Theme: Staying Humas

Each year we are gathering our university community around speakers and generating new connections and ideas. This year, TEDxULB is exploring the possibility of human beings. We will question what it means to be human and what it will mean in the future. From medicine to technology, through ethics and art, you will meet amazing speakers and minds of our time around this third edition of TEDxULB 2016.

Salle Dupréel
44, Av. Jeanne
Ixelles, Bruxelles-Capitale, Région de (fr), Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest (nl), 1050
Belgium

Alain Ruche

Alain Ruche studied social sciences, economics, pedagogy and international relations at University. At 23 years old, he was ready to leave for a North African country to teach at some university, when he received a call from the Brussels ILO office asking him to learn Spanish in three weeks to go to Peru. Alain said yes, and then spent the following 25 years in 10 countries and four continents, mainly as an EU official. Back to headquarters a couple of years ago, he started looking at “what happens when we look at things from another angle, with another eye?”

Bart Vanderhaegen

After quitting his consultancy job, Bart Vanderhaegen became an entrepreneur and Founder of “Pactify”: a new philosophy, methodology and software to organize work for more productivity and satisfaction. Passionate about management, organizations & behavioral sciences; Bart has committed himself to make organizations happier places as well as more productive.

Didier Coeurnelle

Writer of two books regarding questions related to longevity (“Et si on arrêtait de vieillir ! : Réalité, enjeux et perspectives d'une vie en bonne santé beaucoup plus longue”) and technological progress (“Technoprog. Le transhumanisme au service du progrès social”) ; Didier Coeurnelle is a social activist, member of the ecological movement for more than 25 years, especially working on the redistribution questions and the “bright green” aspects (conviction that the convergence of technological change and social innovation is useful to sustainable development). His interest in technoprogressist questions, especially those related to a longer and healthier life and to existential risks made him spokesperson of the organization "Association Française Transhumaniste Technoprog" and co-chair of the organization Heales (Healthy Life Extension Society).

Didier Schmitt

PhD in immuno-pharmacology and an MD degree, Didier Schmitt was principal investigator for a variety of scientific experiments which were performed in extreme environments such as on the Russian Mir space station, the US space Shuttle (Spacelab program), or long-term experimental an operational confinement such as Antarctic winter-over. In 2009, when seconded to the European Commission, he worked on space policy and then became scientific adviser and foresight coordinator in the Chief Scientific Advisor's Office and in the Bureau of European Policy Advisers to the President of the European Commission. Currently at the European External Action Service, he is dealing with space diplomacy, security and defense matters. As a regular opinion writer on societal issues related to technology in top French newspapers, he published a book about “fiction science”, namely how will society be transformed by pushing the boundaries of current technology trends to the limits of what one can imagine.

Hervé Loka Sombo

Hervé Loka Sombo is a dancer, choreographer and teacher. His approach of contemporary dance is intense and filled with meaning. He has a classical and contemporary training from the Beaux-Arts Academy, Brussels after which he worked in 3 different companies : ZASSII, Transe - En - Danse & Contre - Tendance where he perfected his Hip-Hop, contemporary, afro-contemporary, jazz and afro-jazz skills

Kathleen Richardson

Kathleen Richardson is Senior Research Fellow in Ethics of Robotics and part of the Europe-wide DREAM project (Development of Robot-Enhance Therapy for Children with AutisM). Kathleen completed her PhD at the Department of Anthropology, University of Cambridge. Her fieldwork was an investigation of the making of robots in labs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Kathleen's postdoctoral work was an investigation into the therapeutic uses of robots for children with autism spectrum conditions. In 2013, she was part of the Digital Bridges Project, an innovative AHRC funded technology and arts collaboration between Watford Palace Theatre and the University of Cambridge. Kathleen’s first manuscript on robots is “An Anthropology of Robots and AI: Annihilation Anxiety and Machines”. She is now working on her second manuscript exploring metaphors of machines, robots, computing, social networking and autism spectrum conditions.

Nicole Dewandre

Nicole Dewandre studied Engineering (applied physics), operations research, economics and philosophy. After working more than 30 years at the European institution, she is still an out-of-the-box thinker who loves to focus on the human side and societal aspects of European policies. In 2002, a turning point for her, she published a book "critique de la raison administrative" when she discovered the strength of pragmatism and got more than inspired by the work of Hannah Arendt. Nicole is also a feminist since she was in charge of the promotion of gender equality in European research.

Ruth Daniel

In parts of the world torn asunder by war, the social importance of creativity and artistic expression doesn't diminish – in fact, it becomes even more critical. Ruth Daniel has not only realized this truth, but she has also played a fundamental role in ensuring that creative expression in conflict zones is promoted, protected, and fostered. Ruth is the co-director of In Place of War, an organization based at the University of Manchester that aims to bolster artists and creative communities situated in places of conflict and war. Ruth has spent the last several years traveling and forming partnerships with grassroots creative movements in more than 40 countries.

Think Nguyen

Think Nguyen is a sleight of hands artist. Interested in the art of magic since his young age. In the process, he thinks that magic has a huge impact on how he perceive the world and what people consider as impossible.

William Boeva

William Boeva is a 26 year old stand up comedian. He gave up his law studies in Antwerp, Belgium for a career as a comedian. Instead of searching flaws in legislative texts, he has been searching for flaws in his own life and in our society for the past 6 years. He discovered in 2010 that doing comedy and making people laugh was his life. "In every joke there is a new way of seeing things that you did not think of until you heard the joke." - William Boeva