Theme: Change From Within

TEDxUtrechtUniversity is back for our fourth year. Our theme for the 2016 event is Change From Within - within society, within Utrecht, within ourselves. How are things changing, and how can we make things change for the better?

Domplein 29
Utrecht, Utrecht, 3512 JE Utrecht
Netherlands

Dirk-Jan Koch

Dirk Jan Koch is a diplomat, writer and social scientist and is highly committed to a world in which natural resources are exploited and used in a sustainable way. Before rejoining the Ministry of Foreign affairs, he served as Search for Common Ground’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa, based in the DRC. He oversaw more than 200 staff and conflict resolution programs in Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Nigeria, the Central African Republic, the DRC and Angola. He started his career as a diplomat and policy advisor at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was based in the Hague and in the DRC, where he focused amongst others on the linkages between conflict and the exploitation of gold and diamonds. Next to being an author of several respected books, articles, and working papers focusing on natural resources, international development and diplomacy, he has been a part ­time professor at the Catholic University of Kinshasa.

Hinze Hogendoorn

Hinze Hogendoorn is an assistant professor at the department of Experimental Psychology (Faculty of Social Sciences) at Utrecht University. His research interests lie in the temporal aspects of perception, particularly vision.

Marius Hordijk

Marius graduated from University College Utrecht in 2005, majoring in Social Sciences. The youngest of three brothers, he grew up in a small town close to Amersfoort. He went to high school there (both Havo and VWO), and then moved to beautiful Utrecht to study at UCU. During his exchange program to Stellenbosch, South Africa, he was discovered as a fashion model. In that moment he went from a hitch­hiking, backpacking student to being a model, and for the past ten years he has done photo shoots, TV commercials, and fashion shows, in over fifteen countries. He has also been lucky enough to have lived in New York and Italy because of the job. Although the traveling and experiences through his job have been absolutely amazing, he has always felt a certain sense of ambiguity about it, feeling pressure to somehow justify the choices he has made and the job he has.

Neda Eneva

As a storyteller and passionate writer, Neda has always had a knack for seeing the unobservable and questioning the status quo. With a vivid imagination and not being afraid to live a life of contrasts, she always strives to look at the world from new and unexplored angles. Having lived in the Netherlands now for almost 10 years, having gone through professional experiences that range from political organizations, development and sustainability projects, to international and local NGOs, artistic and political platforms, one thing has always remained the unchanged inherent motivator in her search for one’s purpose in life.

Pim Scholte

Pim Scholte is a psychiatrist who worked with various aid organizations in (post­) conflict regions such as Kashmir, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Gaza strip, Congo, Rwanda, Darfur and Sierra Leone. He has been affiliated with the Academic Medical Center of the University of Amsterdam for his entire career. He was one of the founding board members of the Transcultural Psychiatry Section of the Dutch Psychiatric Association. For Doctors Without Borders Holland he was a board member for 12 years, during which he played an initiating and advisory role in mental health programming. He is the Chair of Antares Foundation, an agency promoting staff support and care in humanitarian and developmental organizations. He is the founding director of Equator Foundation, which promotes a combined approach to mental health and social bonding. Pim Scholte is the (co­) author of various scientific studies on mental health and aid provision in post­conflict regions.

Soukeyna Gueye

Soukeyna's first encounter with the concept of the circular economy was during her internship at Royal Haskoning DHV, where she investigated how the plastic industry in the Netherlands can be made more circular. She became intrigued and passionate about the subject and decided to make it her mission to make the circular economy a reality. She believes this is the only way to make our world truly sustainable. This past year she worked at MVO Nederland; their mission is to make the Netherlands a world example of a circular and inclusive economy.