Theme: Together, We Rise

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).

The Bridgewater Hall
Lower Mosley Street
Manchester, Manchester, M2 3WS
United Kingdom

Alex Edmans

Sustainable Economist

Alex Edmans is Professor of Finance at London Business School. He also serves as Mercers School Memorial Professor of Business at Gresham College. Alex has a PhD from MIT as a Fulbright Scholar, and was previously a tenured professor at Wharton and an investment banker at Morgan Stanley. He has spoken at the World Economic Forum in Davos, testified in the UK Parliament, and given the TED talk “What to Trust in a Post-Truth World” and the TEDx talk “The Social Responsibility of Business” with a combined 2.4 million views. Alex’s book, “Grow the Pie: How Great Companies Deliver Both Purpose and Profit”, was featured in the Financial Times list of Business Books of the Year for 2020. Alex has won 23 teaching awards at Wharton and LBS, and was named Professor of the Year by Poets & Quants in 2021.

Carlton Cummins

Renewables Re-Engineer

While countries and companies all over the world are making an admirable commitment to electrical vehicles in the near future, the move to EV’s presents a new challenge around the manufacture, disposal and recycling of the billions of new batteries that will be needed to power this new EV future.

Charles Spence

Multi-Sensory Perceptor

Professor Charles Spence is an experimental psychologist at Oxford University where he leads the Crossmodal Research Laboratory. Much of his research investigates the interaction of our five senses and how they affect our perception. For example, how does the sound of a crisp affect our perception of its taste and texture? Charles works extensively with the private sector and has research partners as varied as Heston Blumenthal, Toyota and the European Space Station. Some of his most popular work has focussed on the design of enhanced food and drink experiences, through collaborations with chefs, baristas, mixologists, chocolatiers and perfumiers. Penguin recently published his latest book, Sensehacking – How to Use the Power of Your Senses for Happier, Healthier Living. His previous book was Gastrophysics: The New Science of Eating.

Christina Gravert

Behavioral Economist

Since the awarding of the 1978 Nobel Prize in Economics to political scientist, Herbert Simon, the influence of behavioural economics has only continued to grow both in the field of economics as well as in broader policymaking. Originally from Berlin, Christina is now based at the University of Copenhagen where she is an Associate Professor of Economics and is one of the rising stars in the field. In 2020, Forbes Magazine recognised Christina’s growing influence by naming her as one of their top “10 Behavioural Scientists You Should Know”.

Daliso Chaponda

Comedian of Nowhere

Daliso Chaponda has been a stand-up comedian since 2001 beginning his career in Canada. He moved to the UK in 2006 where he opened for other comedians such as John Bishop. In 2008, his comedy earned him a spot in the Edinburgh Fringe “Best of the Fest” list. Daliso shot to primetime fame in 2017 when his audition for Britain’s Got Talent received a golden buzzer from judge Amanda Holden with his BGT performances going viral on social platforms and receiving 200m views. Daliso has since continued to appear regularly in broadcast media including The Royal Variety Performance 2020 (ITV), Britain’s Got Talent Champions 2019 (ITV), QI (BBC2), The Apprentice: You’re Fired (BBC2), Good Evening Britain (ITV), The News Quiz (BBC Radio 4), and The Now Show (BBC Radio 4). Daliso is also the writer, creator, and host of his Rose d’Or nominated BBC Radio 4 show Citizen of Nowhere that has aired for two series. Born in Zambia to Malawian parents, he now resides in Manchester.

Dean Lomax

Jurassic Scientist

Dr Dean Lomax is a multi-award-winning palaeontologist. A leading world expert on ichthyosaurs (extinct marine reptiles), he led the excavation of the ‘Rutland Sea Dragon’ in 2021, a 10-metre-long giant ichthyosaur considered one of the greatest finds in British palaeontological history. Dean’s books include Dinosaurs of Britain and most recently Locked in Time. He regularly appears on TV as an expert and presenter and won a gold medal for excellence in science at the Houses of Parliament in 2015. Dean received his PhD from the University of Manchester and is a Visiting Scientist there.

Helen Nuttall

Neuro-Explorer

Born and raised in the Greater Manchester area, Dr Helen Nuttall has been driven by her passion for all things neuroscience. She is now a Lecturer in Cognitive Neuroscience at Lancaster University, where she leads the Neuroscience of Speech and Action (NoSA) Laboratory. The NoSA Lab investigate research questions surrounding how speech, action, and cognitive function are represented in the brain; how these functions work in health and disease; and how they are affected by the ageing process. Prior to joining Lancaster University, Dr Nuttall worked as a Leverhulme Trust-funded Postdoctoral Research Associate with Professor Patti Adank and Professor Joe Devlin at University College London. In her PhD (University of Nottingham), she investigated how the representation of speech in the brain is affected by hearing and cognition.

Helen Pilcher

Science Journalist

Helen Pilcher is a science and comedy writer. Her book, Life Changing – How Humans are Altering Life on Earth, was The Times 2020 Science Book of the Year, whilst Bring Back the King – The New Science of De-extinction, was Radio 2’s ‘Fact not Fiction’ book of the week. Helen is also Science Advisor to the Beano, and has a PhD in Neuroscience from London’s Institute of Psychiatry. A former reporter for the academic journal Nature, she now specializes in writing quirky off-the-wall science for the likes of Science Focus and BBC Wildlife. Her 2021 book, Small Inventions That Made a Big Difference, celebrates the little, often over-looked inventions that make our lives better and have changed the world.

Jenna Macciochi

Immunity Booster

As we continue to battle the global pandemic, interest in the immune system is at an all-time high. Dr. Jenna Macciochi is a Senior Lecturer in Immunology at the Sussex University School of Life Sciences. As a gifted science communicator, Jenna has pursued a mission to spread the latest science-backed information on how to improve our immunity as well as to debunk myths on the topic. Her first book, Immunity: the Science of Staying Well, was published in 2020 by Harper Collins.

Nichola Raihani

Evolutionary Humanist

Nichola Raihani is a Royal Society University Research Fellow and Professor in Evolution and Behaviour at UCL. Her group’s research focuses on the evolution of social behaviour in humans and non-human species. She has been widely published in scientific journals, won the 2018 Philip Leverhulme Prize in Psychology for her research achievements, and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology in 2018. She was the recipient of the 2021 Humanist Society’s Voltaire Medal. In 2021, Nichola’s first book, The Social Instinct: How Cooperation Saved the World, was published by Penguin.

Oliver Burkeman

The Imperfectionist

Oliver Burkeman is the author of the New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, a book about embracing your limitations and getting round to what counts. Wharton Business School Professor Adam Grant described Oliver’s book as “the most important book ever written on time management”. Previously Oliver wrote The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking and Help! How to Become Slightly Happier and Get a Bit More Done. For many years he wrote a popular column for the Guardian, ‘This Column Will Change Your Life’. In his email newsletter The Imperfectionist, he writes about productivity, mortality, the power of limits and building a meaningful life in an age of distraction. Oliver was born in Liverpool and now lives in the North York Moors.

Tahmima Anam

Novelist & Anthropologist

Tahmima Anam is an anthropologist and a novelist. Her debut novel, A Golden Age, won the 2008 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book. In 2013, she was named one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists. She is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and was a judge for the 2016 International Man Booker Prize. Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, she was educated at Mount Holyoke College and Harvard University, and now lives in Hackney, East London.

Ukebox Band

Ukulele Innovators

Formed while students at Liverpool Hope University, Ukebox is the world’s first, and probably only, ukulele boyband. They celebrate their 10th anniversary this year and in that time, the band has travelled the world twice and covered 6 continents.