Theme: Changing identities

The theme “Changing identities” explores both the ideas of change (mind and body transformations) but also of self-perceptions and identity. In this “Youth” TEDx event we consider the transition from childhood to adulthood but also the difficulties of dealing with multicultural backgrounds which is something that might appeal to our students but also more generally to our increasingly globalized youth. We want to give students the opportunity to explore their own sense of identity, to challenge and reconsider their self-perceptions and to embrace their differences. The talks will provide a lens to examine the motives guiding individual change and will help us articulate the relation between individual and social change. We hope that changing identities might also become a way for our students to change the world through collective action.

Lycée Français de Barcelone
Bosch i Gimpera 6-10
Barcelona, Catalunya (ca), 08034
Spain

Alejandra Botbol

Student at the Lycée Français de Barcelone

Alejandra Botbol is a 16 year old student at the Lycée Français de Barcelone. She is really stubborn —obviously, she is a Taurus— and super perfectionist. She values honesty, loyalty and family. Although Alejandra enjoys all kind of sports, her favorite is tennis. She considers it a way to escape from reality and to blow off steam like when she listens to music. She loves challenges and her dream is to go to Stanford with a tennis scholarship. This is her identity, but as a teenager she feels like she is changing it every day. What if changing your identity could make you see things differently?

Andreu Mas-Colell

Professor of Economics at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra.

Professor of Economics at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. He also taught at Harvard University and at University of California, Berkeley. He served as General Secretary of the European Research Council (2009-2010) and Minister of Economy and Knowledge of the Government of Catalonia (2010-2015). He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and was its President in 1993. He was elected Foreign Associate to the US National Academy of Sciences, Foreign Honorary Member of the American Economic Association and member of the Academia Europaea. He was Sloan Fellow (1978-1980) and Guggenheim Fellow (1985-1986). He chaired the European Economic Association (2006). He was awarded several prizes in Economics and holds several Honoris Causa Doctorates. He was co-author of of the graduate textbook Microeconomic Theory (1994), and has co-authored numerous other works in the field.

Christina Scheppelmann

Artistic Director General at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona

Since 2015, Christina Scheppelmann (Hamburg, 1965) has been the Artistic Director General at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona where she is responsible for programming & casting and overall artistic direction of the company. Prior to that she was the first Director General of the Royal Opera House Muscat (Oman) and Director of Artistic Operations at Washington National Opera in collaboration with General Director Plácido Domingo. In 1994, she was recruited by Lotfi Mansouri to the position af Artistic Administrator at San Francisco Opera, the youngest US artistic administrators at the time. A long time champion of young artists, she has led masterclasses, lectured at artist training programs, and judged vocal competitions around the world.

Eduard Vallory

Chairman of the Center for UNESCO of Catalonia and Founder of the alliance for education change "Escola Nova 21"

Eduard Vallory is a social analyst and an expert in change management. He is the Chairman of the Center for UNESCO of Catalonia and Founder of the alliance for education change "Escola Nova 21". He leads a university program for the professional development of teachers entrusted by the Government of Catalonia. He is Board member of The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST) and of the Institute of Humanities of Barcelona. He has been Director of the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics, Visiting Scholar at New York University, and Research Fellow of Fitzwilliam College at the University of Cambridge. He holds a PhD in Political and Social Sciences (UPF) with a dissertation on “Global Citizenship Education”, an MA in Social Sciences (The University of Chicago) and BA in Philosophy and Journalism (UB/UPF).

Esteve Riambau

Professor of communication science and media studies at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Esteve Riambau is a professor of communication science and media studies at the UAB (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona). He is also since 2010 the director of the Filmoteca de Catalunya ( Catalonian Film Archives). He is a writer, known for the films "La doble vida del faquir" (2005), "Màscares" (2009) and the TV series "La gran il·lusió. Relat intermitent del cinema català" (2019). He has also written 40 books on film history.

Manon Bourdet

Student at the Lycée Français de Barcelone

Manon, 15, is a student at the Lycée Français de Barcelone. She and her family came to Barcelona 8 years ago and her little brother was born here! She has also lived in France and Germany. When she is not travelling and discovering new cultures, Manon enjoys fencing and playing guitar. Last but not least, she is preparing the "First Wings in Aviation" (FWA) diploma, a unic program issued from the French Ministry of Education, that allows students to discover aviation with professional pilots. At the end of the course, she will be performing her first real flight with an instructor. Travel safe, Manon!

Marc Arnau

Student at the Lycée Français de Barcelone

Marc, 18, is a student at the Lycée Français de Barcelone. He enjoys playing and refereeing handball in his spare time. Whenever he can he also fancies attending car and motorbike races. And he is very keen on driving. So sit back and enjoy the ride!

Max Vilanova

Student at the Lycée Français de Barcelone

Max Vilanova is a 16-year-old kid who thinks he is not a kid anymore. He is a guy who likes dancing, moving, screaming and loves doing things that annoy others. He is super positive and always smiling, even when it’s 8 a.m., he is kind of a superhero. But what he is the most, is empathic. But what is empathy? What if national identities didn’t mean anything, and empathy was what could truly define you? What if you could change your identify by being empathic?