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).

Sydney Opera House
2 Macquarie Street
Sydney, New South Wales, 2000
Australia

Alon Ilsar

Alon Ilsar is an Australian-based drummer, composer, instrument designer and researcher. He is the co-designer of a new gestural instrument for electronic percussionists, the AirSticks, and is currently researching the uses of the AirSticks at Monash University’s SensiLab in the field of health and well being, making music creation more accessible to the broader community. Alon holds a PhD in instrument design through the University of Technology Sydney.

Bibi Goul Mossavi

Bibi is a passionate advocate of women’s rights and equality and CALD representation in the performing arts space. She is a performer, artist and currently works as a Programming Coordinator with the Sydney Opera House.

Charlton Hill

Charlton Hill has over 20 years’ experience in the music and media industries in an array of roles ranging from major recording artist, studio manager, music and post-production audio supervisor, copyright consultant and actor. In 2010, Hill partnered with international music producer/composer Justin Shave to co-found Uncanny Valley. Turning their focus to tech, Uncanny Valley are harnessing the power of AI to provide innovative solutions for the music industry and artists.

Ciaran Frame

Ciaran Frame is a composer, media artist and researcher currently based in Melbourne, passionate about cross-disciplinary collaboration and education, seeking a place in the world of data, technology and music. He has found a home in interactive and generative computer music, creating everything from sonification toolboxes to make music out of plants, to performance works where players must purchase their musical material.

Dorr'e Dari

Dorr’e Dari is a poetic crash course in the language of love. Performed by three Afghan-Australians, Bibi Goul Mossavi, Jawad Yaqoubi and Mahdi Mohammadi. Bibi is a passionate advocate of women’s rights and equality and CALD representation in the performing arts space. She is a performer, artist and currently works as a Programming Coordinator with the Sydney Opera House. Mahdi is a feminist theatre maker who came to Australia by boat in 2013, after his theatre group had to flee Afghanistan due to their work supporting women’s rights. In Australia he has performed in the Sydney Festival, The Sydney Opera House, Griffin Theatre, PYT Fairfield among others. Jawad has been living in Australia since 2014, after living in Iran for many years as an Afghan refugee. He has performed in festivals and on stages across Australia including The Sydney Opera House, Carriageworks, Griffin Theatre, the MCA and PYT Fairfield.

George Peppou

George is a co-founder and CEO of Sydney based food-tech startup, Vow. Vow aims to produce meat that is better than the meat we eat today, creating the tantalising and unique culinary experiences. Vow does this by culturing the cells of animals, from both species we eat today and those we could never farm, creating a range of cell ingredients which can be turned into a wide variety of products – all produced using the same manufacturing process. George began his career as a chef whilst studying biochemistry at the University of Sydney. George is a serial entrepreneur and inventor, with over 30 patents granted. Soon after founding Vow he was named in Forbes 30 under 30 in 2020.

Grace Tame

2021 Australian of the Year, Grace Tame is an outspoken advocate for survivors of sexual assault, particularly those who were abused in institutional settings. From age 15, Grace was groomed and raped by her 58-year-old maths teacher, who was found guilty and jailed for his crimes. However, under Tasmania’s sexual-assault victim gag laws, Grace couldn’t legally speak out about her experience – despite the perpetrator and media being free to do so. Grace has demonstrated extraordinary courage – using her voice to push for legal reform and raise public awareness about the impacts of sexual violence.

Jamaica Moana

Jamaica Moana is a Sydney-based artist, rapper, creative director and songwriter of Māori (Ngāpuhi/Tainui) and Samoan descent. Spiritually entwined with Hokianga and Waikato in the motherland of Aotearoa, whilst currently walking the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. As a multidisciplinary artist, she balances her professional career as a rapper & artist whilst being a leader & resident commentator of the Australian ballroom community.

Jawad Yaqoubi

Jawad has been living in Australia since 2014, after living in Iran for many years as an Afghan refugee. He has performed in festivals and on stages across Australia including The Sydney Opera House, Carriageworks, Griffin Theatre, the MCA and PYT Fairfield.

Josh Pyke

Josh Pyke is an award-winning Australian musician and songwriter with six acclaimed albums under his belt. He has ventured into the world of children’s books, releasing the award-nominated 'Lights Out, Leonard' as well as the much loved Chatterpuss series. His upcoming book Family Tree has been announced as the ALIA National Simultaneous Storytime book for 2022, where it will be read by over a million children at the same time.

Julia Baird

Julia Baird is an author and award-winning journalist. Her most recent best selling book, “Phosphorescence: On awe, wonder and the things that sustain you when the world goes dark”, won several awards including the ABIA Book of the Year. She lives near the sea with two children, and an abnormally large dog. She hosts The Drum on Australian Broadcast Corporation TV and writes columns for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.

Jun Bei Liu

Jun Bei Liu is lead portfolio manager for Tribeca's Alpha Plus fund. She has doubled the size of this fund since taking sole responsibility and at over $1bn, is now one of the largest long-short equity funds in the Australian Market. Jun Bei has always had a keen interest in financial markets and the challenges they present. She is fluent in Chinese and only learned English as a teenager upon leaving China and emigrating to Australia as a 16-year-old. She is a prolific contributor to Australia's financial services sector and frequent appearances for key media outlets and as a speaker at industry events. She especially enjoys the opportunity to share her knowledge and love for markets with all types of investors and has a keen interest in helping promote the growth of like-minded women within the financial services community.

