Photojournalist
Alex Kuhni is a photo journalist and lecturer at the School of Visual Arts in Berne. His camera has been mainly pointed at conflicts and wars in the Middle East and Asia. His photoseries about the war against ISIS in Iraq in the Tagesanzeiger won the Swiss Press Photo Award in 2018 for the category 'World'. He loves the Aare on level Elfenau.
Dancer
Cameleon Danse is a Bernese dance company founded by Sabrina Jud and Annick Uldry in 2014. Cameleon Danse combines urban, modern and contemporary dance and broaches societal questions through multidisciplinary dance productions whereby dancers from various dance styles and generations are brought together on stage. In addition to full productions, the company also performs short dance pieces and offers dance workshops.
Journalist
Daniel Puntas Bernet was born in Berne. His career spanned foreign exchange trading, tennis management, hitch-hiking in South America, wine making, taxi-tango dancing, pizza making, German teaching and eventually journalism. In 2011 he jointly founded the magazine Reportagen. Apart from stories, he is fascinated by the intensity and beauty of natural fragrances such as cow dung, freshly mowed grass, burning wood, sun on the skin and the Aare.
Exonomist
A born-and-bred Bernese from the Oberland Georg studied business administration in Berne, Paris and Tillburg. He is based out of Munich since 2015. Georg Horn used to be a consultant, turned entrepreneur and Co-Founder of ICONSPEAK. For his ideas he was awarded with the Young Entrepreneur prize from the Bernese Business-Creation-Workshop. He would love to have magical abilities to playfully deal with abundance and scarcity of global resources.
Engineer & Cell Expert
Janick Stucki grew up in the Emmental and attended the Gymnasium in Burgdorf. He studied mechanical engineering sciences at the ETH Zurich and did his doctorate in biomedical engineering in the Organs-on-Chip Technologies Group of the ARTORG Center, which is the Institute for Biomedical Engineering at the University of Berne. Today, he works as Development Leader for the Startup AlveoliX.
Religion-Psychologist
Dr. Jessica Lampe grew up in the USA and came to Berne through her doctorate and research in animal behaviour. Since February 2018 she is a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute for Practical Theology at the University of Berne and researches religious conflicts and management strategies from a pyschology of religion perspective. She was highlighted by Forbes as one of the 30 under 30 German-speaking pioneers.
Musician & Neon Queen
Jessica Plattner a.k.a Jessiquoi is an Australian/Swiss producer based in Berne. Over the last few years she has made a name for herself in the Swiss club and electronic scene through her energetic live shows and original music, which is characterised by hard base lines, sweet vocals, audacious rap and strong influences from Asia. She recently won 'Best Electronic' and 'Demo of the Year' at the Demotape Clinic at the M4Music Festival in Zurich. Her debut album is set to be released this autumn.
Jonas Schäfer
Digital Natives & Young Innovators
The 18 year old Maria Fanger is the youngest person taking the stage at TEDxBern. She has finished her matriculation at the Gymnasium Neufeld and will spend this year gaining some professional experiences, traveling and working on personal projects. Jonas Schafer, 20, has finished his apprenticeship as a merchant and is currently in the process of finishing the two-year professional matriculation. In addition to his studies, he works in an union on organizational development.
Astrophysicist
he Singaporean Kevin Heng is a Professor for Astronomy and Planetary Physics at the University of Berne and Director for the Centre for Space and Habitability (CSH). He writes columns for the American Scientist Magazin and has written a textbook about the Atmospheres of Exoplanets. In order to observe these planets closer-up, he would love to be able to travel faster than light.
Maria Fanger
Digital Natives & Young Innovators
The 18 year old Maria Fanger is the youngest person taking the stage at TEDxBern. She has finished her matriculation at the Gymnasium Neufeld and will spend this year gaining some professional experiences, traveling and working on personal projects. Jonas Schafer, 20, has finished his apprenticeship as a merchant and is currently in the process of finishing the two-year professional matriculation. In addition to his studies, he works in an union on organizational development.
