Theme: Alive and Kicking

TEDxGranta 2012: Alive & Kicking is a celebration of restless innovation in the arts and sciences, of survivors and creators, and of people who kick back against established ways of thinking.

The Junction - J2
The Junction
Clifton Way
Cambridge, CB1 7GX
United Kingdom

David Constantine

David is the co-founder of Motivation, a charity which works to improve the quality of life of people with mobility impairment. One of the ways they do this is by designing and building affordable wheelchairs for people in developing countries. David himself is wheelchair dependent, following a diving accident in 1982, and his work is understandably filled with deep personal significance. David has worked tirelessly to develop an enterprise that began as a student project into a sustainable charity that gives disabled people in the developing world access to a wheelchair that is specifically suited to their disability, need and environment.

Tim Hayward

Tim is a journalist, regular contributor to the Financial Times and the Guardian, and publishes the quarterly journal Fire & Knives. Last year, Cambridge residents and University alumni were anguished to discover that a mainstay of our culinary history was slated for the chopping board – Fitzbillies, celebrated cake shop and tea room, was on its last legs, and the future was looking bleak. Tim’s wife, Alison, grew up in Cambridge and would not tolerate Fitzbillies’ closure. Obviously there was only one course of action available: the husband-and-wife team moved from London, gave the premises a £100,000 facelift, and have breathed new life into the beloved institution. Business is brisk, the menu is vibrant, and while Tim probably won’t be sharing the secret recipe for Fitzbillies’ Chelsea Buns, he will share his story and his passion for what he does.

Eben Upton

Eben is a founder, trustee and Executive Director of the Raspberry Pi Foundation. The Raspberry Pi Foundation was established by a group of University of Cambridge academics and local businesspeople to address the decline in the number of computer science and engineering applicants to UK higher-education institutions. The Foundation is developing a $25 microcomputer (approxiately £17), with the goal of putting programmable hardware in the hands of every child in the UK. If this doesn’t sound impressive yet, then imagine your desktop computer shrunk down to fit in the palm of your hand, and costing a mere £20. Eben is responsible for the overall architecture of the Raspberry Pi device, and for the Foundation’s relationships with key suppliers and partners. In his day job, he works for Broadcom as an ASIC architect and general troublemaker. He likes to “Do Good Work”, and so it’s with great pleasure that we welcome him to speak.

Tim Morley

Tim is a British Esperanto speaker living in Cambridge. Previously a computer programmer, and nowadays a teacher of English and French, Tim has gained acclaim through his work translating into Esperanto such prominent sites as OpenOffice (in 2002) and PledgeBank (in 2005). Given that Tim has only been speaking Esperanto since 2001, this is no mean feat. He is now running an innovative programme for introducing young children to foreign language awareness by using the constructed language of Esperanto to start them off. Tim works in a number of primary schools around Cambridgeshire, passing on his enthusiasm and love of languages to children as young as 5. Esperanto is a constructed international language, deriving much of its lexicon from Western European languages, with a syntax and morphology that displays prominent Slavic influences. It has evolved from a minimalist grammar and vocabulary of bare essentials into a fully-fledged language, with a worldwide community of speakers and the ability to cross linguistic borders. And you’d be glad to know that it’s easy to learn.

Ross Sargent

Ross is the Co-Founder and Chief Instructor of Cambridge Kung Fu, a not-for-profit social enterprise. Its vision is to teach the fundamental benefits that can be achieved through intelligent martial arts and movement practice – utilising the physical body as the medium for learning some of life’s deep lessons. Ross gave up his PhD at the University of Cambridge when he realised that his passion lay outside of the academic arena in his long term hobby of Martial Arts training. With his principle passions as learning and sharing, Ross has since achieved the titles of ‘Sifu of Wing Chun Kung Fu’ and ‘Instructor of Circular Strength’ training, the movement system created by world renowned martial artist and fitness coach Scott Sonnon. Ross will demonstrate Blindfold ‘Chi Sau’ (sticking hands) sparring. He will also talk about human optimisation or, as his two year old self expressed it, “being the winnest”.