Justin Shave

Justin Shave is one of Australia’s preeminent music producers and musical directors who works simultaneously across the TV, record and advertising industries. With a string of platinum record hits to his name, Shave has helped artists and brands around the world find their sound. He has most recently produced tracks for Sia, Darren Hayes (Savage Garden) and the Potbelleez. Shave has a degree in music, computing science | pure mathematics from the University of Sydney. Shave has performed around the world from Wembley to Moscow, consulted for music tech companies Native Instruments [Berlin], Fairlight Instruments [Australia] and developed his own software synthesizers. His life goal is to use AI to download and map his musical brain.

Lesley Hughes

Lesley Hughes is Distinguished Professor of Biology and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Integrity & Development) at Macquarie University. Her principal research interest has been the impacts of climate change on species and the implications for conservation. She is a former Lead Author in the IPCC’s 4th and 5th Assessment Report, a former federal Climate Commissioner and now a Councillor with the Climate Council of Australia. She is also a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists.

Mahdi Mohammadi

Mahdi is a feminist theatre maker who came to Australia by boat in 2013, after his theatre group had to flee Afghanistan due to their work supporting women’s rights. In Australia he has performed in the Sydney Festival, The Sydney Opera House, Griffin Theatre, PYT Fairfield among others.

Martha Marlow

Martha Marlow, is an Australian singer, songwriter, musician and painter. Marlow's debut studio album, Medicine Man was released in May 2021 and received a nomination for ARIA Award for Best Blues and Roots Album at the 2021 ARIA Music Awards. Martha Marlow grew up in Sydney's Eastern suburbs, surrounded by a family of musicians. She studied at the National Art School of Sydney and practices as a painter. Martha also lives with a chronic autoimmune disease.

Monica Gagliano

Monica pioneered the research field of plant bioacoustics, for the first time experimentally demonstrating that plants emit their own ‘voices’ and detect and respond to the sounds of their environments. Her work has extended the concept of cognition (including perception, learning processes, memory) in plants, re-igniting the discourse on plant subjectivity and ethical and legal standing. She applies a progressive and holistic approach to science – one that is comfortable engaging at the interface between areas as diverse as ecology, physics, law, anthropology, philosophy, literature, music and the arts, indigenous wisdom and spirituality. Monica Gagliano, PhD is a Research Associate Professor in evolutionary ecology and director of the Biological Intelligence (BI) Lab supported by the Templeton World Charity Foundation. Her latest project-in-the-making is a global initiative called Resonant Earth: Planetary Regeneration thru Sonic Midwifery.

Sally Woellner

Sally Woellner is currently a Product Design Group Lead at Canva. She is an experienced creative leader and designer, who loves working in product design, branding, advertising, and a huge range of digital media—and has been recently recognised as one of the Women Leading Tech by B&T and Google and is one of Australia's leading experts in creative technologies. She previously led the design direction of a campaign for World Vision that garnered worldwide attention and eventually led to all 119 children on Nauru to be relocated within 6 months of the campaign going live, which solved a 5 year problem.

Sara Saleh

Sara M Saleh is the daughter of migrants from Palestine, Egypt, and Lebanon, living on Gadigal land. She is a human rights activist, community organiser, and campaigner for refugee rights and racial justice. A poet and writer, Sara’s pieces have been published in English and Arabic in various national and international outlets and anthologies. The first Australian poet to win both the Australian Book Review’s 2021 Peter Porter Poetry Prize and the Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize 2020.

Shelley Reys

Shelley Reys AO is a Djiribul woman of far north Queensland, Australia, and a respected Indigenous specialist, strategist and service provider. Shelley has been a leader in the reconciliation space for 30 years and as CEO of Arrilla Indigenous Consulting, has been helping the Australian workforce to work in the Indigenous space with greater skill and confidence.

Tim Dean

Tim Dean is a Sydney-based philosopher and science writer. He is the author of How We Became Human, a book about how our evolved moral minds are out of step with the modern world. He has a Doctorate in philosophy from the University of New South Wales on the evolution of morality and has expertise in ethics, philosophy of biology and critical thinking.

Tracey Rogers

Tracey Rogers is an ecologist who studies how animals overcome the challenges of changing environments. Her research examines how whale populations have recouped from 20th century hunting and how they now deal with warming oceans; how pack ice seals cope with the loss of ice and krill in the Antarctic; how Tasmanian devils cope with extreme population loss because of a facial tumour; and whether new techniques can help humans live in harmony with wildlife.

Ursula Yovich

Ursula Yovich is a singer, song-writer, actor, playwright and story teller. She grew up in Australia’s Northern Territory, in Darwin and Maningrida. As an actor Ursula has worked for all of Australia’s leading theatre companies. Her performances and writing have been recognised with numerous awards and nominations, most recently four Helpmann Awards 2019 and four Green Room Awards 2020 for the rock musical, Barbara and The Camp Dogs, which she co-wrote with Alana Valentine.

Zhanwei Hou

Dr. Zhanwei Hou is a researcher in the Centre for IoT and Telecommunications at the University of Sydney. He is making great strides in the field of Tactile Internet, developing a low-latency communication method – one which would reduce communication delays – which he hopes will one day allow users to experience touch over the internet.