Journalist & Bestselling Author
Over the past twenty years, the born and bred Bernese Mathias Morgenthaler has given over a thousand interviews on the topic of career and vocation. His Portraits appear weekly in four Swiss newspapers. In addition to Morgenthalers journalistic engagement as business editor at Tamedia, he is also the owner of Wortwirkung GmbH and author of multiple best sellers. In his free time he loves watching the Aare from the Rosegarden - or watching the skies from the Aare.
Machine Engineer & Alpinist
Nicolas Hojac learned about his love of mountains during his language study trip to the Val de Ferret. Only 18 years old he climbed the Eiger North face for the first time. In 2015, Ueli Steck and Nicola achieved a team speed record of 3 hours and 46 minutes. The Bernese is interested in farflung/remote mountain ranges of this earth and tries to advance where others have failed or where nobody has had the idea to attempt it yet.
Nina Gassmann
Rescuer & Activist
Two years ago Nina Gassmann, now 21 years old, started working with refugees. In Greece, she had her first experiences with Search and Rescue services. Since then, Nina has been working for various rescue services in Greece, Malta and on the libyan coast as rescuer, swimming instructor or translator. If she could choose a superpower, it would be the ability to fly like a bird.
Dancer
Cameleon Danse is a Bernese dance company founded by Sabrina Jud and Annick Uldry in 2014. Cameleon Danse combines urban, modern and contemporary dance and broaches societal questions through multidisciplinary dance productions whereby dancers from various dance styles and generations are brought together on stage. In addition to full productions, the company also performs short dance pieces and offers dance workshops.
Dancer
Cameleon Danse is a Bernese dance company founded by Sabrina Jud and Annick Uldry in 2014. Cameleon Danse combines urban, modern and contemporary dance and broaches societal questions through multidisciplinary dance productions whereby dancers from various dance styles and generations are brought together on stage. In addition to full productions, the company also performs short dance pieces and offers dance workshops.
Dancer
Cameleon Danse is a Bernese dance company founded by Sabrina Jud and Annick Uldry in 2014. Cameleon Danse combines urban, modern and contemporary dance and broaches societal questions through multidisciplinary dance productions whereby dancers from various dance styles and generations are brought together on stage. In addition to full productions, the company also performs short dance pieces and offers dance workshops.
Pianist
tephanie Szanto, born and bred in Burgdorf, studied classical singing, Jazz and composition at the University of Arts in Bern and Lucerne. The pianist Simon Bucher also studied at the University of Arts in Berne and Zurich. In 2014 Stephanie and Simon founded the duo Petting goes Classic, which has been on a road to success ever since. In addition to their shared love for music, they share a fascination for dwarf ponies.
Mezzo-soprano
Stephanie Szanto, born and bred in Burgdorf, studied classical singing, Jazz and composition at the University of Arts in Bern and Lucerne. The pianist Simon Bucher also studied at the University of Arts in Berne and Zurich. In 2014 Stephanie and Simon founded the duo Petting goes Classic, which has been on a road to success ever since. In addition to their shared love for music, they share a fascination for dwarf ponies.
Mathematician & Game Creator
Urs Hostettler managed to establish a play-culture in Berne. He co-founded the Bernese Drachennäscht and the publisher Fata Morgana through which he also published the game Tichu amongst others. The mathematician organises mystery-weekends which include theatre, criminology, puzzles based on logical reasoning and deduction, satire and improvisation. He often likes to retreat from the capital city to enjoy his leisure time on the Lake Murten.
Minimalist
Despite growing up in the mountains, Zippora Marti opened her eyes to the beauty of the world only three years ago. Since then, she is eagerly and passionately advocating for sustainable development in various areas. This passion was sparked through her work in the textile industry and its deficits. She knows that not only her, but everyone can be part of the solution and she challenges herself anew on this topic often. She writes about her experiences in her blog.