Theme: TEDxLeicester: Fast Forward

Human progress has led us to being the most advanced animal on the planet, colonising continents, building civilisations, creating technologies and systems which allow us to connect and work collectively in our continual endeavours to thrive as a species. Our population is booming, our tools are sophisticated, our global connectivity exceeds anything that has gone before. But to what end? Where are we heading? Are we failing to learn from the past? Are we doing enough to address the challenges we face?

Our TEDxLeicester Conference 2019, Fast Forward, will bring together speakers and performers who will share their knowledge, stories and ideas about our progress; what we can take from our history and understand about our present as we launch ourselves into an unknown future. We’ll hear from people with a whole range of backgrounds and a hugely diverse worldview who will inspire and excite.

Come to be a part of a day that will engage you in conversation; leave feeling energised and imagining a better future. Connect with hundreds of other delegates throughout a full-day event in the heart of the city. Our venue for the day, The Y Theatre, is the oldest performance venue in Leicester and we’ll be using its stage to tell #IdeasWorthSharing. Join us for what promises to be a unique event for Leicester in 2019.

Y Theatre
7 East Street
Leicester, Leicestershire, LE1 6EY
United Kingdom

Akshay Sharma

Changemaker

Popularly known as Mr Shay, Akshay Sharma is a poet, producer and loop pedal artist from Leicester, who fell into the music scene after he was noticed creating live beats on a small stage using his mouth as his instrument. Mr Shay produces his own music; ranging from UK Hip Hop to Trap by fusing beat-box and freestyle rap/poetry, and often touches on topics relating to young people and the community. He has performed at various festivals and shows around the UK and regularly hosts local music events. Through his social enterprise, The Underground Creatives, Shay offers a distinct and uplifting sound for community music projects to engage teenagers and young adults facing various social barriers.

Alex Ruhl

Filmmaker

Alex Ruhl (The Drum 50 Under 30) is an award-winning Virtual Reality filmmaker who delights in using VRs as the new way of expression. Alex won the Pioneers of Immersive Realities Awards for 2018 for her work in the space and she advises companies and brands about the creative process behind VRs, as well as the behaviours of the audiences who experience it. Her company CATS are not PEAS is an immersive storytelling studio specialising in virtual reality projects. She is the curator for Phoenix Leicester’s VR cinema strand supported by the BFI and has co-created the I Experience VR programme. Alex has partnered with LOROS Hospice to bring Virtual Reality to patients nearing the end of life. She will be speaking globally on the topic of Next Generation storytelling and the potential impact VR will have across all sectors.

Dr Allan Hayes

Champion

After a career in Mathematics (PhD Cambridge, MIT, Purdue University and The University of Leicester, followed by work with Wolfram Research, makers of Mathematica), Allan has devoted himself to bringing people, religions and science together. He’s served nationally on the boards of Humanists UK, The Sea of Faith Network, and All Faiths and None; and locally as President of Leicester Secular Society. In 2015 he founded TEDxLeicester. At 86 he’s a member of the Leicester Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education, and particularly looks forward to meeting young people, both as a School Speaker for Humanists UK and as a member of the St. Philips Travelling Roadshow for Faith and Belief. He finds the diversity of Leicester stimulating and rewarding, and campaigns for replacing Religious Education in schools with a national course on humanity and learning how to live well together.

Dr Jessica Ocampos

Innovator

Dr Jessica Ocampos is co-founder and CEO of Camnexus; start-up of the University of Cambridge and technology transfer platform that responds to global challenges for sustainable development through digitalisation and smart transformation in key productive sectors. She is also a senior consultant in innovation and technology transfer for the International Outreach Programme of Cambridge Enterprise and an expert research fellow in innovation policy and governance at the Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Governance (C-EENRG) at the University of Cambridge Her solution; Camnexus-IoT© is a response to her motivation to bridge the gap between developing and developed regions, providing inclusive connectivity and data with sense. Dr Jessica Ocampos holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cambridge, a degree in Biotechnology Engineering from the University of Chile, and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Chile.

Johan Adda

Designer

Johan Adda is a product, app and service designer with over a decade spent on mobile. His last app was featured seven times in the Apple and Google stores. Previous to that, he was Lead Designer for Apple, working on iAd, Apple Pay and Marcom. Johan is a recognised expert, innovator and contributor in product experience. He developed with a British animatronic expert, a beautiful flower robot. He recently founded a company that make toys from ocean plastic for kids under the age of six to increase their imagination, and save the planet of plastic waste.

