Theme: Being Human

In an era synonymous with exponential technological growth we’re more anxious and disconnected than ever before. Polarised politics and an ambiguous future have created “us vs. them” mindsets with young people left feeling their dreams have been stolen.

As the second decade of the 21st century draws to a close it’s time to reconnect with each other, celebrate our successes, reflect on our failures and take strides towards a better world. The more the world around us changes, the more relevant discussions about us as humans become.

It’s time to unapologetically celebrate Being Human.

University of Lincoln
Brayford Pool
Lincoln, Lincolnshire, LN6 7TS
United Kingdom

Annie Bocock

Blogger & Mental Health Campaigner

Annie Bocock is a passionate mental health advocate from Lincoln. After failing her second year at university due to a variety of mental health problems, she has decided to take a break from study to develop herself within work, therapy and other pursuits before hopefully starting a new course within International Development next year. One of those pursuits is within her role as a Press Ambassador for the UK’s leading student mental health charity, Student Minds. She has been able to share a variety of her experiences in the Guardian, BBC Bitesize, the Times Higher Education blog and the Student Minds blog. She hopes that her stories will enable others to reflect on their mental health, that her advice helps students navigate university life better than she did and that she will help spark a much needed drive for universities to provide consistently better mental health support for their students.

Charlie Gaultieri

Artist & Writer

Charlie (they/them) is a non-binary freelance editor based in Lincoln. They have a degree in English from the University of Lincoln and a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Sheffield. They have run and participated in multiple art organisations and collectives across the years, and are currently co-running Art Isn’t Sexy, an organisation that aims to helps art and artists thrive in Lincoln, providing consultation and getting the right people in the room. Charlie themselves is a poet and writer, their current project is trans portrait poetry, a type of poetry where one focuses on an individual and attempts to capture a part of them.

Jo Tolley

Poet & Disability Activist

Jo Tolley is a writer, public-speaker and advocate. Although it might seem like it, she’s not an advocate of disability, but of integration, authenticity and creativity - She just happens to use what she knows to do what she does. Jo has always believed that nobody chooses the cards they’re dealt in life. However, it wasn’t until recently she realised what that actually means. We’re all unique, we all have the right to be accepted and heard, but it’s our responsibility to bring our stories into fruition. Now Jo lives by the mantra that we all have the capability and potential to use those cards to win the game. She endeavours to utilise her perspective to spread the word of how liberating it is to be unashamedly, unconventionally different. She’s a little over a year into this epiphany and she’s still a work in progress.

Jordan Shaw

Student & Entrepreneur

Jordan Shaw is 21 years old and a student at the Bishop Grosseteste University studying Team Entrepreneurship; A newly introduced model of education that has enabled his transformation through coaching. Throughout his life so far, he has grown up around addiction. Jordan experienced it himself and has overcome his own self-destructive tendencies along the way. Trauma and hard times are a given in life. The more Jordan grows up, the more people he meets, the more he understand that individuals are hurting. Jordan want others to know they can make it out by themselves if they can become dependent on themselves.

Maisie Thomson-Whitehouse

Student, Historian & Campaigner

16-year-old Maisie Thomson-Whitehouse is a self-confessed book-loving geek and knowledge seeker who loves nothing more than to head up a good cause whether it be through campaigning, fundraising or leadership. Maisie is proud to support a national homeless charity and cancer charities. At the age of 10 Maisie ran a successful campaign to keep her local library open. She is currently campaigning for a Blue Plaque to be placed on the former home of Katherine Swynford. Maisie firmly believes in girl power and demonstrates her leadership skills through volunteering as a Young Leader for both Brownies and Scouts in addition to being a librarian and a member of her school council. Maisie will demonstrate through her talk that, seeking leads to knowledge, knowledge leads to strength and strength gives you the power to stand up for what you believe in. Maisie spends her free time baking, and of course reading.

Nathan Emberton

Student & Mental Health Campaigner

Nathan Emberton was born and raised in Boston. An avid business student, he has developed a keen awareness of the necessity of good mental health through his own experience. His experiences and the experience of those around him have developed a passion for helping those with mental health conditions, particularly those with depression and anxiety. Through helping and his own recovery, Nathan unintentionally found a pathway into prevention and early awareness of mental health conditions in the form of poetry. Nathan is now researching and working towards making this a mainstream way of establishing resilience and awareness from early childhood years onward in the form of children's books, shining a light on the subject of mental health in a much more age-appropriate delivery.

Sophie Lavender

Stand-up Comedian, Photographer & Filmmaker

Sophie Lavender is a professional photographer, film maker and a stand-up comedian. She has a background in media production, marketing, and performing arts having gone to Stage Coach Theatre school. Born and raised in York, she moved to Lincolnshire to start a new life. Shortly before moving to Lincolnshire Sophie was diagnosed with Aspergers (Autistic Spectrum) and in February 2019, was diagnosed with ADHD. When she’s not behind a camera or on stage she loves travelling and exploring the world. Her latest project was a feature length film on Steampunk culture, which was a big hit at the world’s biggest steampunk festival, Weekend at The Asylum. Sophie believe life is all about learning, growing, and exploring new things, and most importantly, loving each other. Libra sun, cancer moon, and Gemini rising. Witty Ravenclaw and token Lesbian.