Theme: The Missing Link

The universe is an interconnected whole. From the ingredients of the human body to the dark matter, connection is existential. There lies a whole gamut of possibilities for these connections even though we are yet to figure out how it all works. These, we call The Missing Links. Whether this connects people, energy, evolution, gravity or knowledge (ideas), we stumble upon these unexplained missing links, which govern our very existence. We are drawn by their elusiveness and their power to shine light towards the unknown and open new realms. Our history, present and even future is filled with vivid examples where missing links were, are and will be tools to carve way for societies and the sciences. In spite of all the knowledge on thousands of human languages, we still have many unknown connections between many of them. The digital communication era linked us together, yet it created space for something else missing in our lives. The businesses and politics, which govern the world, establish vast numbers of connections, yet they leave many missing links in their execution and understanding. The mystery of our biological, evolutionary and philosophical origin, as well as the way we behave, both biologically and socially conceal a vast number of undiscovered relationships. All these missing links drive us forward, as a society, as researchers and as individuals, and as such a pertinent drive, they demand our undivided attention.

Goodenough College
Mecklenburgh Square
London, London, City of, WC1N 2AB
United Kingdom

Akshath Kalé

Born in India, raised in Australia and having lived in Singapore and Canada, Akshath Kalé has had a lifelong obsession with history and international affairs with a focus on the Second World War. Akshath is interested in the interaction of individuals in large scale scenarios and what these interactions can tell us by way of alternative narratives and missing ideas. Akshath is a graduate from the Australian National University and is currently studying at the London School of Economics. Aspiring to work in public service after his studies, his motivation for speaking at TEDxGoodenough College 2015 is to explore the implication for the Second World War for the individuals that experienced it. He believes that, in such a monumental, age-defining event which still holds significance even 70 years after its end, we tend to forget that it was individuals that fought this war. Akshath hopes to shift our focus to the emotional aspects of historical events against grand eloquent narratives.

Bonnie Chiu

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Bonnie Chiu moved to London in 2013 at 20 years old to complete a MSc International Relations at the London School of Economics (LSE). Bonnie co-founded Lensational on the International Women’s Day of 2013, aiming to empower women through photography. Since then, her team has expanded to 30 volunteers from 15 nationalities globally, and she alone has conducted photography workshops with 150 women and girls in Hong Kong, Myanmar and Pakistan. Bonnie has received awards for Lensational in social venture competitions globally, notably in Amsterdam, Seoul and Melbourne, and is one of the 15 students to be endorsed by the LSE for the Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur Visa, allowing her to bring her social enterprise, Lensational, to Europe. Bonnie has received global media coverage for Lensational in the Guardian in the UK, Asia Calling in Indonesia, and the Express Tribune in Pakistan.

Bradley Elliott

Bradley Elliott recently submitted his doctorate in human physiology at the University of Westminster, examining the human response to reduced oxygen supply. His research involves collection of tissues from individuals when they placed under hypoxic stresses, both to model diseases and to examine the basic science of human physiology. Prior to this work, he completed a Masters, majoring in experimental medicine, at Univeristé Laval, Quebec, Canada, and his Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Camille Sors

Camille Sors is a French cellist born in Grenoble, France in 1993. She began the cello at the age of eight until she moved to Lyon where she continued her cello study in Conservatoire Régional de Lyon. She is currently in her first postgraduate year at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama studying cello performance under the tutelage of Louise Hopkins.

Cara Coetzee

Cara Coetzee is currently at the Guildhall school of Music studying for a masters with Rachel Roberts. After a year at the Royal College of Music, she pursued a languages degree at UCL before moving back to freelance in South Africa, her country of origin. She has performed widely and attended courses and festivals in Brazil, Sweden, the UK and South Africa. She has a particular passion for chamber music.

