Theme: Flourishing People, Spaces and Places

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).

Queen Margaret University
Queen Margaret University Drive, Musselburgh
Edinburgh, East Lothian, EH21
United Kingdom

Clark Community Choir

Clark Community Choir exists for anyone of any age, background or ability who enjoys singing whether they consider themselves to be a ‘singaphobic’, an expert or somewhere in between. No auditioning is required. Our motto is “generations singing together” The ethos of the Clark Community Choir is to unite generations in a common purpose - singing popular music for pleasure!

Andrew Murray

Dr Andrew Murray is perhaps best known as an adventurer, having ran 2660 miles from John O’Groats to the Sahara, completed 7 ultra-marathon on the 7 continents in under a week and won races in places like the North Pole, Outer Mongolia etc, but as a doctor as well as working at events like the Olympics, Paralympics, Commonwealth Games and Ryder Cup, he has helped shape health policy for organisations like the Scottish Government.

Carol Fox

Carol Fox is a lawyer, best known in Scotland for successfully fighting mass equal pay cases for low paid women and for playing an active part in the Referendum Campaign. As a committed feminist, Carol Fox has achieved success for very many women, but her greatest battle was very personal. Following serious fertility problems, Carol made the positive decision to become a single parent by choice, to have a child while she still could. Refused access to fertility treatment in Scotland she had no choice but to move to London. Through sheer determination and tenacity, Carol obtained treatment in England in the early 1990s and her daughter was born in 1992, following extensive fertility treatment and battles against judgemental attitudes which appear almost vindictive to us 25 years later. Her story has attracted media coverage, sparking debates on motherhood and the right to be a single parent in the UK.

David Duke

David Duke is the founder and Chief Executive of Street Soccer (Scotland), a non-profit social enterprise that uses football to help create positive change in the lives of socially disadvantaged adults and young people. At 32, David has grown to be widely admired with his social entrepreneurship skills and inspirational personality, he has experienced first-hand the problems that face the people that his organisation works with and helps on a daily basis. This alone makes him one of the best placed people to inspire, deliver and advise on social inclusion programmes that use sport as its catalyst.

Dee Sissons

Dee is responsible for the professional leadership of the charity’s 2,000 Marie Curie Nurses, healthcare assistants and clinical support workers, as well as ensuring a consistently high-quality nursing service for all our terminally ill patients and their families. Dee was previously at Bolton NHS Trust, where she was the Director of Patient Safety & Experience and Chief Nurse.

Iddo Oberski

Iddo Oberski is senior lecturer in learning and teaching in the Centre for Academic Practice at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. He is joint programme leader of the MSc Professional and Higher Education. His work centres on the enhancement of the student experience, through facilitating the development of teachers, teaching, students and learning in HE. Iddo works with staff and students on developing and integrating contemplative practices into learning and teaching at QMU. He plays a key strategic and consultancy role in the continuing professional development and support of staff involved in supporting student learning at QMU and its national and international partners.

Liz Lochhead

Appointed Scots Makar – the National Poet for Scotland – in 2011, Liz Lochhead is both transgressive and popular; as Anne Varty wrote, ‘her work is that of one woman speaking to many, and one person speaking for many’.

Mike Stevenson

A speaker and creative thinker whose journey from rough sleeper to multi-award winning entrepreneur is a real tour-de-force and who regularly takes audiences by storm. Mike is Managing Director of Thinktastic, Motivational Communications Specialists, and a sought after speaker and creative leader. Mike’s record of transforming organisational cultures into hothouses of innovation is remarkable. He inspired individuals to raise their vision and realise hitherto hidden talents. His success in raising the attainment of young people has been recognised by three consecutive Community in Business Awards, a thrice awarded Community Mark, an IoD director of the Year nomination and in 2011, a Centre for Local Economic Strategies (Cles) Better Places Award.

Prof June Andrews

Professor June Andrews FRCN is Director of the Dementia Services Development Centre at the University of Stirling. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing and has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chief Nursing Officers of the UK. She has also been recognised with the prestigious Robert Tiffany International Award and the Founders Award of the British American Project. She headed the Royal College of Nursing in Scotland, and directed the Centre for Change and Innovation within the Scottish Government in addition to her career in the NHS. She advises health departments and service providers around the world and is the author of Dementia; the One-Stop Guide.

Professor Angie Titchen

Independent Practice Development and Research Consultant; Visiting Professor, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland. Titchen’s research engages with critical questions of authenticity and the possibilites for research as a transformative, egalitarian and essentially critical praxis. Her engagement with forms of creative expression as modes of research puts her at the forefront of a vibrant and emerging field of research being led by people like Norman Denzin, Yvonna Lincoln.