showing them how to set goals at any time, on anything they want to, without having to wait for the chance to attend an expensive and/or time consuming training courses. As a mother to two assertive teenage daughters, who love helping her with her own self-awareness, Cheryl is constantly setting her own personal goals!

Dave Elder-Vass

Reader in Sociology, Department of Social Sciences, Loughborough University

Dave Elder-Vass is an academic who studies the nature of the social world and thinks about how it could work differently. He initially studied economics and went on to work in Botswana as a government economist. Subsequently he worked as an IT technologist for twenty years before returning to academia through a Masters degree in social and political theory and a PhD in sociology. He has published books on social structure and social constructionism, and most recently Profit and Gift in the Digital Economy(Cambridge UP, 2016).  In it he draws on expertise from all his various studies and careers to examine the digital economy and its implications for how we should understand the politics of the economy more generally.

Dave Rogers

Sports Broadcaster – Commentator, Presenter, Announcer, Producer

Dave Rogers has been the voice of High Profile Sports Events all over the world, including Olympic and Paralympic games, World & European Championships, covering over 30 sports both domestically in the UK, and around the World. As a broadcaster, Dave has experience with BT Sport, Sky Sports, Eurosport and the BBC. Driven by a desire to make sports events and broadcast an inclusive experience, Dave is currently working with Loughborough University Volunteer Academy to create a pathway into the industry, using the Loughborough Sport franchises to give experience and opportunities to Loughborough Students, whilst simultaneously putting on top class events for the University’s leading sports teams.

David Roberts

Senior Lecturer in Peace and Conflict Studies

David Roberts has been an academic for 25 years. His research subject involves the building of peace after war in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. He wrote his doctoral degree from Phnom Penh and Hanoi at a time when war had all but halted regular supplies of electricity. His research centred on why the Khmer Rouge guerrillas refused to participate in the peacebuilding operation, and he followed this with investigations into leading Khmer Rouge officers, including Ieng Sary, before he was put on trial for crimes against humanity. He has worked for the American Red Cross in health planning in Southeast Asia, and was Honorary Research Fellow at the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Centre for War and Peace Studies. He is now researching indigenous resistance to liberal peacebuilding in places emerging from conflict. David teaches undergraduate introductions to International Relations, Third World Politics, and the violent impact of global governance on the most vulnerable people in the world.

Laura Valadez-Martinez

Research Associate, Centre for Research in Social Policy, Loughborough University

Dr. Laura Valadez-Martinez is a Research Associate at the Center for Research in Social Policy of Loughborough University, specialising in income adequacy, poverty measurement, and childhood poverty and well-being. Born and raised in Mexico, she became aware of social inequalities from a young age, and volunteered in various non-governmental organisations. Volunteering activities helped Laura realise that social development requires coherent combined action between the government, civil society, and the private sector. This led her to pursue higher education in the areas of public administration and social policy, under the premise that a sound understanding of social problems is crucial to promote well-being. Consequently, Laura studied the Masters in Public Policy at Monterrey Tech in Mexico. She also holds an MSc in Public Policy in Latin America and the PhD in Social Policy from Oxford University.

Natalia Janson

Senior Lecturer in Applied Mathematics at Loughborough University

Dr. Natalia Janson is a Senior Lecturer in Applied Mathematics in Loughborough University. She graduated from Saratov State University (Russia) and got her PhD from the same University for the work on building models of spontaneously evolving systems from experimental data. She has more than 20 years of experience of research in non-linear dynamics and its applications in biology and physics, and is a co-author of a book “Synchronization: from Simple to Complex”. Her current research is focused on mathematics of cognitive processes.

Oliver O’Bryan

Co-Founder, Student, and Global Entrepreneur

Born and raised in Cham, Switzerland, Oliver O’Bryan graduated from the International School of Zug and Luzern. Before university, Oliver took a gap year, gaining experience in the private equity, philanthropy, and asset management sector, whilst rounding off his year with co-founding a venture capital/business development company. After deciding that a university degree was going to be essential to working in the finance industry, he accepted an offer to study International Business at Loughborough University. Whilst attending Loughborough University, Oliver immersed himself through every sector possible by taking on positions such as Chair of School of Business and Economics, as well as joining Aiiria as a Sales Officer. Oliver looks to finish off his degree and break into the financial industry, whilst growing his company to its fullest ability.

Simon Long

Exercise Science Student, Personal Trainer

In his early 20s Simon was an obese 36% body fat, with low feelings of self-worth and non-existent confidence. Having tried every weight loss plan available he came to the conclusion that none of them worked, and set out to find why. By exploring the rarity of long term weight loss he managed to design a approach to the problem. After years of research and testing, speaking to top professors in the fields of nutrition, physiology and psychology, a new ethos was born and its principles tested. 9 months later he was an athletic 6.5% body fat. Simon lost one third of his starting body weight safely, healthily, and sustainably. After his transformation Simon became a personal trainer, teaching his principles to clients, allowing them to reach their own goals. More recently Simon enrolled in Loughborough University, where he has the aim of earning his PHD. This will allow him to evolve his new approach and change the landscape of safe and sustainable weight loss forever.

Stephen Case

Professor of Criminology, Department of Social Sciences, Loughborough University

Steve Case is a criminologist focused on improving the treatment of children and young people who commit crime. He has been a lecturer, researcher and writer in the field of youth justice for 15 years, working mainly at Swansea University and now as a Professor of Criminology at Loughborough University. Steve has conducted research for the government agencies and large-scaled funding bodies and has written two books, several book chapters and over 50 research articles that critique the negative focus of much contemporary youth justice practice and that offer an alternative model 'positive' approach known as 'Children First, Offenders Second'.