Theme: Brought to Light

TEDxAUCollege is organized by a team of dedicated students of Amsterdam University College (AUC), the joint honors college of the University of Amsterdam, and the Vrije Universiteit. We have the opportunity to bring the TED experience to our student community as well as the wider public of Amsterdam.

TEDx events are based on a theme, and this year we have chosen “Brought to Light”. With this, we are looking to embrace the overlooked and untapped ideas that could ignite meaningful change. This creates an opportunity to appreciate diversity, explore unconventional approaches and incite people to re-evaluate their way of thinking. We want to shed light on aspects of peoples’ stories that fundamentally shape our experiences.

Our event will include musical performances as well as an after borrel open for both speakers and the audience. We hope you can join us during this first in person edition since 2019.

See you on the 14th of May!

The TEDxAUCollege Team

Amsterdam University College
Science Park 113
Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, 1098 XG
Netherlands

Bella Bourgeois

Student

Bella Bourgeois is a 3rd year student at Amsterdam University College

Camiel R.Verschoor

Entrepreneur

Camiel has a Master’s Degree in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Amsterdam, published several scientific papers, and worked for the National Aerospace Laboratory prior to his adventure as an entrepreneur. In 2016 he decided to utilize his passion for technology to bridge the sustainable challenges we are all facing nowadays.

Cathelijn Gelderloos

Student

Cathelijn is a student at Amsterdam University College

Franciska de Vries

Soil and ecosystem ecologist and professor of Earth Surface Science

Franziska is a soil and ecosystem ecologist and a professor of Earth Surface Science, at the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam. She is fascinated by the complex and intricate interactions between plants and microbes. In my research, She focuses on how the interactions between plants and soil microbes are affected by global change, and what the consequences are for the functioning of ecosystems. She does this using a variety of experimental approaches, from field studies, to the greenhouse, to controlled laboratory experiments.

Lawrence Ong

Productivity influencer and cryptocurrency professional

Lawrence Ong is a productivity influencer, cryptocurrency professional, and compulsive learner. He works full-time on special projects for MELD, a $400 million crypto banking protocol that empowers people to be their own bank.

Luca Samuel Ntsoumou

Activist

Having moved to numerous different countries and interacted with a lot of people, Luca Samuel Ntsoumou has always found an interest in social dynamics as well as social trends. Originating from Bonn, Germany, Pointe Noire, and the Republic of the Congo, he attempts to dissect the issue of performative activism by highlighting its faults.

Machiel Keestra

Philosopher, scientist, and researcher

Philosopher at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies, Faculty of Science of the University of Amsterdam since 2005 and the university’s Central Diversity Officer since 2022. Researcher at the Institute for Logic, Language and Computation and member of the Amsterdam Brain and Cognition center and of the research group ‘Neuroaesthetics and Neurocultures’ of the University of Amsterdam.

Marente Van Der Valk

Culinary Artist and Chef

Marente van der Valk is a UK/NL-based culinary artist and chef. She graduated in 2012 from a MA in Design and Environment at Goldsmiths University of London. Currently she coordinates the Food Lab at the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht.

Roxane Mbanga

Storyteller and multimedia artist

Roxane Mbanga is a storyteller, a multimedia artist working at the junction of fashion, film, graphic design, photography, writing, and performance. Through her installations, she highlights the perception of the self. Naked, covered with facial jewelries, embodied by objects, in movement on the crowded streets of Lagos, dressed to reveal the strength or staying still in the silence of oppression, the body speaks. Between invisibilization and hypervisibilization, she questions the place of black women in public spaces and offers the audience tools for reflection on this matter.

Saba Askary

Historian

Born in Tehran ('88), Saba moved with her family to Dubai in 1990 where she was raised. She later graduated with a BFA from OCAD University in Toronto, and a Masters in History of Art & Art World Practice from the University of Glasgow & Christie's Education. Saba engages with the legacy of the ancient past in our present-day and future contexts.

Yelaine Rodriguez

Artist, educator, curator, and cultural organizer

Born in the Bronx, where she lives and works today, Yelaine Rodriguez is an Afro-Dominican United Statesian artist, educator, curator, and cultural organizer. She received her BFA in Fashion Design from Parsons School of Design | The New School (2013) and her MA in Latin American and Caribbean Studies / Museum Studies from New York University (2021). Through her art, she illustrates ways to preserve enslaved and indigenous narratives.