Theme: The Voice of Possibility

This amazing event will showcase great individuals in Edinburgh.

Our speakers are changing and impacting the wider world and we want to share their great ideas. We hope to bring the spirit of TED to Edinburgh. We are passionate about growing the voice of possibility to local communities around the globe.

The Voice of Possibility will include student speakers with their hopes for the future and inspiration for now.
Alongside researchers; doctors; artists; and role models in Edinburgh. Held in our beautiful grounds in Edinburgh.

The event will focus on real individuals having agency, expressing their ideas by providing a dissenting voice that leads to real opportunity and giving a voice to the possibility to create a better tomorrow.

St Georges Edinburgh
St George's
Garscube Terrace
Edinburgh, Edinburgh, City of, EH12 6BG
United Kingdom

Anna Lagerqvist Christopherson

Your Life - Your Business

First coming to Edinburgh and opening Boda Bar Group, a Swedish bar and restaurant group founded in 2004. Opening the first bar on Leith Walk in Edinburgh which grew to more than 100 members of staff. Anna is Chair and Co-investor of Swurf - an app helping remote workers finding spaces to work Co-owner of NDL - a network diagnostic start up tech business.

Charlotte Earl

Student talk: The 3 ethical barriers of cryptocurrency

Charlotte is a mature young person destined for great things. She has taken a difficult subject to understand, by most and made it manageable to digest. Bringing her factual and analytical mind to the topic of cryptocurrency. Charlottes’ talk will display the challenges faced by the crypto industry and ideas which will provide a positive possibility for the future.

Dr Caroline Cradock

Caroline Cradock studied Music at the University of Edinburgh, graduating with a BMus(Hons) in 1998. She went on to complete a PhD in early 18th-century French organ mass manuscripts (2007) which involved many research trips to Paris and various parts of Belgium. As an organist, Caroline has studied with Dr John Kitchen and Dr Anthony Hammond in Edinburgh, and Susan Landale in Paris. She has conducted the choir live on Radio 4’s Morning Service, as well as playing the organ for various television broadcasts on the BBC and STV. She has also directed the choir on a number of Cathedral visits to sing the services at Hexham and Ripon and accompanied them in services at Durham Cathedral and York Minster.

Dr Kirsten MacLeod

Media, Menstruation and FOMO

Dr. Kirsten MacLeod has worked as a filmmaker and media practitioner for over 20 years in broadcast and community based media. Kirsten was PI on AHRC/GCRF funded "Pacific Community Filmmaking and Gender, Impact and Engagement" project. Kirsten was co-author in the recent 2022 documentary film about period poverty and menstrual health titled Bleeding Free.

Dr Lily Battershill

Changes from the inside out: lessons from a bulimia recovery journey

Dr Lily speaks about her eating disorder recovery journey and explores what beauty looks like and what success looks like when society's expectations are not at the centre of our identity. Dr Lily Battershill is a scientist currently working within the digital mental health space and a yoga and meditation teacher. Lily is passionate about providing a voice of hope to those struggling with mental health and believes that looking at how we feel within, rather than what we look like on the outside, opens a world of possibility.

Dr Omolabake Fakunle

Can international education be inclusive?

Dr Fakunle has worked on numerous projects and publications, including Developing a framework for inclusiveness in Internationalisation. Institute for Academic Development PTAS Award; Understanding Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Edinburgh-based school pupils’ higher education decision-making.

Eileen Njotu

Student talk: Feeling out of place

Eileen is a rising star of the inclusion and diversity ideas within school life and the wider community in Edinburgh. She is creative, passionate and focused on her desire to have a positive impact on the world. Eileens’ talk on what makes you who you are will explore ideas of identity and the impact of immigration from a personal perspective.

Emma Perfect

Through a Glass Darkly: Peering Into the Future of Technology

Emma has been involved in technology-focused start-ups for over 19 years, initially in biotechnology and medical device development and latterly in chemical monitoring for the oil and gas industry. Surrounded by amazing academics working across psychology and artificial intelligence to optical engineering and robotics, this role allows her to satisfy her curiosity daily. She looks forward to working with the next generation of technologies and entrepreneurs (and helping them not make the same mistakes she has…).

Hannah Lavery

The possibility of stories to evoke empathy and spark change.

Hannah Lavery is a Scottish poet and playwright. She was appointed Edinburgh Makar (or poet laureate) in November 2021 for a three year term. She was also selected by Owen Sheers’ as one of his Ten Writers Asking Questions That Will Shape Our Future for the International Literature Showcase, a project from the National Writing Centre and the British Council in 2020. Her poetry pamphlet, Finding Seaglass was published by Stewed Rhubarb and her debut collection, Blood Salt Spring was published in 2022 by Polygon and was shortlisted for the 2022 Saltire Scottish National Poetry Book Award. She has been selected for the Scottish Best Poem twice, in 2019 with her poem Scotland You’re No Mine and in 2021, with her poem Flying Bats. The Drift, her highly acclaimed autobiographical lyric play toured Scotland with the National Theatre of Scotland, and is to be adapted for a radio drama for BBC Radio Four in 2023.

Kate Ive

The art of turning data into sculptural recordings

Kate Ive is an award-winning Edinburgh based artist and researcher, working from her studio at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop. Her work is represented in both public and private collections, including the British Museum, NHS, Royal Mint Museum, National Bank of Slovakia, University Museum of Bergen, Norway and The Museum of Paper, Fabriano Italy.

Lesley Bell

Accompanied by Dr Caroline Cradock. Performance of a piece by composer Sarah Rodgers : Spanish Sonata "Sarah Rodgers's Spanish Sonata is used by permission of Stainer & Bell, London" Lesley Bell was born in Fife and graduated with a BA First Class Honours in Music Studies at the RSAMD (now the RCS) in 2003. Lesley now combines teaching with a freelance career. She has performed with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Opera and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. She has performed at various festivals including the BBC Proms, the Edinburgh International Festival and the Snape Proms. Lesley was a founding member of the Cameo Clarinet Quartet and regularly performs with the Scottish Wind Ensemble and the Glasgow Barons Orchestra. She is also a Sergeant in the Highland Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

Pegah Meridies

The power of expression

Pegah Meridies is an artist, musician and director. She trained at the National Youth Theatre aged 13 (the youngest acceptance age for the company). Pegah went on to study Modern Languages and Cultures, gaining a First from Durham University, where she was awarded the Vice Chancellor’s Scholarship for the Arts. Since then, she has been writing, composing, mixing and mastering songs as well as directing and editing her music videos. In January 2022, her song ‘High’ was crowned BBC Introducing Track of the Week on Radio Scotland and was later featured on their show Best of Track of the Week 2021/2022 in July 2022.

Sara Qayyum

Student talk: The public female victim

Sara is a promising young woman who is passionate about learning. She is inquisitive about the world around her, and the way women are perceived in society. Sara will share her ideas on the media portrayal of women in the English Legal system and in the media.