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).

St Chad's College
18 North Bailey
Durham, Durham, County, DH1 3RH
United Kingdom

Adrian Bradshaw

Military General

General Sir Adrian Bradshaw is a former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, the deputy commander of NATO forces and the UK’s senior serving soldier in NATO. His military career has encompassed service in armour, aviation and special forces, and he has commanded troops at the tactical, operational and strategic levels, on a number of operations around the world, including Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ediri Omonoseh

Ediri Omonoseh is a Durham student with an important and impactful story to tell. He will talk about how one bad decision of going to a party changed his life in many ways, resulting in him going to prison for a crime he did not commit. He is now a Christian Fellowship leader, a Laidlaw scholar, a Google intern and an advocate for youth to pursue education at Russell group universities.

Gladys Kyotungire

Gladys Kyotungire is a business analyst and advocate living in London. Gladys was born in Kampala, Uganda where she survived child abduction, spurring her life-long advocacy for youth, women’s leadership and social justice in both Uganda and in the UK. As a spokesperson for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)’s #ShareTheFuture campaign, Gladys is shining a light on the need to ensure that every child has the vital food and nutrition they need to achieve their potential for the benefit of our global community. In a global cinema campaign running since September 2018 in some two dozen countries around the world, Gladys brings the jeopardy of lost potential to lie in her portrayal of “Miriam Adeke”, a young woman who could have made a life-saving medical breakthrough if she hadn’t died of hunger as a child. Before working with WFP, Gladys was recognized for her work advocating against child sacrifice in Uganda during the Uganda Parliament Children’s Forum in 2013 and speaking at the United Nations Youth for Human Rights Summit in autumn 2017. She was also awarded the Kitenge Festival Humanitarian Award in 2017. As a former beauty queen (Miss Uganda UK 2012 & Miss Face of Africa EU 2013), Gladys has used her platform to inspire young people to be brave and take action to achieve the change they want to see in their communities. Gladys graduated from London Metropolitan University in International Business Management with a focus on Information Technology and now studying master’s degree in Global Diplomacy at SOAS-UK.

Malin Andersson

Malin rose to stardom following her appearance on love island UK in 2016. She began her career as a social influencer but after experiencing life changing events, she decided to use her platform to help others going through similar situations. Malin positions herself as a mental health advocate and body positivity campaigner, who works hard to raise awareness of mental health issues and provide guidance to her following.

Matthew Unerman

Matthew Unerman is a final year Anthropology student at Durham University who has a keen interest in sustainability and food waste. Over the last year he has worked to implement his food waste reduction scheme, 'Embrace the Waste', at Durham University.

Sara Mardini

Sarah Mardini was born and raised in Damascus, Syria. During the Syrian War the family lost their home, and had to keep moving to avoid ensuing violence. By 2015, fearing for their safety, the family decided to flee Syria and build a new life in Europe. The family travelled to Turkey and boarded an inflatable boat to Greece. Disaster struck when the heavily overcrowded boat’s engine stopped working and started to sink. Many of those onboard were not able to swim. As lifeguards and professional swimmers, Sarah and her sister, Yrsa, along with two other men, jumped into the ocean and pushed the boat through the Aegean sea for the next 3.5 hours to safely in Lesbos. They saved 18 people onboard and were hailed as heroes by the international press. Once in Greece, Sarah and her sister travelled the long and dangerous journey and they lived in a refugee camp for 8 months and successfully claimed asylum. However, Sarah was determined that no one else would experience what she had in her crossing. This led her to return to Lesbos a year later, as a search and rescue swimmer and Arabic translator for the Emergency Response Center International and volunteerered for them for 2 years while putting her studies on hold. In 2018, Sarah was flying back to Berlin from Lesbos and was arrested by Greek police officers on charges of human smuggling, being part of a criminal organisation, espionage and money laundering. She spent 3 and a half months in jail before being released on bail in December 2018. Sarah’s arrest and incarceration was heavily criticised by the Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, other watchdog groups and the press. Despite the case against Sarah still being open, Sarah has returned to Berlin and resumed her studies at Bard College.

Sarah de Carvalho

After moving to Brazil in 1993, Sarah dedicated her life to making a difference to the lives of Brazil’s street connected children by setting up Happy Child International, which has helped over 11,500 children. Her work lead to her receiving an MBE in 2012. Following from this, she has set up the incredible global campaign ‘It’s a penalty’ which works to prevent abuse, exploitation and trafficking all around the world, which collaborated with major sporting events. The it’s a penalty project has affected over 155 million people across the world. Sarah’s ultimate goal is to help eradicate abuse, exploitation and trafficking by 2030, thereby contributing to the elimination of modern-day slavery and achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals’ Target 16.2 ‘to end abuse, exploitation, trafficking, torture and all forms of violence against children’.