Theme: Making waves.......

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).

Stadsschouwburg
Turfsingel 86
Groningen, Groningen
Netherlands

Nachtwacht

Broca Brothers

Hille & Sjoerd Stellingwerf are the Broca Brothers. Together they founded an organization through which they inspire and coach people who stutter in their journey of becoming fluent speakers. Hille began stuttering when he was 5 years old. He has always used music and singing as a way out, to express himself. At 25 he I quit music, knowing he had to pursue his ability to use the most genuine form of expressing yourself: talking. Sjoerd is a master's student at the department of Social Psychology at the University of Groningen. He has been stuttering since he was young, and makes a conscious effort to become a fluent speaker.

Caro Verbeek

Caro Verbeek is an art and smell historian, curator and author with a focus on modern, olfactory and tactile art. She is currently a PhD candidate at VU University with the project ‘In Search of Scents Lost - Reconstructing the Aromatic Heritage of the Avant-garde’. She teaches the course ‘The Other Senses’ at the Royal Academy of Arts (The Hague) and moderates the monthly ‘Odorama’-platorm at Mediamatic Amsterdam. She curated a show on olfactory art at Villa Rot (Germany) in 2015 and co-curated the Museumnight ‘Ruiken in het Rijks’ (Smelling at the Rijksmuseum) in 2012. She regularly does olfactory interventions at museums and universities worldwide. www.caroverbeek.nl

Dana Petrovic

Born in Yugoslavia (today's Croatia) but as a consequence of the Balkan War, fled her homeland as a teenage refugee. Today, she lives in Brussels where she supports NGOs in the field of sustainability, writes, paints and photographs.

Gerry Kierans

Born in Canada (of Irish descent), Gerry’s has lived in numerous countries is and has worked as a City Planner, High School Teacher, Entrepreneur, CEO and, presently, as a Coaching and Group Training Communications Consultant. From his base in Brussels, he works with clients across Europe and in The Middle East and Asia.

Herman van Hoogdalem

Herman van Hoogdalem studied visual art at Minerva Art Academy, Groningen The Netherlands. In 2011 he started portraying people living with Alzheimer's Disease. Currently he is working in a elderly home on the project " I spy with my little eye", where art students and students of social studies are working together to find an answer on the following question: What is portraying?

Jacob Jolij

Jacob Jolij is an assistant professor in Experimental Psychology at the University of Groningen, and studies how perception is related to reality. Is what we see and feel really 'out there'? To answer this question, he uses brain imaging techniques such as EEG ('brain waves') to measure brain activity in real time, and relate that to what people see, hear, and feel. Jacob is a board member of the Dutch Psychonomics Society, heads the newly founded Heymans Anomalous Cognition Group, an international research consortium aimed at the systematic, skeptic study of anomalous (‘paranormal’) phenomena, and writes a regular column in the Dutch journal for Parapsychology and Consciousness Research.

Jordi Van Gestel

Jordi van Gestel is an evolutionary biologist, who just obtained a Ph.D. degree at the University of Groningen. He is intrigued by the evolutionary origins of organization and cooperation, features that we often associate with human society. Yet, instead of studying humans, he examines one of the most primitive forms of organization on our planet: bacterial colonies. By combining experimental methods and mathematical modeling, he shows how bacterial cells interact inside the colony and bring about organization. He not only explores how organization evolves, but also how it in turn affects evolution. Can organisms influence the speed of evolution and, if so, do they get better in evolving over evolutionary time? Jordi’s research has been conducted at four international research groups at the University of Groningen, Harvard Medical School and Harvard University.

Kirsten Lamberts

Kirsten Lamberts is a psychologist at the Martini Hospital in Groningen, The Netherlands. After her psychology study in Groningen, she started a PhD project on executive functioning and fMRI: a project combining psychology, medicine and technology. After her PhD she specialized as clinical psychologist, and is now responsible for the psychological care of the patients in the burn center Groningen and for the research done by the department of medical psychology in the Martini Hospital. Her current research mainly focusses on the use of virtual reality in the medical setting.

