Theme: TEDxĐaKaoLive: A New Era

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).

TEDxĐaKao @ Nam Thi House
152 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia
Ho Chi Minh city, Ho Chi Minh, 70000
Vietnam

Brian Eyler

Program Director of the Southeast Asia Program and the Energy, Water, and Sustainability at Stimson Center

Brian Eyler directs the Southeast Asia Program and the Energy, Water, and Sustainability Program. He is an expert on transboundary issues in the Mekong region and specializes in China’s economic cooperation with Southeast Asia. He spent more than 15 years living and working in China and over the last two decades has conducted extensive research with stakeholders in the Mekong region. He is widely recognized as a leading voice on environmental, energy, and water security issues in the Mekong.

Courtney Weatherby

Deputy Director of the Stimson Center’s Southeast Asia program and Energy, Water, & Sustainability program

Her work focuses on infrastructure and energy development challenges in Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific, particularly food-water-energy nexus issues in the Greater Mekong Subregion. So why does SEA need to receive practical and focused research with the purpose of promoting sustainable growth, peace, and security by engaging in the renewable energy transition. And there are no better people to empower this topic than Courtney Weatherby + Brian Eyler, who are key Stimson Center’s program directors and have a significant impact on the mission.

Huu Thien Nguyen

Ecologist by training and practicing

Nguyen Huu Thien has more than 25 years of experience working on issues of climate change, natural resources management, wetland biodiversity conservation, energy, and sustainable development in the Mekong countries. Thien obtained an MSc degree in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1990. Over the past 20 years, Thien has worked with the International Center for Environmental Management (ICEM), the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), CARE International, and Can Tho University. His most recent works include advising the Ministry of Investment and Planning on the Integrated Planning of the Mekong Delta to 2020 and advising the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on the Comprehensive Plan for Agriculture Transformation of the Mekong Delta.

Jake Brunner

Head, IUCN Indo-Burma Group/ Acting Country Representative of IUCN Vietnam/ International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

Jake Brunner has more than 25 years of experience working on matters related to environmental science and civil society engagement—almost 16 of which have been in Asia. Based in VietNam since 2006, he has witnessed the rapid development of the basic needs of the vast majority of its citizens, in terms of health, education, and nutrition, that Vietnam has been met. This dynamic development has inspired Viet Nam into the world’s second-largest rice exporter. Yet, extreme rice intensification in the Mekong Delta and Vietnam now is at the expense of polluted water and increased flood and drought risks. Through his journey at IUCN Vietnam, Jake Brunner has been an active advocate to inspire local government and parties to start to reorient the economy to be less natural resource-intensive. So how far Vietnam's energy transition has epitomized this new direction?