Theme: Through the Looking Glass

In this age of information and connectivity, we ask our fellow homosapiens - is all that you feel, see, hear or read, real?

You with the slew of life hacks combed from your newsfeed, with the pseudo-facts, with the unchecked stats: It's time to find out - what are you ignorant about and why do you choose to be that way?

Join us this year as our expert speakers reveal to you some of the practical truths behind common misconceptions we have of the world around us. Listen on and allow yourself to see the world you know through a looking glass - without the colour-tinted lens of glamour, materialism, narcissism and luxury.

Nanyang Auditorium
50 Nanyang Avenue
Singapore, North West, 639798
Singapore

Akshobh Giridharadas

Journalist

Akshobh Giridharadas is a business news reporter and producer and has written on a diverse range of topics such as geopolitics, business, technology and sports editorials. His previous endeavors include working at ESPN STAR and FOX networks. He is a Toastmasters public speaker and tweets at @Akshobh

Christopher Cummings

Assistant Professor, Communications Research

Serving as Assistant Professor at NTU’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information, Dr. Cummings’s teaches Strategic Communications, while carrying out research into the critical role that communication plays in decision-making processes in the medical industry. Through his talk, he unravels the magic behind communications, revealing to the audience the coercive trick of communication.

Danny Quah

Economist

Danny Quah is Li Ka Shing Professor of Economics at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Quah served as LSE’s Head of Department for Economics (2006-2009), and Council Member on Malaysia’s National Economic Advisory Council (2009-2011). Quah’s research interests include income inequality, economic growth, and international economic relations. His current long-term research project is on an economic approach to world order, with focus on global power shift and the rise of the east, and models of global power relations.

Irene Gallego Romero

Assistant Professor, Geneticist

Irene Gallego Romero is an Assistant Professor at Nanyang Technological University (Singapore). She’s a human evolutionary biologist. Her research interests include understanding the role of gene regulatory changes in human evolution, human populations’ ability to adapt to extreme conditions, as well as the analysis of heart disease in humans and the great apes.

Jorgen Schlundt

Food Scientist

Jorgen Schlundt has amassed over 30 years of international experience in food safety. He received his Ph.D. from the Royal Veterinary University of Denmark in 1983. He served as the Director of the Department of Food Safety and Zoonoses at the World Health Organization HQ in Geneva from 1999 to 2010. Dr. Schlundt has advocated the lowering of human health risk through effective, science-based action in food production systems.

Okay Barutcu

Water technologist

Turkish-born Okay Barutcu, on the surface, is an accomplished industry leader. A trained electrical and electronics engineer, he describes himself as an “incurable engineer” who envisions a sustainable future by creating solutions in the world’s most critical challenges. Currently, he is at the helm of Grundfos Pumps driving its business growth across Asia Pacific as Senior Vice President for Sales. Barutcu shall explain how water and energy are two interlinked and critical issues, the world has to find sustainable solutions for to help achieve his dream.

Raj Singh

Management Consultant

Raj Singh has 20 years of experience in Human Performance and Organisational Behaviour. He brings hands-on experience in Operations Management, Business Transformation, Management Consultancy and Safety. Through his work with major oil companies over the last 20 years, Raj has interacted with and trained thousands of foreign workers. Today, he wants to convey the hardship and humiliation that these workers have to endure to build a better life for Singaporeans while hoping for a better future for their own families back home.

Yamini Bhaskar

Scientist, Model and Reptile enthusiast

Currently working as the goodwill ambassador for Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and having worked as a Trainer & Presenter at the Wildlife Reserve Singapore Yamini Bhaskar strives at educating people, building respect & care for animals that are unpopular amongst the masses.