Meike Lubbers

Meike is a criminal defense attorney in Groningen, The Netherlands. During her studies she researched and wrote a book about the evidence produced by police officers that is used in criminal proceedings.

Milton Mermikides

Milton Mermikides is a composer, guitarist and educator in a wide range of musical styles and has collaborated with artists as diverse as Pat Martino, John Williams, Tim Minchin, The Swingle Singers, Steve Winwood and Brian Eno. Son of a CERN nuclear physicist, he was raised with an enthusiasm for both the arts and sciences, an eclecticism which has been maintained throughout his teaching, research and creative career. He is a graduate of the London School of Economics (BSc), Berklee College of Music (BMus) and the University of Surrey (PhD). Milton is Senior Lecturer of Music at the University of Surrey and Professor of Guitar at the Royal College of Music, and lives in London with his wife, the guitarist Bridget Mermikides, his daughter Chloe and his annoying cat, Monkey.

Myron Best

Myron Best is an MD/PhD-student, who conducts his research at the VU university medical center Amsterdam and the Cancer Center Amsterdam. After he obtained his bachelor’s degree in Medicine, he applied for the MD/PhD-trajectory in which he aims to both obtain his master’s degree in Medicine as his PhD thesis. His research is focused on the use of blood platelets to read cancer and other diseases in blood, using novel molecular techniques combined with sophisticated bioinformatic algorithms. He and his colleagues perform studies that focus on the detection of several types of cancer and other diseases in blood, develop algorithms that capture the changes in blood during tumor treatment, and unravel the biological role of blood platelets in human diseases. His work is published in leading scientific journals including Cancer Cell and covered by national and international media.

Sjoerd Stellingwerf

Thomas Kantermann

Thomas Kantermann holds a diploma in Biology and Psychology from the University of Bielefeld (DE) and a PhD in Biology from the Centre for Chronobiology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich (DE). Currently, he is project leader in the Dutch STW-funded network OnTime, co-founder and scientific director of the urban science project ‘ChronoCity Bad Kissingen’ (DE), and board member of the Working Time Society (WTS). His research aims at improving our understanding about the biology of human sleep and the effects of light on sleep and health. He focuses on studying shift work, jetlag, daylight saving time, work and school hours and any other lifestyle behaviors that challenge the human biological clock compromising sleep and health.

Tjeerd Andringa

Tjeerd is an associate professor of sensory cognition with a focus on how moods and the appraisal of the (sonic) environment influence each other and define our responses. He applies this research in institutes for long-term care and in cities. His activities include: soundscape research and soundscape solutions, hydrodynamical imaging with lateral line technology, cognitive systems research, environmental and health psychology, how to learn autonomy, the roots of (moral) behavior, the psychological drivers of bureaucracy, and the cognitive science of (geo)politics. The common theme in these fields, interests, and approaches is the development of ever-more effective and sustainable relationships between individual and environment. In his spare time he works at his wife's sustainable vegetable farm, where he tills the soil and harvests.

Tollak Ollestad

Tollak Ollestad is an international musician, educator/mentor and yoga enthusiast who was born in Alaska but grew up in Seattle, Washington. After moving to California, he has worked with a distinguished list of artists, including- Don Henley, Michael McDonald, Earth, Wind and Fire, Jewel, Natalie Cole, Seal, Al Jarreau, Andrea Bocelli, Sheena Easton, Brian McKnight, Kenny Loggins, Chet Atkins, and Billy Idol, among others. But being the restless creative soul that he is he ultimately grew tired of life in LA and ended up relocating all the way over in the Netherlands. At the Academy of Pop Culture, he studies what really makes people function at their optimal level creatively, which has led to surprising discoveries and insights into creativity and human development that continue to take his life and career down new inspiring pathways. He also enjoys cooking and drawing cartoons.

Vamba Sherif

Vamba Sherif, born in Liberia, is a novelist, journalist and film critic. He's lived in Kuwait and Syria before settling in The Netherlands.