Theme: Beyond the Future

A live event featuring an array of student and adult speakers spreading ideas on a variety of topics to an international school community audience.

Australian International School
1 Lorong Chuan
Singapore, North East, 556818
Singapore

Aryan Shresth

Year 12 Student Australian International School, Singapore

Aryan Shresth is an Indian-born Australian with a British accent; an accent that has he has developed despite a lack of contact with any British person. Thus, he quite obviously had to plunge himself into the co-curricular activity of Model United Nations (MUN), in order to mesmerise fellow delegates with his golden voice. As a Year 12 student, about to embark on the next chapter of life’s journey, Aryan is very passionate about instilling global citizenship within fellow members of society, and believes that MUN is a wonderful tool that is invaluable to the vision of a brighter future. His recent role at an international SEASAC MUN as France in the Security Council allowed him to gain a better view of the many problems that are strangling our society in a dividing world, and he seeks to illuminate us in how he believes these challenges can be faced and solved.

Chng Kai Jin

Past General Manager- Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Chng Kai Jin, former General Manager of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and accomplished pianist, has extensive experience in the music industry in Singapore. He became General Manager of the SSO in 2004, and within his 11 years there, he revolutionised many Singaporean’s perspective of orchestral music concerts and the Western symphony orchestra. Kai Jin believes the the Western symphony orchestra encompasses not just centuries of music by composers from many different countries, it also reflects the city, country and society in which it is located. With 20 years’ experience, he hopes to inform young people about the intricacies of orchestral music, ranging from the function of a conductor to the daily operation and fund raising of an orchestra.

Deeya Bajaj

Adventurer

Deeya Bajaj is a 24-year-old Natural Resources graduate from Cornell University, and has been surrounded by the excitement of adventure tourism since her childhood. Accompanying her father in various adventurous expedition from a very young age until now, such as trekking the highest peak in Europe, Mount Elbrus, skiing across the Greenland ice-sheet, and most recently, scaling Mount Everest, had led here to inherit and develop a wealth of skills required for mountaineering and other adventure sports, along with the required passion and vigour needed to succeed in any walk of life. In "The Spirit Of Adventure" Deeya Bajaj talks about changing perspectives about women in India using her experiences skiing across the Greenland Icecap and climbing Mt. Everest.

DJ Kim

Year 12 Student, Australian International School

Dong Ju Kim is a Korean student who has studied at the Australian International School for 9 years. His love of listening to people’s backgrounds and experiences have guided him towards realising his dream job – that of a psychiatrist. He has always been interested in the philosophical questions that look at ‘Life and Death’, and his habits of questions ‘Why?’ and ‘How?’ towards every piece of knowledge have made him think more profoundly about the core questions of life and happiness. Through constant curiosity and reflection, DJ has constructed his own perspective on the link that exists between life, death, and happiness. When he is not thinking about the fundamental questions of life, he is interested in knowing more about how mental illnesses affect a person’s life.

Elyse Barg

Year 10 Student, Australian International School

Elyse Barg is a high-school student with an insatiable sense of curiosity and a solid internet connection. Growing up between her hometown of Sydney and the transient international community in Singapore, Elyse has seen firsthand how small decisions have big implications and has learned that no concept can be fully understood in isolation. She holds a firm belief that economic inequality is one of the biggest divisions in our world today, preventing marginalised communities from achieving their full potential and amplifying the struggles against gender and race-based discrimination. This belief has fuelled her passion for learning about the world of economics and inspired her to enable and promote financial literacy. A thriving school community and a loving family have encouraged her to make the most of the opportunities given to her. She hopes that she can continue to pursue these objectives in the years to come and make a tangible difference for the communities that she will serve.

Jonothan Ooi

Year 11 Student, Australian International School

Jon is a Year 11 student from the Australian International School, Singapore. He has been enthusiastically involved in many aspects of the school, such as his deep involvement in Model United Nations (MUN) since early 2016, and his new role as Head Boy for 2019. He is very passionate about helping other students in reaching their personal goals and desires, and does whatever he can to lift them up to greater heights. Recently, Jon has been actively involved in the commencement of new programmes for the aforementioned purpose, and seeks to redefine the method of education that we already know.

Malakai King

Year 6 Student Australian International School, Singapore

Malakai King is an 11 year old Australian, who has never lived in Australia. Malakai was born in Vietnam and currently lives in Singapore with his parents, younger brother, a 17 year old cat and small cheeky dog called Elephant. Malakai enjoys being involved in a variety of school events and encouraging others to join him. As well as swimming, soccer, woodwork and Apple products, he is passionate about humanity’s developing technologies and loved this opportunity to think beyond the future. This TEDx conference has challenged his thinking about artificial intelligence, it’s human-like capabilities and the powerful influence of the past on our present and our future.

Naweed Naqvi

Biologist

Naweed Naqvi obtained his PhD from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (India) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI, Philippines) in 1995. He worked as a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow at IRRI until 1997, when he moved to the Institute of Molecular Agrobiology, Singapore for a postdoctoral stint in eukaryotic cell division. He subsequently started his independent research group at IMA focusing primarily on Fungal Pathogenesis. He joined the Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory as a Senior Scientist in 2002, and serves as an Adjunct Professor at the National University of Singapore