Rabiha Hannan

Leader

Rabiha is a troublemaker. Her general direction in life, has been to stir things up and cause mayhem wherever possible. She co-founded New Horizons in British Islam, a forward-looking organisation that engages in critical discussions around Muslim identity and reform to challenge Muslims to think critically about the big issues of our times. She co-edited the book ‘Islam and the Veil’ and regularly appears on various BBC local and national radio programmes. Rabiha won an Award from the Christian Muslim Forum for her work in Interfaith Relations and was finalist for ‘Muslim of the year’ Award at the British Muslim Awards. She co-founded ‘Dine@Mine’ to encourage people from different backgrounds to meet over food and ‘Eat’n’meet’ to support the homeless of Leicester. She trained as a Clinical Pharmacist and holds an MA in Muslim Community Studies and amongst other local positions, chaired the ‘Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education’ (SACRE).

Rekesh Chauhan

Pianist Composer

Rekesh Chauhan is a British Indian pianist and a composer. He began his training in western classical music on both the guitar and piano and later went on to study Indian classical music. Rekesh was awarded the Young Musician of the Year 2018 at the NIAA Southbank Centre awards, London and is the recipient of the Eastern Electronic Festival Prize and Alumni of the Year 2019 award from the University of Leicester. His collaborations include Mercury Prize award-winner Talvin Singh OBE Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Hans Raj Hans to name a few and has supported MOBO award-winning jazz pianist Zoe Rahman. He is a featured introducing artist on BBC radio and has performed with his own ensembles in arenas to over 60,000 people. Rekesh's critically acclaimed debut album, 'Beyond Roots' (featuring BBC Symphony Orchestra violinist virtuoso, John Garner), won him spectacular praise from tabloid press to prime-time radio play.

Shruti Chauhan

Poet

Words have power, and Shruti Chauhan actualises that power through her words. Shruti Chauhan is a British Indian poet and performer from Leicester, who has performed on several occasions on a wide range of topics in different parts of the world. She has performed at Royal Albert Hall, Southbank Centre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Rich Mix, the US Embassy’s American Centre in New Delhi, the Green Mill in Chicago and widely across the UK. In 2015, she toured Three the Hard Way – Part 2 with Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze MBE and Lydia Towsey. In 2018, Shruti was voted the Best Spoken-word Performer at Saboteur Awards and won the National Poetry Library's Instapoetry competition that same year. Shruti also wrote the song lyrics for the BBC Four documentary, My Asian Family – The Musical (2018), directed by the BAFTA award-winning Brian Hill as part of the BBC's Big British Asian Summer season. Her pamphlet, That Which Can Be Heard, is published with Burning Eye Books.

Sophie Hainsworth

Entrepreneur

Sophie Hainsworth is an entrepreneur and co-founder of LoyalFree; a company designed to boost high street footfall for businesses in towns and cities throughout the UK. Just last year, Sophie’s company, LoyalFree won an award within the ‘Business Improvement Through Technology’ category at the East Midlands Chamber Awards. Sophie was crowned ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ at the Leicester Mercury Women in Business Awards that same year.

Tor Clark

Associate Professor in Journalism

Tor Clark is Associate Professor in Journalism and programme director of the new Journalism degree at the University of Leicester. Tor entered journalism 30 years ago as a reporter on free newspapers in East Anglia, rising to become editor of Britain’s oldest newspaper, the Rutland & Stamford Mercury. He also edited the Harborough and Lutterworth Mail in south Leicestershire. For the last 15 years Tor has been a regular contributor to BBC Radio Leicester, offering analysis of politics and journalism. As a political journalist Tor has covered every general election since 1992, the last three with BBC Leicester, where he offers analysis on the station’s live all-night election broadcast team. He has co-edited several recent books on journalism and politics, including Brexit, Trump and the Media, published by Abramis in 2017. He has just launched the University of Leicester’s first ever Journalism degree, which will be welcoming its first students in two weeks’ time.

Vimi Joshi

Senior Artist at Mac Cosmetics Middle East

VIMI JOSHI is a self-confessed “global nomad” whose style is infused with a rich and eclectic range of global cultures. She’s also the director of makeup at the Bollywood Oscars (known as the IIFA). Born in Africa, into a traditional Indian family, she grew up in Leicester, England before moving to Dubai where she now works as M·A·C Global Senior Artist. Vimi is part of the global beauty trend-setting team, with backstage passes at New York, London, Milan and Paris Fashion Week, working with all the top designers and super models. She also headed a section of the Vancouver Winter Olympics opening ceremony. Vimi infuses this beauty and knowledge, back to the Middle East and bridges the link from global into local. She’s been nominated as one of the most influential people of Dubai and has been on the HOT 100 List 3 times in a row.