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).

Filoxenia COnference Center
Thrakis 17, Aglantzia
Nicosia, Lefkosia, 2112
Cyprus

Christina Orphanidou

Christina grew up in Limassol but spent 15 years of her life studying and working in the UK. After a PhD in Machine Learning at the University of Oxford, she worked as a researcher in digital healthcare, investigating how machine learning techniques applied to physiological signals can prevent bad things from happening to good people. While at Oxford, Christina spent years waking up at 6am to practice rowing which prepared her very well for motherhood! In 2012, she moved back to Cyprus with her husband and baby, had another baby and now spends her weekdays as a data analytics and artificial intelligence consultant and her weekends shouting at the referee during children's football matches. Follow Christina on twitter @christinaorph

Eleni Era

Eleni Era Eleni Era is a Berlin-based classical pianist and girls' choir leader who's trying her hand at assembling her collection of songs into her debut album “Rise Love”. She has been performing as a classical concert pianist both in her homeland in Cyprus and her base in Berlin, performing in venues including the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Kammersaal der Philharmonie Berlin and Pancyprian Song Composition Contests. Her debut album is confessional - at times confronting bleak situations of despair, facing loneliness and the passage of time, as well as the necessity to love one’s self - but also sees the singer-songwriter recounting childhood adventures and the innocent songwriting sessions she shared with her siblings. Find out more about Eleni here: www.louvanarecords.com/eleni-era

Elsa Sotiriadis

Elsa is a synthetic biologist, futurist and science fiction writer interested in fixing the world by hacking the code of life. Elsa is a former venture capital investor and holds a Ph.D. in synthetic biology from Imperial College London. Today, she works with large organizations? on digital biology. She has written for and been featured in various media, including BBC and Singularity Hub and writes science fiction on the side (as Elsa Solaris). As a ‘Bio-Futurist’ she has helped iconic global tech companies turn science fiction into reality by exploring how future computer parts won’t be manufactured but grown - with biology. She wants to inspire others to step into this vibrant world, to imagine boldly and disrupt kindly, so we can co-create a humane future. Follow Elsa on twitter @thebiofuturist or find out more on her website www.thebiofuturist.io

Freedom Candlemaker

Freedom Candlemaker is Cypriot musician, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer Lefteris Moumtzis. He has released various albums over the last 20 years under different monikers and bands like J.Kriste, Master of Disguise, The Low Spark, Trio Tekke, Snakecharmer as well as his own name Lefteris Moumtzis. Freedom Candlemaker is his latest and final name, under which he has released the album 'Beaming Light' in February 2019. In the songs of this album, he explores love, light and sound and the relationship with one’s true self, as this is felt and experienced through connection, expression and the relationship with the inner child. Beaming Light comes to life on stage by the wonderful Dimitris Foken on guitar, Vassilis Vlahakos on guitar, Orestes Benekas on keyboards and Dimitris Oikonomou on drums, along with Lefteris who plays bass and sings. Find out more on Freedom Candlemaker on their website www.moumtzis.com/discography/freedom-candlemaker

Jens-Uwe Meyer

Jens-Uwe began his career as a police commissioner in Germany before moving to the media sector. As a TV correspondent, he reported from more than 25 countries, including the Middle East and the USA. He later became director of programming for radio. After completing a PhD in economics, he went on to create his own digital company and, today, Jens-Uwe Meyer is considered a leading European thought-leader on digital disruption and innovation management. He has written 12 books and numerous articles on digital transformation. His most recent book is titled 'Digital Disruption: The Next Level of Innovation'. Find out more about Jens-Uwe here: jens-uwe-meyer.de/en/

John Zacharias Theophanous

John was born in Zimbabwe in 1978 and moved to South Africa in 1986. John was born a twin, but his brother passed away. John is a non-practising clinical psychologist and software engineer. He is openly gay and a member of the board of Accept LGBTI Cyprus. His roots hail from Paphos. He currently works and resides in Nicosia. He is fluent in Greek, English, Spanish, Afrikaans, French & Portuguese. He is conversant (but not fluent) in Hebrew, Turkish, Arabic & Italian.

JUΛIO Kompoloi

JUΛIO is a Cypriot rapper from Limassol who writes all his music in the Cypriot dialect. His lyrics are direct and provocative, usually addressing social and cultural issues transpired from his own personal experiences. JUΛIO had his first contact with hip hop as a teenager. At 18 he began rapping and produced his first recording as an amateur artist. In 2013 he made his first live appearance, and a year later produced and wrote his first album, «Ξύπνα τζ’ άκου». His second album, “To Λάθος”, was produced soon after with music by Smilin. In 2015 he released «Της ζωής τζαι του θανάτου», his most personal project to date. “Τα Μαύρα Άσματα”, another collaboration with Smilin, was produced in 2017. In addition to his solo career, JUΛIO is also a founding member of Barco Pirata Collective, a collective group of artists established in 2017.

