TEDxKeeleUniversity is the first independently organised TEDx event at Keele University, dedicated to sharing “ideas worth spreading.”

Keele Hall
Keele Hall
Keele University
Keele, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG
United Kingdom

Undertone

Musical duo

Mirror Signal (aka Steven Barker) is a third year student at Keele University. Having had radio support from the likes of Jamie Cullum, Gilles Peterson and Huw Stephens, and played at festival such as Reading and Leeds and Latitude; 22 year old Steven will be giving an insight into his creative process and what he values in songwriting and lyricism. Imi Agboaye is also a second year student at Keele. Raised in a rich gospel environment, Imi’s piano playing is instantly gripping and awe-inspiring. Also an avid writer, Imi performs and discusses his music, and how and why he does what he does.

Amelia Womack

Deputy Leader, The Green Party of England and Wales

Amelia Womack: Amelia Womack is one of two deputy leaders of the Green Party of England and Wales and Co-Chair of the Greens for Europe campaign. At the age of 31, Amelia is the youngest deputy leader of any UK political party, and was elected aged 29 while still a member of the Young Greens. She is committed to youth engagement, and making young peoples’ voices heard both in politics and within the Green Party. Amelia stood as the Green Party’s Parliamentary Candidate for Camberwell and Peckham in 2015, and received 10.1% of the vote – more than triple the party’s 2010 vote share. Amelia is originally from Newport and now lives in Cardiff. She holds a BSc in Environmental Biology and an MSc in Environmental Technology, and in her 8 years of Green Party activism has campaigned on issues such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the housing crisis.

James Tartaglia

Lecturer, Philosophy

James Tartaglia is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Keele University, and the author of various works in metaphysics and the philosophy of mind; his latest book is Philosophy in a Meaningless Life: A System of Nihilism, Consciousness and Reality (Bloomsbury 2016). Jazz-Philosophy Fusion, his own conception, is designed to express the emotional significance of philosophical ideas, and thereby provide new inspiration to jazz music. He has explored this concept on three previous albums (A Free Jazz Treatise, 2002; Dark Metaphysic, 2008; Kooky Steps, 2014), but his new album by the band Continuum of Selves called Jazz-Philosophy Fusion (2016) is the first full-scale, dedicated work.

Jim Dickinson

Chief Executive, Union of UEA Students

Jim Dickinson FRSA is the Chief Executive at the Students’ Union at UEA in Norwich. As such he acts as the Chief of Staff on behalf of the elected student officers of the students’ union, providing strategic leadership and direction for the union’s charitable and commercial vehicles. Jim is former long standing Director at the National Union of Students, where he led on Students’ Union Development, Campaigns and Political Strategy, Student Engagement and Governance. Jim has served as a Governor in both Further and Higher Education and the voluntary sector, and is a regular contributor to the Leadership Foundation’s Governor Development Programme. He edits changesu.org, a website for Senior Managers in Students’ Unions and is a regular contributor on student issues to wonkhe.com, the home of Higher Education wonks. He’s also an obsessive fan of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Karl Greenwood

Project Director, Appetite Stoke

Karl Greenwood: Karl Greenwood has been Project Director of Appetite since 2013. Appetite is the Creative People and Places programme in Stoke-on-Trent that is getting more people to experience and be inspired by the arts. Following 3 years at Ernst & Young, Karl joined arts organisation, Multistory, in 2007. At Multistory, Karl managed artist residencies, action research and artist development programmes and a wide range of art projects across a variety of settings. These programmes included Small Change, Beyond Bricks and the artist development programme, Longhouse. Karl was then appointed Project Director at Appetite and in three years the programme has reached over 366,000 audience members and developed over 660 events and activities, inspiring people who would not ordinarily engage in the arts to take part. Karl has managed a large series of art events in non-traditional art venues from high streets to hospitals to increase accessibility to the arts.

Sharon George

Lecturer, Environmental Sustainability and Green Technology

Sharon George is a researcher, lecturer and the Faculty of Natural Sciences Postgraduate Taught Director at Keele University. She grew up in Stoke-on-Trent in the 1970s and helped run a family manufacturing business then her own business until she entered further education and higher education in 1995 as a single parent and mature student. She completed an honours degree at Keele University in 2000 in Biology and Chemistry and went on to complete a PhD in chemistry at Ceram Research within the glass and refractories industry in 2004. As the Business & Enterprise Manager at Keele until 2008 she specialised in technology transfer. She went on to develop her own innovation development and training company, NovaSci Ltd. She returned to Keele in 2010 to run the MSc in Environmental Sustainability and Green Technology and to establish and run Keele’s Sustainability Hub, a busy public engagement and teaching facility.