Theme: Distortion

This year, under the theme of “DISTORTION”, the TEDxUniversityofGlasgow Annual Conference 2021 will attempt to address your uncertainty and anxiety about the warped world we live in today. For a full year now we have been confronted with
the bleak, the bizarre and the biased. Angst has been amplified and chaos has cascaded. Throughout this, have you felt like a spectator to this different kind of reality? Have you questioned your perception of the world and yourself? Have you felt like we live in a society that is more divided than ever? And finally, have you felt overwhelmed with the information overload from the media? Well, you are not alone in that. Over the course of this event, we will navigate this distortion together. Together, we have created a special channel for nine brilliant individuals to share their elucidating thoughts and reflections. The output of the arts got many of us through 2020, and continues to be a stimulating respite.

University of Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow, Glasgow City, G12 8QQ
United Kingdom

Ameerah Gardee

Student

Ameerah Gardee was born and raised in Glasgow, with her family originally being from South Africa. She is currently in her second year of university studying Neuroscience, with a view to pursue medicine. She will discuss how the ways in which current affairs are presented influence our perception of their significance in our increasingly partisan society, and perhaps offer some thoughts on what we might do to challenge that divide.

Hannah MacMillan

Actor

Hannah MacMillan is an actor, director, writer, comedic and film-maker based in Glasgow. Hannah has worked on various creative projects throughout the years, and has been finding ways to stay creative during lockdown. As a contributor for the BBC’s Social channels, and a respected creative in the industry, she has loads of insight into how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the creative industry. Hannah’s talk will be about being a creative during lockdown and conversing about what’s next for the industry.

Kathleen Reynolds

Student

Kathleen Reynolds is in primary teaching currently studying for a second masters in Inclusive Education. She is a carer and is passionate about LGBT+ issues and Additional Support Need Education. Their talk will address the conspiracy that teaching children about LGBT+ issues will ‘turn them gay’. Kathleen’s research into this area will be discussed and how homophobia in school impacted her as a student and as a teacher.

Madeleine Black

Author, Activist and Professional Speaker

Madeleine Black is an author and public speaker based in Glasgow. She has made it her aim to help others find their voice, strength and end the stigma surrounding sexual violence, through storytelling. Having previously spoken at TEDxGlasgow, she will be returning to the TEDxUniversityofGlasgow stage and talk about how she found her voice and purpose through sharing her story.

Nina Schick

Author

Nina Schick is an author and broadcaster, and her work focuses on how society is being reshaped by technology and artificial intelligence. Nina has more than a decade’s worth of experience in both geopolitics and technology and has worked on major international political events, including the EU migrant crisis, election interference, Brexit, and information warfare, and has advised major political leaders in the past, including Biden. Her book “Deepfakes” investigates “the corrosion of our information ecosystem” and is currently available for purchase. Nina’s talk will examine “deepfakes” under a philosophical light, forcing us to consider the ethical challenges that distorting video technology brings.

Rachel Dallas

Activist

Rachel Dallas is a Glaswegian activist, involved in helping Glasgow celebrate and support the Black Community. She originally started a Gofundme last summer to help commission street art in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in Glasgow. This has kickstarted her project in celebrating Black icons through street art all around the city. Her talk will be about racism in Scotland and tackling this issue through art.

Stephen Greer

Theatre Academic

Dr Stephen Greer is currently an academic at the University of Glasgow but has a history of working in the festival circuit. His work focuses on performance making and contemporary performance vs queer theory studies. Dr Greer's talk is about wilful distortion and the active pursuit of distortion through queerness.

Thomas McFerran

Student

Thomas is a student at the University of Glasgow, currently studying a masters in International Strategic Marketing following his undergraduate degree. During his studies, he has actively engaged in many extracurricular societies and positions within the university, and has even been the elected Vice President of Student Support. Furthermore, he has also helped the university during the COVID-19 pandemic and helped with the infrastructure of setting up a testing site at the University. He hopes to pursue a career in the marketing industry, and is going on to work with the University after graduating to help him achieve this.

Tracy Phillips

Community Activist

Tracy Phillipsis a community activist, CEO and founder of Family Sentence, a charity set up to support prisoners families. Tracy has over 16 years experience with the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) which inspired her to start the charity. Tracy’s talk will be about the injustices done to prisoners' families and sharing her experience as a single mother with 2 children whilst her partner was imprisoned.