Matt Coyne

Matt Coyne is the creator of the award-winning parenting blog ‘Man vs. Baby’, which currently has over a quarter of a million followers on social media. He is also the author of two Sunday Times bestselling books on the subject of parenting, titled ‘Man vs Baby’ and ‘Man vs Toddler’, and is a contributing writer for The Guardian, The Telegraph and GQ Magazine. Matt lives in Sheffield, England with his partner Lyndsay, his son Charlie and a Jack Russell with issues called ‘Eddie’. Follow Matt on twitter @mattcoyney or find out more on his website www.man-vs-baby.co.uk

Muhammed Muheisen

Muhammed Muheisen is a world-renowned photographer. He is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner, a National Geographic Photographer and a Global Ambassador for the Jordan Tourism Board, Royal Jordanian Airlines and Canon. Muheisen is also TIME Magazine Best Wire Photographer, 2013. Muheisen is a Jordanian national who was born in Jerusalem in 1981. He holds a Journalism and Political Science degree and has been documenting major global events for almost 20 years. For over a decade he has been documenting refugee crises around the world and has founded the Everyday Refugees Foundation. Website: https://muhammedmuheisen.com/

Nell Watson

Eleanor ‘Nell’ Watson (CITP FBCS FICS FIAP FIKE FRSA FRSS FLS) is a Machine Intelligence engineer who grew up in Northern Ireland. She helped to pioneer Deep Machine Vision at her company QuantaCorp, which enables fast and accurate body measurements from two photos. Later, she decided to teach these techniques to others, as author of Machine Intelligence coursebooks for O’Reilly Media. Nell serves as Vice-Chairman of the IEEE P7001 Committee creating new safety standards for autonomous systems, and is also the Co-Founder and Chairman of EthicsNet.org, a community teaching pro-social behaviours to machines. She serves as a Senior Scientific Advisor to The Future Society at Harvard, and holds Fellowships with the British Computing Society, and Royal Statistical Society. Follow Nell on twitter @NellWatson or find out more on her website www.nellwatson.com

Nikolas Miltiadous

Nicolas was born in the USA but lived almost his entire life in Cyprus with his two brothers and sisters. He is a proud father and works in the Cyprus Army as a Non-commissioned Officer since 2009 after graduating military school in Greece. He served for almost 10 years in the Cyprus Special Forces and is currently serving as an Explosives Ordnance Disposal operator. At the age of 32, he has combined one of his favourite activities, running long distances, with promoting awareness for the cause of the Cyprus Transplant Association. Follow Nikolas on Facebook @/nicolas.miltiadous

Nis Nørgaard

Nis Nørgaard is a Copenhagen based award-winning Sound Designer and founder of Thirty Sounds Good Sound Studio. From his studio, Nis works with translating ideas and concepts into audiotive experiences within podcasts, films and interactive design. Nis has worked with companies such as HBO, Virtue and the danish Experimentarium, and his work on ‘The Genderless Voice’ has recently been rewarded with 4 bronze lions at Canne Lions Creativity Festival 2019 in the categories Sound Design, Use of Audio Technology, Not For Profit, and Glass - the Lion for Change. Nis believes in communicating stories, feelings and purposes through the beauty of sound, always with the ambition of creating a valuable imprint in the listeners and in the world. Find out more on Nis from his website www.thirtysoundsgood.dk/

Tanyalee Davis

Tanyalee is a standup comedian with a nearly 30-year career. She has performed in over 10 countries and was the first woman finalist in over 10 years at the Seattle Comedy Competition. She has performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the San Francisco Comedy Festival, Live at the Apollo and headlined the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Tanyalee has also been on numerous TV shows on the Animal Planet, BBC, Channel 4, CNN, the Fox Network, Sky and others. Tanyalee has a form of dwarfism called diastrophic dysplasia. She often talks publicly about some of the challenges and misconceptions having been harassed and humiliated several times throughout her life. Tanyalee is on the Board of Directors of GR8 AS U R, an anti bullying/Kindness campaign. The GR8 team visits schools where Tanyalee shares her life story to inspire students to accept differences in themselves and others. Originally from Canada and also a US citizen, Tanyalee now makes her home in the United Kingdom where she is in the top echelon of her craft.

Tey El-Rjula

Tey's story is an unlikely one. Labeled as ‘The Invisible Man’ at the age of 5 for not carrying paper-based identification, it is precisely this that stimulated his idea to create a blockchain technology startup. As an early adopter of Bitcoin, Tey has pioneered the use of blockchain to break financial and identity barriers. He did so by founding a tech4good company devised for people to store vital information about themselves, such as nationality and qualifications. His journey ultimately led him to the realisation of his life's mission: turning invisible people into invincible ones. Through his work as a CEO, writer, and speaker, he is determined to become a billionaire. Not in terms of money, but in positively touching the lives of billions of people. Tey's story is a passionate account of determination, entrepreneurship, perseverance and cutting-edge technology. Tey has an MSc in Digital Currencies from the University of Nicosia and resides and works in the Netherlands. Follow Tey on twitter @tey070