Tim Minshall

Tim Minshall is a Senior Lecturer in Technology Management at the Institute for Manufacturing – a part of Cambridge University Engineering Department. He researches, teaches, and writes on technology enterprise and open innovation and, since 1998, has been involved in helping people get new technologies to market. He is a non-executive director of St. John’s Innovation Centre Ltd, Cambridge, and a Visiting Professor at Doshisha University Institute for Technology, Enterprise and Competitiveness in Japan. He is a member of advisory / steering committees for groups including IdeaSpace Cambridge, Cambridge University Entrepreneurs, Cambridge i-Teams, and 100% Open. Tim is concerned about an alarming trend in the UK: the lack of awareness of the absolutely critical role that engineers play in our current and future worlds. Of particular concern is the impact this has on young people wanting to become engineers. After all, engineers don’t just fix things; they make things better. Engineers make the future.

Shelley Katz

Montreal-born pianist Shelley Katz studied at the Conservatoire de Musique and the Julliard School. While based in New York, he performed as a soloist, chamber musician and accompanist, and was the pianist for the New York Contemporary Ensemble under Skrowaczewski. Since 1993, Shelley has been based in England where (in addition to his active performance career) he completed a Ph.D in Music technology. He is the holder of several granted patents in loudspeaker design and technology, and designed the highly-acclaimed Podium Sound loudspeakers, the only audiophile passive flat-panel loudspeakers in the world. Shelley is a Research Fellow at the University of Surrey, a Visiting Fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge, and is the Director of the Symphonova Project; a project to design, develop and implement the world’s first high-end digital symphony orchestra. Shelley will introduce us to the concept of Layered Sound, and to his digital Symphony orchestra, the Symphonova itself, and show us what’s on the horizon for digital musicians.

Kirsten Lavers

FLACK is an innovative charity and social enterprise working with homeless people in Cambridge. Two years ago, Kirsten Lavers was made redundant from her post as Editor of the Willow Walker, a quarterly magazine publishing the work of homeless people in the city. With the help and faith of the homeless community, she and her team have established and launched FLACK: a monthly magazine showcasing the talents of its homeless contributors, as well as comprehensively promoting the cultural richness of the city. At the heart of FLACK is a commitment to involving homeless people in every aspect of its operations, from governance to distribution. FLACK’s approach has already enabled over 33 homeless people to grow in confidence, recover from addiction, gain employment or make their voices heard. For every £1 invested in FLACK, they have returned at least £3 of social value and savings to the public purse. FLACK’s unique approach will be demonstrated at TEDxGranta, as Kirsten is joined by members of the FLACK team for an interactive, multi-media and stereotype-busting presentation.

Merlin Crossingham

Merlin joined Aardman in 1995 through an animation training course run in conjunction with the University of the West of England. As an animator at Aardman, Merlin initially worked on TV commercials and Morph shorts, before taking the roles of Key Animator on the feature film ‘Chicken Run’, and Second Unit Director on ‘Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of The Were Rabbit’. He co-directed the Creature Comforts USA series for CBS, for which he gained an Emmy nomination. Since then, Merlin has focused on directing Wallace & Gromit, becoming Creative Director in 2009. Before University, Merlin specialised in acrobatics, uni-cycling and trapeze, and trained with the Moscow State Circus during one of their stays in Bristol. These activities led him into climbing; he became a climbing instructor and climbed professionally before choosing to work in animation. Merlin will be talking about character animation, the way Aardman do it. He’ll give us a glimpse into how to make an animated character appear to be a living, breathing, thinking individual, and he’ll be bringing Wallace & Gromit along to help out!

Gil Karpas

Gil is a soulful singer-songwriter, with all the multi-tracking, multi-instrumental, looping and performing finesse of a 21st Century troubadour. Described as “One smooth brother!!“ by BBC Introducing, Gil is now touring solo with his one man band of pedals, loopers, effects and tricks, all whilst simultaneously playing the guitar, the percussion, and singing his smooth, uplifting vocals. Gil has supported a range of artists, these include bands such as The Brand New Heavies, Oi Va Voi and Balkan Beat Box and songwriters such as Chris Difford (Squeeze), Jamie Woon, Geva Alon, Boo Hewerdine, KT Tunstall and Kate Walsh. Gil is now releasing his EP and will be touring the UK in support of it in February 2012. He is gaining a solid reputation for funky, upbeat original material, graced with a powerful soulful voice and a sensitive lyricism. No smoke and mirrors, just original music.