Theme: The Unexplored

This year TEDxUniversityofKent is back and is setting its sights on The Unexplored. From the undiscovered to the outright unexpected TEDxUniversityofKent will be putting on a full-day event to showcase a whole host of bright ideas, talks and activities, coinciding with the core values of TED: innovation, illumination, and inspiration. This will take place on the 13th of May where we will be setting up for the third year running here in the Gulbenkian so be sure to get your ticket in advance.

Your ticket will include admission to the full lecture series incorporating a range of multi-disciplined performances exploring the theme, an assortment of interactive projects punctuating the day, as well as a wine reception closing up the evening. This is set to be a remarkable event, and we at TEDxUniversityofKent hope to see you there.

Gulbenkian Theatre
Gulbenkian Theatre
Library Road
Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NB
United Kingdom

Alex Stevens

Professor in Criminal Justice at the University of Kent

Alex Stevens has worked in the field of drug policy since 1991. His current titles include: professor in Criminal Justice at UKC, president of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy, senior editor of the International Journal of Drug Policy and member of the UK’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD). He is the author of a book called Drugs, Crime and Public Health: The Political Economy of Drug Policy, as well as many other journal articles. Most recently, he has carried out research on the prevention of drug-related deaths. In 2016, he co-chaired the ACMD's working group on drug-related deaths and led work on its report, ‘Reducing Opioid-Related Deaths in the UK’.

Alexi Bitsios

3rd year of a Computing BSc at the University of Kent

Alexi Bitsios is currently in his 3rd year of a Computing BSc at the University of Kent, and has 10 years of web development experience, with 7 of those focused on cyber security. Through his experience he has gained a hugely valuable insight into the privacy concerns regarding modern technology, which is something he aims to share with you! Although technology provides some great benefits, the amount of sensitive data generated is a cause for concern. By the end of his talk, he hopes to have shown you some of the dangers, as well as how to protect yourself against them!

Edouard Jacqmin

Traveller

‘Most of us dream about traveling. But many of us believe we can't because of a lack of money.’ Edouard, 24, has travelled in Eastern Europe for 21 days without spending a single cent. One day he just emptied his wallet and hit the road. Crossing 5 different countries, he learned during this incredible adventure 4 lessons we can all apply in our daily lives.

Graysen Hall

Masters degree at the University of Kent, under the School of English

Graysen Hall is a 23 year-old non-binary individual, who is in the process of completing a Masters degree at the UKC in the School of English. Their talk is based on their experiences of living as non-binary and the hardships that are part of that experience. Living under the transgender umbrella, they often feel that their identity is invalidated by others, often from within the transgender community. In today’s talk they aim to educate those who are not aware of non-binary genders and to promote awareness, acceptance and equality.

Juliette Pattinson

Head of School of History at the University of Kent

Dr Juliette Pattinson is Head of the School of History and is a socio-cultural historian of the Second World War. She is particularly interested in the British home front, Vichy France and Nazi Germany, with regards to resistance and collaboration, gender identities and personal testimonies.

Katrine Solvaag

Final year English and American Literature and Creative Writing student

Katrine Lynn Solvaag is a final year (English and American) Literature and Creative Writing student at UKC. In addition to her degree, she too is the president of the campus’s Creative Writing Society, the editor-in-chief of the society’s annual anthology, and the organizer of this year’s annual Full English Festival. Katrine has been performing onstage for almost two years, appearing at a range of locations across Kent, as well as co-hosting Canterbury’s monthly Waterstones Prose Evenings and the online-based Sunday Kitchen Session. Her talk, ‘Searching for the Unknown’, will explore the relation between her discovery of performance poetry as an art form and the rewards which await one who takes a leap into the unknown.

Murray Wilkinson

Children and Young People's (ChYP's) Ministry Adviser

Murray began as a zoologist but left the wonderful world of bats and mole-rats to start a career in youth ministry at a suburban church in Cape Town. Murray has been the Children and Young People’s Ministry Adviser for the Diocese of Canterbury for over six years. In that time, he has developed the Whole Church concept - an ongoing conversation about the place of young people in today’s churches. Murray’s experience of apartheid in South Africa in the late 80s has led him to notice similarities in how youths are treated in today’s churches and consequently he questions whether a campaign is needed to raise our perceptions of this relationship.

Peter Lloyd

PhD candidate at the University of Kent

Peter B Lloyd is a PhD candidate at UKC. He previously studied undergraduate computer science at Cardiff University and philosophy at Oxford. He has published essays on consciousness, and on science fiction—such as The Matrix. His doctoral research is on the use of computational intelligence in map design, but he has a long-standing interest in the nature of consciousness and its embodiment in the physical world. In this talk he proposes that embodying consciousness, and hence morality, in robots is our only hope of avoiding the existential threat posed by merciless psychopathic machines.

Richard Misek

Film-maker and academic

Richard Misek is a film-maker and academic. He was born in Liverpool, educated at Oxford, Harvard, and Warwick Universities, and worked as a video editor in London before completing a PhD at Melbourne University in 2008. His interests include montage and appropriation, cities and space, darkness and light. He is the author of the book Chromatic Cinema: a history of screen colour (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), and his found-footage film Rohmer in Paris (2013) has been exhibited in five continents, receiving widespread critical acclaim. In 2016, he curated ‘Indefinite Visions’ at the Whitechapel Gallery, as a part of his Arts and Humanities Research Council project ‘The Audiovisual Essay’.

Rob Byrne

3rd year Social Sciences student at the University of Kent

Rob Byrne, 23, is a 3rd year Social Sciences student at UKC, Medway. His presentation ‘Are “safe spaces” on campus a threat to freedom of speech?’ problematizes the notion that academia has ever been a ‘safe space’, as well as discusses what this safety constitutes, and looks like in practice. It looks to address the balancing act that universities and student unions engage in as they attempt to secure academic freedom for all, whilst alongside maintaining as much protection for students with marginalized identities as possible, without ignoring, too, and of course, the role the media has played in informing this dialogue.

Timothy Marris

Registered Osteopath

Tim Marris is a registered osteopath from Ashford with 39 years of clinical experience. He is an international lecturer and teacher of ‘Cranial Osteopathy’ and widely respected in his field. From his many years of clinical experience Tim observes that the postures of his patients are reflective of their psychological types; of which, where imbalances occur, mental and physical health issues have habit to arise due to the altered posture of the body and its organs. On the topic of self-remedy: how many people get out of step with time in their thinking?—is the question Tim will endeavour to explore in today’s talk—and how do we become ‘past or future thinkers’?