Theme: Driving Force

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

Auditorium
Bldg 20 - King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
Thuwal, Makkah, 23955
Saudi Arabia

Ammar Aidaros Al-Sabban

Puppeteer

Ammar Aidaros Al-Sabban is a community member at KAUST who likes to spread joy and knowledge to the world. He uses puppetry and podcasting to learn how to start conversations. In his talk, 26000, Ammar will speak about how he turned his passion into the driving force behind his career.

Baraa Luhaid

Entrepreneur

Baraa Luhaid is a community member and dependent at KAUST. She believes that uncertainty and the need for constant change are key in feeling truly alive. By sharing her very own story of struggles and how she overcame them, Baraa hopes to show others the possibilities and have a positive influence.

Esteban Sanchez-Canepa

Entrepreneur

Esteban Sanchez-Canepa is not only a KAUST alumni, he was also part of the founding class. As a young entrepreneur, he is now part of the KAUST community and will share in is talk ‘Human forces of entrepreneurship’ his ideas on the importance of inherent passion and multiculturality as key elements for success. He believes that his experience on the struggle of finding a purpose in life and how the forces created during that process can be taken beyond entrepreneurship.

Hazen Mahon

Hazen is a recent high school graduate. He played piano for 10 years and achieved a Grade 8 Trinity Certificate of Performance. He intends to continue his studies in Music at a University Level later this year.

Itsikiantsoa Randrianantenaina

Itsikiantsoa received the Engineering Diploma degree from the Institut National des Postes et Telecommunications, Rabat, Morocco, in 2013, and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, in 2015, where she also pursued her PhD degree. Her research interests include full-duplex and NOMA systems, interference management, FogRAN architecture, stochastic geometry and optimization.

Maged Serag

Research Scientist

Research scientist Maged Serag, is going to tell us in his talk on ‘the subtle secret of life’ how fundamental science can transform our lives. He is looking forward to share his ideas with a large audience, where his ambition is to help people to understand the fundamentals of life.

Rúben Martins Da Costa

PhD student

KAUST PhD student Rúben Martins da Costa strives to remove the barriers between researchers and school kids. In his talk ‘every child is a born scientist’ he will share with us his views on the role of scientists on their scientific literacy of children and the general public. Rúben also wants to the image stereotypes of what it means to be a scientist.

Sahika Inal

Assistant Professor

Dr. Inal's research is in the area of bioelectronics. Her research interests cover organic electronic materials and devices that can address research and clinical health monitoring and therapy needs. She is particularly interested in ionic-electronic conduction in organic electronic materials and explores the potential of these materials for recording small biological signals and modulating biological events. She aims to design electronic devices that can efficiently interface with the human body. In her talk ‘Moving out of the comfort zone’ Sahika Inal, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at KAUST, will tell us about what made her move out of her comfort zone and got her to deal with problems that concern people worldwide. She will also show us that there is no genius gene needed to do the same!

Simeng Qiu

Simeng is a graduate student in Visual Computing. Since her early childhood years, she learned violin but had to stop when she entered high school. Later during her graduate studies, she was able to pick it up and continue her musical path. She is especially interested in classical music and is currently participating with the KAUST orchestra performances since 2018. Violin makes her happy, get inspiration and strength, and it helps her have a better sense of study.

Zhuo Qu

Zhuo is a statistics student, who likes classical and Chinese music. She has practiced the piano since a kid and she also likes reading and be involved in the teamwork. For her music and statistics are two different ways of getting a good sense of the world.