Christian Føhrby

Christian Føhrby provides tonight’s accordion entertainment with a smile and his customary loudness. He bought his accordion from a mysteriously eBay-savvy old man living in the Danish countryside some years ago, and has since used it to spread general joy and entertainment, as it has featured in midnight serenades, climate change marches, open mic coffee houses, tango presentations, and most importantly, streets. Regular repertoire includes Irish folk, Chinese pop, French drinking songs, Mozart and Spice Girls. Tonight, however, the focus will be on theme of old age, a very serious and unavoidable thing. Christian studies Global Politics at the London School of Economics while living at Goodenough College.

Dina Gusejnova

Dina is an historian of twentieth-century political thought and culture currently teaching Modern European History at Queen Mary University of London. She is also one of the conveners of the Passionate Politics group at UCL, an interdisciplinary research group exploring ties between emotions, social movements and politics. Her first book, European Elites and Ideas of Empire, 1917-1957 (forthcoming, Cambridge University Press), charts how European identity was constructed in elite transnational milieus from the debris of three continental empires. In September 2015, Dina will join the Department of History at the University of Sheffield as a Lecturer in Modern History.

Dragan Krstevski

Dragan Krstevski was born in Skopje (Macedonia) where he graduated with distinction at the Faculty of Architecture, University Ss. Cyril and Methodius. His high school graduation thesis was about the master plan by Kenzo Tange for Skopje after the earthquake in 1963 and his university graduation project was an Architectural Centre for Skopje. At the moment he is doing his research Masters about Sustainable cities. He has taken part in many international and local workshops, seminars, conferences and talks. During his studies he co-founded the architectural group ‘First Archi Brigade’ which deals with the architecture and urbanism in Skopje. He is co-author of the publication “First Archi Brigade – The Utmost Incomplete Archive” which is about the history of Skopje and the group’s opinions about Skopje’s architecture. He has written articles in magazines about Skopje’s architecture and organised architectural tours of the city. Currently, he is partner at Make Architects in London.

Garrett Hellenthal

Garrett Hellenthal is statistical geneticist and current research fellow at University College London, focusing on applying mathematical models to DNA data. Garrett received his PhD in Statistics at the University of Washington, after which he continued post-doctoral work on genetic variants and increased risk in diseases at Oxford. Currently, Garrett constructs statistical algorithms to describe the genetic architecture of different human groups, and using DNA to infer human history, which includes elucidating how genetic patterns vary across world-wide human groups and identifying the factors that contribute to this variation. Garrett has created software that can pinpoint times in the past when worldwide and local populations have intermixed due to invasions, migrations and other interactions, highlighting how all human groups appear to carry links to other genetically different groups, often from quite far away, attributable to the many population movements over the centuries.

Henrietta Hill

Henrietta, aged 22 from Derbyshire, is a violist studying for a masters with Matthew Jones at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. She graduated from the University of Cambridge with a BA(Hons) in Natural Sciences in 2014, where she held an Instrumental Award (IAS). Henrietta was a member of Pro Corda, has a dipABRSM (distinction) and is passionate about chamber music. She has enjoyed performing with the Wihan Quartet and will join the Rosamunde Trio for Orpheus & Bacchus Music Festival, Bordeaux, in November. Henrietta is grateful to the Stephen Bell Charitable Trust for their support with her studies.

Jorge Castillo-Quan

Dr. Jorge Iván Castillo-Quan graduated with a Medical degree from the Autonomous University of Yucatan, in Mexico. After his clinical training, Jorge completed an MSc in Clinical Neuroscience from the University College London (UCL) Institute of Neurology and a PhD in Genetics, Neuroscience and Biogerontology from the UCL Institute of Healthy Ageing (IHA). Currently, Jorge is a Max Planck Society Research Associate at the UCL IHA and Research Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment. Starting January 2016 Jorge will begin a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School. Jorge has been actively involved in Science Communication at The Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition and the Francis Crick Institute/Science Museum Lates. Jorge is also one of the Founding Editors of a Blog called “Neurociencias México” which disseminates neuroscience in Spanish.

