Theme: Think once! Think twice! Think future!

TEDxMedUniGraz joined the TEDx COUNTDOWN initiative.

Countdown is a global initiative to champion and accelerate solutions to the climate crisis, turning ideas into action. The goal: To build a better future by cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 in the race to a zero-carbon world – a world that is safer, cleaner and fairer for everyone.

#JoinTheCountdown

MED Campus Graz - Aula
Neue Stiftingtalstraße 6
Graz, Steiermark, 8010
Austria

Astghik Kyurumyan

Student

Astghik Kyurumyan is a student of Architecture at Technical University of Graz and formerly studied at New York Institute of Technology, NY, USA. She is multilingual and multitalented. As a hobby, she began to attend classes in English literature and Psychology at University of Graz while still in high school. She worked at the youth theater Next Liberty Graz as an actress and took part in different science-olympiads and speech-giving contests. Her passions include music, such as playing the piano, the guitar, singing and songwriting. Astghik is a member of the MENSA association. Her passion for aviation and rocket science is almost as big as her passion for the arts, especially acting and filmmaking.

Claudia Kemfert

Prof. Dr. Claudia Kemfert is Head of the department Energy, Transportation, Environment at the German Institute of Economic Research (DIW Berlin) and Professor of Energy Economics and Sustainability

Prof. Dr. Claudia Kemfert studied economics at Oldenburg, Bielefeld and Stanford University. Her research activities concentrate on the evaluation of climate and energy policy strategies. In 2016 she was appointed as a member of the German Advisory Council on the Environment and received the German-Solar-Award and the Adam-Smith-Award for Market-Based Evironmental Policy.

Jens Habermann

Professor Jens K. Habermann, M.D., PH.D., is Head of ICB-L (Interdisciplinary Center for Biobanking-Lübeck) and Scientific Director of UCCL (University Cancer Center Lübeck) at the University of Lübeck and University Clinic Schleswig-Holstein.

He obtained his Ph.D. at the Karolinska Institute (Stockholm, Sweden) and Postdoc training at the NCI, NIH (Bethesda, USA). As specialist in human genetics, he combines clinical routine, biobanking, and cancer research to optimize individualized medicine by targeting tumor heterogeneity and applying liquid biopsies. Prof. Habermann is actively involved in the Molecular Tumor Board as part of the precision medicine program in Lübeck. Prof. Habermann is President of ESBB (European, Middle Eastern & African Society for Biopreservation & Biobanking; esbb.org) and board member of GBN/GBA (German Biobank Node and German Biobank Alliance; bbmri.de).

Karine Sargsyan

Managing Director of International Biobanking and Education and the Vice Scientific Leader and Lecturer of MSc in Biobanking and of Human Centred Artificial Intelligence in Medicine at the Medical University of Graz

Karine was born in Armenia and lives in Graz, Austria. She has many institutional responsibilities such as the role as an advisor for ACC – ILCEC: Oncology Research Vietnam, Responsible Advisor of Educational Activities at Qatar Biobank, SEAB member of BBMRI Poland and considerably more. She enjoys memberships in various scientific societies such as the ISBER-International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories, the Austrian Society of Epidemiology and the ESBB (European, Middle Eastern & African Society for Biopreservation and Biobanking). In addition, she is a highly appreciated mentor and contact person for guest doctors (internship program Graz) of the American Austrian Foundation. In her free time, she enjoys painting, playing the piano and happily commits herself to various voluntary activities.

Maria Gramatiuk

High school student

Maria is currently a high school student, a woud be graduate from a Math class. Previously, she studied at a school specialising in foreign languages. She devotes free time to Art and Science being a versatile person. She is interested in learning foreign languages and is improving her skills in German and English. Mary is a bit of a rebel and embodies the adventure and dedication of a true researcher. She shows interest in science and has taken part in winning prizes in the section of Human biology and Medicine. At school, she is a member of the Rada of high school students and shows leadership qualities, which also help her in organizing scientific days at the Ukrainian Biobank Association, where she is the Head of the Department of a Younger scientific group. She enjoys painting and choreography. Her acquired determination and skills will help her in the future to make people beautiful to maintain their health.

Rebekka Aigner-Carmichael

COO FRAISS IT Consulting, Doctoral Candidate in Persuasive Technologies and Energy Saving

Rebekka Aigner is a doctoral candidate at the Alpen-Adria University where she's conducting interdisciplinary research into energy-saving technologies. She's also the Chief Operations Officer of FRAISS IT - a 20-person software consultancy in the heart of Graz - where she consults with companies across verticals to implement complex digitization projects. Rebekka believes that technology may be our only solution to the complex global challenges of tomorrow.

Robert Reihs

Robert Reihs; IT-Researcher, Medical University of Graz, Diagnostic and Research Center for Molecular BioMedicine, Diagnostic and Research Institute of Pathology; Developer and Service operator, BBMRI-ERIC

Robert Reihs is a student at Technical University of Graz. He is working as a IT-Researcher at Medical University of Graz with the main research focus on data structuring, analysis and machine learning. Participating in international and national research consortia and industry projects. As a developer and service operator for BBMRI-ERIC he leads the development and operation of the negotiator service of BBMRI-ERIC. Robert thinks that a good combination between human intelligence and AI is required to solve our challenges we are facing.

Stefan Verra

Body language expert

Stefan Verra, born in 1973, is one of the most in-demand body language experts in Europe. With great humour and deep scientific insight, he fascinates more than 100.000 participants every year in Europe, the USA and China. His body language analyses are frequently published in mainstream media. Stefan is: Guest lecturer at several universities and clinics Best-selling author Keynote Speaker for world leading companies and medical congresses Body Language Coach for public personalities including sportspeople and entrepreneurs He’s followed by more than 100.000 social media fans

Tamás Landesz

Member of the Senior Leadership Team of the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)

Holds a MPA from Harvard University, a MALD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and a MBA from Vienna. He is honoured as ‘Young Global Leader’ by the World Economic Forum in 2010, where he remains actively engaged in multi-disciplinary projects aiming to improve the state of the world. Member of the Senior Leadership Team of IARC, directing operations and distributing leadership among people, enabling them to act as change agents to positively affect organizational health. Held senior leadership positions in various intergovernmental organizations and advised governments, including in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the European Defence Agency (EDA), United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), and the Office of the Prime Minister of Lebanon. Deployed to complex hotspots across four continents, including the Balkans, Caucasus, Central Asia, Middle East, Horn of Africa, and South America.

Tristan Horx

Futurist

Tristan Horx could be described as a new generation of futurists, if he didn’t personally call for the end of the classic generational models. The speaker and author at the Zukunftsinstitut (Future Institute) deals with the topics of societal change, and is researching what will follow the Gen X, Y and Z. The speaker and author at the Zukunftsinstitut (Future Institute) deals with the topics of societal change, and is researching what will follow the Gen X, Y and Z. He has been a lecturer at SRH Hochschule Heidelberg since 2018 and a columnist at Kronen Zeitung since 2019. His German or English presentations are about the developments in the fields of Mobility, Digitalisation and the old bogey Globalisation. As an Anthropologist, he sees his job as finding the bridge between creativity and economy within macro-societal questions. As the host of the Zukunftsinstitut’s Podcast “Treffpunkt: Zukunft” he speaks to prominent guests about their utopias and our future