Theme: Upside Down

On the 23rd of March 2019, starting at 12:30h, we would love to welcome you all to join a day where a selection of astounding speakers will share inspiring ideas on a wide range of topics surrounding this year’s theme. The theme, 'Upside Down', strives to play with beliefs and opinions, challenge our perspectives, open pathways of thought to explore uncharted intellectual territory, and to spark a connection among curious minds. Naturally, the afternoon will be accompanied by live entertainment, a delightful selection of food and beverages, and the opportunity to network and have a good time.

Amsterdam University College
Science Park 113
Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, 1098 XG
Netherlands

Emma Groothof and Lucas Oostveen

Emma and Lucas met each other at Cordaan where they were both working as caretakers in 2016. Emma studied music therapy at the time, and two years later she became a freelancer at Emma Muziek. She is currently working as a music therapist/ music teacher in special primary schools all over Amsterdam. Lucas is finishing his last year in music therapy on the HUA and is still working at Cordaan as caretaker and music therapist.

Eric Frijters

Eric Frijters, a Dutch architect and urban designer, as well as founding partner and principal at the Amsterdam based firm FABRICations spends his time leading a multidisciplinary team in the investigation and strategic design of resilient urban regions, challenging traditional and unsustainable models in city making. His work at FABRICations and his research on healthy urbanization come together in a comprehensive methodology, based on the assumption that cities, just like living organisms, are complex, interrelated systems. In his talk, he will share the idea behind this methodology, and how it can be used.

Jason Hessels

Working as both an Associate Professor at the University of Amsterdam’s Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy and a Senior Scientist at ASTRON, Jason Hessels focuses his research on understanding neutron stars. These remnant cores of stars that have undergone a supernova explosion are formed out of material that is quite unlike anything we can find on Earth. As such, neutron stars present us with an opportunity to understand the extremes of the Universe. Jason will share with us his findings about the most fascinating and mysterious thing happening in astronomy right now.

Marin Sinclair

Marin was born in Shetland, a series of remote islands in the north of Scotland. She moved to the Netherlands when she was little, but spent all of her summers on Fair Isle. This second home gave her inspiration for some of the short stories and articles she loves to write and sparked the idea for her talk. She is here to tell us what she has learned from remote island life where communication, tolerance, and community are key, and how we can implement aspects of these communicative practices in our daily lives.

Miguel Luis

This photographer-filmmaker-all-round creative has lately been known for making people talk for a living. Over the past few year, Miguel has put together all the questions he used while interviewing documentary subjects and turned them into ‘So…’ Cards, a card game designed to get people to open up. Using these cards as a foundation, he’s organized gatherings and produced social media content, all with the mission of creating an authentic human connection. His talk may be the key to starting or engaging in your next great conversation by telling you what makes a question flop.

Sannah van Balen

Sannah van Balen, a nuclear physicist working as a consultant in energy transitioning, foresees a future in which we move away from the use of fossil fuels. Her talk offers a fresh perspective on a misunderstood industry and aims to introduce empathy and emotion into the conversation surrounding the science of Nuclear Power. As a young woman working in a male-dominated environment, she is no stranger to tackling stigma. Sannah sees the importance of diversity in work environments and cultures as part of the key to enlightening views and believes in communicating the science of nuclear power to the public in a way that is simple and relatable.

Sentini Grunberg

Sentini started her first business at 19. Drawing from her own experience and passion with dancing, she launched her own hip hop studio. She went on to study medical biology and earn a Masters of Sciences in management and entrepreneurship at the VU. Besides being a renowned speaker and author of several books, she is a singer and songwriter, and the founder of a tech startup. Of her multiple passions, which one will she bes haring on the TEDxAUCollege stage? The answer is all of them, more specifically how to manage all of them.

Sola Lutringer

Sola is a Japanese/French cellist with 15 years of tuition under professional musicians, including Marc Coppey and Vladan Koci.

Witte Hoogendijk

Witte Hoogendijk, who is a professor, researcher, and head of department in Psychiatry at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, explains that our stress system is largely formed in a period in which life on the land did not exist (let alone psychological stress), and is not at all equipped to deal with the problems of our time. It is therefore no coincidence that the number of cases of insomnia, depression, and burnout shows an alarming growth. Witte will talk about his new idea of Evolution Therapy, where the mere thorough understanding of stress can serve as a body-oriented treatment for modern day stress-related diseases.