Theme: Transition

With "Transition" as the theme for our TEDx this year we will be focussing on the drastic rate at which everything around us is changing; from technology to nature to human behaviour.

James Watt Centre 2
Heriot-Watt University
Riccarton
Edinburgh, Midlothian, EH14 4AS
United Kingdom

Ben Twist

Director, Creative Carbon Scotland

Ben has over 25 years’ experience of producing events and running permanent and temporary venues in the cultural sector to combine with his MSc in Carbon Management. As a theatre director and producer he was the Associate Director at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, Artistic Director at Manchester’s Contact Theatre and has directed as a freelance throughout the UK, Europe, North America and New Zealand. As Chair of the Scottish Arts Council Lottery Committee he facilitated partnerships with diverse organisations from property developers to community arts groups. He is Chair of Scotland’s leading contemporary classical music group Hebrides Ensemble and Vice-Chair of the Edinburgh Sustainable Development Partnership. As well as directing Creative Carbon Scotland, Ben is currently working on his PhD at the University of Edinburgh and with Aberdeen Performing Arts, looking at social practices through a complexity theory lens in order to transition to a more sustainable society.

Dr. Gnanthusharan Rajendran

Associate Professor, Psychology

Dr Thusha Rajendran is the Director of the Developmental Psychology in Action Lab based in the Department of Psychology, Heriot-Watt University. Research is focused on how people, especially children, use new technology. Working with interdisciplinary partners in Computer Science, Education and Engineering, Dr Rajendran develops and evaluates technologies at the cutting edge of human computer interaction. The theoretical heart is psychological, notably developmental theory of both typical and atypical development, which used to inform all work.

Dr. Sue Thomas

Assistant Professor, Textiles and Design

Dr Thomas has taught fashion around the UK and Oceania, and is the creator of the MSc Ethics in Fashion course at Heriot-Watt University. She is an advocate for ethics and sustainability within fashion the supply-chain and wrote the new MSc Ethics in Fashion programme. She has presented research in the USA, UK, Hong Kong and Australia. In 2014 she contributed a chapter to the Routledge Handbook of Sustainability and Fashion, and currently, she is finishing a book for Routledge on Fashion Ethics due in 2016.

Jillian Haslam

Motivational Speaker

Jillian Haslam is an author, motivational Speaker & Philanthropist. Jillian previously worked in the banking sector for over twenty years before choosing to pursue her passion to help the less fortunate. She now runs her own business to help fund her charitable initiatives for the Aged, Children, The Youth, The Disabled & Women in need. Her book Indian.English. based on her life story is now an international best seller and is being converted into a Hollywood movie. Jillian is a very popular and sought after speaker with corporate organizations. She has extensively spoken on myriad topics at many forums and with some of the leading international organizations such as TEDx, Cambridge, Barclays, Kings College in London and many others. She recently won the first runner up award for the Asian Woman of the Year, The True Legend award and the Star Award for her work in the social & humanitarian sectors.

Jürgen Schleppi

PhD Candidate, Heriot-Watt University

Currently a Heriot-Watt PhD Candidate in Cooperation with the European Space Agency - Jürgen first graduated with a B.Eng in Aeronautical Engineering, majoring in Space Engineering and subsequently an international M.Sc. in Space Science and Instrumentation in 2014. His Master’s thesis in Sydney, Australia, was analyzing the performance of astronauts and rovers in a Mars Analogue scenario in the Australian Outback. For the two subsequent years after his Masters, he worked at the European Space Agency's Astronaut Centre in the field of Astronaut Training and Operations. Since 2016, he has been a Heriot-Watt PhD student in Cooperation with the ESA, researching ways in which silicon solar cells, or other solar conversion devices, could be 3D printed on the lunar surface with only the raw lunar material.

Prof. Marc Desmulliez

Chartered Engineer and Physicist

Prof. Desmulliez is an expert in nature inspired design, sometimes known as biomimicry. Marc Desmulliez has funded/directed the MicroSystems Engineering Centre since 2000 and is currently Head of the Research Institute of Sensors, Signals and Systems. His research group specialises in non-silicon based microsystems and sesors at all stages of the manufacturing cycle and has an annual research turnover of around £1.5M.

Prof. Stephen Salter

Emeritus Professor, Engineering Design

Professor Salter is Emeritus Professor of Engineering Design at Edinburgh University. Internationally renowned for his pragmatic approach to modern global challenges, he has been solving the world's major problems since 1974 when he invented the Edinburgh Duck, a potential solution to the Oil Crisis and the world's energy needs.

Richard Carter

Research Associate, Applied Optics and Photonics Group

Dr. Richard Carter graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2005 with an MPhys, from the University of St-Andrews and Heriot-Watt jointly with a MSc in photonics and optoelectronic devices in 2007 and from the University of Heriot-Watt in 2012 with a PhD. His PhD studies involved the development and investigation of long period fibre gratings as hydrogen sensors in close collaboration with AWE. In 2012 he joined the high power laser applications group at Heriot-Watt as a research associate. Dr Carter has studied high-power laser manufacturing processes and fibre optics in Heriot-Watt, Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities. Recent research projects have included: high power beam delivery with novel hollow core fibres; fibre optic sensing; micro material processing including machining, drilling and welding; and most recently microwelding of highly dissimilar materials.

Rossie Stone

Creator, Dekko Comics

Rossie Stone is a dyslexic artist who used the experience of my own struggles in school to create Dekko Comics, a Scottish based, educational visual learning alternative which has been proven to help all types of students get the most out of learning but particularly those with dyslexia and autism. Through his enthusiasm and drive, he has created something from nothing. With a successful crowdfunding campaign which reached and then surpassed the original set target of £10,000. This is a campaign which has resonated with people all over the world including TV personality Sally Magnusson.

Sharon Wallace

(Massive) Advocate, Women in Leadership

Sharon Wallace is a massive advocate of Women in Leadership, and has already spoken at BCS Scotland, RBS and a local Women in Technology group on this topic. With almost 10 years in the financial services sector and a further 11 years in the Direct Selling arena, Sharon Wallace's passion is inspiring more women to seek leadership positions.