Theme: Think Again

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

The Byre Theatre
Abbey St
St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9LA
United Kingdom

Adnan Sarwar

Adnan Sarwar is a former British soldier who served in the Iraq War. On leaving the military, he trained as a bodyguard and worked as a military consultant to film and TV. After a brief period as an actor at the National Theatre he studied to become a writer and won The Bodley Head/Financial Times Essay Prize in 2013 for "British Muslim Soldier". He works for The Economist newspaper as the Community Editor and as a television presenter for the BBC.

Clarissa Trabanino

A self-described “finesser,” Clarissa is a young woman on the road to paving her career in a way that lets her passions define her path. Clarissa graduated last May from Johns Hopkins University, where she spent her time weaving through two separate worlds: research & innovation, and languages & cultures. She found it impossible to separate the two worlds and inevitably found herself unable to commit entirely to one or the other. This led to her involvement in many projects and movements at Hopkins which have helped shape her interests and career. Clarissa currently holds a role as an Account Executive for an AI Cybersecurity company and has helped develop the company’s approach, methodology and expectations for their Brazil market. She continues to strive towards finding innovative ways to implement her background and passion into her career and find a way to make her worlds collide.

Fiona Cooper

Fiona is a 4th year student at University of St Andrews studying International Relations. She was born and raised in Fife, and has since loved all sports, from the day she could walk. However, she had never been that good at them, always receiving the 'best effort' awards, but never actually winning. Fiona was lucky enough to be at one of the few high schools that had a girls rugby team, all five of us. There, she found, that her particular physical and mental qualities were actually of benefit, and this meant she could really excel. From here, continuing rugby at university, enjoying its incredible inclusivity and positivity. The experiences here pushed her on to higher levels, even captaining the Scotland under 20's in 2016, and now playing as part of the Scotland pathway programme. Fiona’s rugby journey continues. However, the male dominated rugby world has traditionally fostered a macho culture, where gender inequality was - and remains - normalised. This still hangs over women's rugby and when you are involved it is hard to miss, and even harder to challenge.

James Rae

Dr James Rae is a climate scientist in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of St Andrews. His research uses the chemistry of sediments, ice, and fossils to reconstruct past climate change. He’s particularly interested in the drivers of the ice ages, the climates of the dinosaurs, and reconstructing CO2 over geological time. Before coming to St Andrews, James held a prestigious NOAA Climate and Global Change fellowship at Caltech, and studied at the Universities of Bristol and Oxford. In 2015, James won the European Geosciences Union Outstanding Young Scientist Award in Biogeochemistry, for his contributions to understanding past climate change and its causes. When not in his lab in the Purdie Building, you can find him running, surfing, or biking in the Scottish great outdoors, and occasionally playing the bagpipes.

Jane Corbin

Jane is a senior correspondent for the BBC’s Panorama, who specialises in foreign affairs, diplomacy and international investigations and is particularly known for her work on security issues, proliferation and the rise of extremism. For the past fourteen years Jane has reported and written about al-Qaeda and ISIS and more recently produced work relating to nuclear proliferation in North Korea. Jane has contributed to 150 documentaries and investigative films, and is a three times winner of the Royal Television Society award, BAFTA winner, and Winner of The Amnesty International award.

Jeff Wilson

Jeff Wilson is a wildlife film director and documentary photographer based in Bristol , UK. Raised in Kenya , he has spent the last 17 years travelling to the most remote corners of the globe to capture untold stories from the wild for the BBC, Discovery Channel, Netflix and Disney, and, in that time, has worked in 65 countries on all seven continents . Jeff’s passion lies in sharing his unwavering excitement of every aspect of the natural world, and takes great pleasure in letting mother nature constantly show him who’s in charge.

Jennifer Brooks

Jennifer is the Global Director of UN Relations for Microsoft Philanthropies. Her personal mission and career are focused on creating a social impact. Whilst, gender diversity, and girls and women inclusion opportunities, are also an important drive of her work. As Director of UN Relations, she is responsible of developing and managing strategic UN partnerships aligned to Microsoft’s commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's). She executes Philanthropies’ programs around Digital Skills, Digital Transformation, Humanitarian Action and advancing systematic sustainable policy change, creating partnership strategies across key UN agencies to drive thought leadership, digital inclusion, providing a social good impact, as well as driving our social good marketing efforts around SDG’s. She is ensuring we are fulfilling the Microsoft Philanthropies mission to advance a future that is for everyone. Jennifer holds a Postgraduate in Public Policies and Poverty Reduction, from St. Andrew’s University and World Bank, and a BA in Social Studies and Education.

Martin Anderson

Dr. Martin Anderson is an ophthalmologist and honorary research fellow in the School of Medicine Global Health Team at the University of St Andrews. His talk will describe the huge challenge of global blindness and deafness and introduce a new, frugal, solar-powered diagnostic tool called the Arclight that is playing an important role in the fight against unnecessary disability.

Milda Zinkus

Milda is an experienced leadership development consultant. She focuses on personal and organisational change--such as coaching individuals to create their own development journey. She supports others from law to industry; corporate life to consultancy; young, free and single to married with kids! At various points, she has also undertaken a re-evaluation of her own life path. Milda is described as: non-judgmental, supportive, straight forward and challenging. She actively creates the best environment for people to explore their life choices--from quiet reflection to fun and laughter. Milda started her career in Human Resources, working for Unilever, Northern Foods and the Royal Bank of Scotland. She has a Masters in Organisational Behaviour from Birkbeck College and a Diploma in Executive Coaching. In her spare time, she sings with the Scottish Chamber Choir and with music projects in the UK and Europe.

Rachel Hall

Rachel holds a BA in English from Cedarville University. She is a second year Master of Fine Arts student at the University of St Andrews with a focus in nonfiction creative writing. Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she grew up in Fairfax, Virginia. Rachel is daughter to Linda, sister to Jim, and wife to Andrew. As a result of having spent her childhood in periodic homelessness, Rachel is currently writing a memoir on the experience of homelessness and economic transience.