Kate Lonie

Kate Lonie is a second-year PhD candidate in the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney. Inspired by the 2013 media attention afforded to former Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, as well as the coverage of the death (also in 2013) of former UK Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, her doctoral research aims to explore the relationship between contemporary political media coverage and the nature of the media and political engagement of young women in both the UK and Australia. Prior to this, she completed a Master of Science in Gender, Media and Culture at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Professionally, Kate has also had significant experience in the fields of consulting and higher education, having worked as a Research Assistant at a number of major Australian universities. She has also had extensive experience as both a Mentor and Tutor to high school and undergraduate students.

Matthias Mauch

Matthias Mauch is a researcher in music informatics. As an undergraduate mathematics student in Rostock, Germany, he earned his pocket money as an amateur musician. Combining his passions for maths and music he went on to do a Ph.D. in electronic engineering at Queen Mary University of London – on algorithms to automatically transcribe chords from music recordings. After a post-doc in Japan and a Research Fellowship at Last.fm returned to Queen Mary in 2012 on a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship, investigating music signal processing, human singing, and the evolution of musical style. He’s published over 40 peer-reviewed conference and journal papers. Together with his research collaborators from Imperial College London he’s a recipient of a 2012 Cozzarelli Prize for scientific excellence and originality from the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.

Sirio Canós-Donnay

Sirio Canós-Donnay is an archaeologist and AHRC-funded PhD candidate at UCL. Born in Spain, she read Archaeology & Anthropology at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, and holds a masters in African Archaeology from UCL. Since 2013 Sirio has been directing excavations in the Upper Casamance region in southern Senegal (West Africa), researching the hitherto unknown archaeology of the Kaabu Empire (13th-19th C). Her work combines archaeology, oral traditions, and written accounts from European travellers, and explores how West African history challenges some of our traditional assumptions about societal development and statehood worldwide.

Sophie Poteratchi

Sophie Poteratchi is in her final year of a masters degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she studies the violin with distinguished chamber musician, Andrew Watkinson. She also completed her undergraduate degree at the Guildhall School, studying both the violin and viola with Mark Knight. As an orchestral musician, Sophie has experience working with world-renowned conductors; including Sir Colin Davis, Sir Simon Rattle and Giandrea Noseda. While studying at the Guildhall School she has also benefited from receiving chamber music coaching from the Endellion and Heath quartets. Sophie is also the founder of City String Ensemble, a versatile string group which performs across London for special events and private functions.

Tempest van Schaik

Dr. Tempest van Schaik has always been searching for the missing link between art and engineering, science and design, and so-called left and right brain thinking. She was inspired by the imaginative and futuristic thinking of science fiction to pursue a degree in Biomedical Engineering and then Electrical Engineering at Wits University in her native country South Africa. She then moved to London for a PhD in Bioengineering at Imperial College, focusing on medical sensors, which she completed in 2014. In parallel with 10 years of engineering studies, she has created illustrations, sculptures and creatures on a freelance basis for magazines, events and clothing brands. She’s run a handmade jewellery business; produced art, design and photography for exhibitions across the world; and has won prizes in national South African art competitions like the Thami Mnyele Awards. Currently, Tempest is a Scientist at Science Practice, a London-based research and design company.

William Cross

William Cross is currently a PhD student at Barts Cancer Institute working with Dr. Trevor Graham and Prof. Sir Nick Wright in the Evolution in Cancer Laboratory. William is interested in how cancers genetically change over time and how this is related to therapeutic resistance and poor patient outcomes. William’s background is centred on cancer genetics and in recent years, has worked as a Bioinformatician, walking the line between computational analysis and the laboratory, which is essential to understanding the huge datasets that can be produced from modern experiments. After gaining his degree in 2005 from Cardiff University in Genetics, William worked as a Research Technician with Prof Huw Morris and as an NHS Healthcare Scientist with Dr Jerry Hancock at Bristol Genetics Laboratory. While working as a Healthcare Scientist, he helped determine the prognosis of children with Leukaemia and in the diagnosis of inherited cancers.