Theme: ACCEPTANCE

The 2023 TEDxXJTLU Annual Conference will be held on December 9, 2023. The theme for this year’s conference will center around “ACCEPTANCE”, ten guest speakers with backgrounds in the humanities, physics, technology, architecture, arts and science are invited to share their ideas and insights on stage.

IAG28
IAG28, South Campus, XJTLU, Chongwen Road, SIP
Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215123
China

Dajing Zhang

The founder of Gorilla Vinyl

Also known as "Hua Shu" and the "Vinyl Wellness DJ," Zhang Dajing is a local culture explorer and practitioner. His career spans roles as a teacher, editor, independent publisher, photographer, and book design artist. Currently, he's dedicated to collecting sounds in Suzhou and plans to produce a vinyl record of local sound samples titled "Garden Suite." He's also working on designing cartoon characters to communicate Suzhou's intangible cultural heritage, collecting historical visual materials from Suzhou for local comic creation and calligraphy experiments, and writing a series called "Suzhou Monsters" themed around Suzhou's urban and city life.

Eugene Ch’ng

Director, NVIDIA Joint-Lab on Mixed Reality, NVIDIA Technology Centre，University of Nottingham Ningbo China

In his mobile laboratory, Eugene Ch’ng connects to the Cloud, coordinating with his physical lab equipped with NVIDIA-powered workstations and servers, enabling the operation of metaverse environments, social media bots, and generative AI. Yet, his journey began in the midst of nature, surrounded by hills, forests, rivers, lakes, and oceans, where he explored art through traditional means, painting faces and landscapes during his adolescence. Growing up during the emergence of personal computers and the Internet, Eugene delved into programming at the age of 10, engaging with digital media, and developed a lifelong fascination with mediated reality, 3D objects, virtual environments, and now Generative AI. He wears many hats: artist, martial arts instructor, technologist, scholar, and educator.

Hao Yu

Associate Professor in the School of Mathematics and Physics at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

He received his Ph.D. in physics from Nanjing University in 2007. His research interests are in theoretical condensed matter physics. He has led more than ten research projects funded by grants such as the National Natural Science Foundation and the Jiangsu Provincial Natural Science Foundation. His main teaching subjects are university physics, calculus and fluid mechanics. Dr Yu is committed to research-led teaching that focuses on unlocking students' potential and stimulating their motivation to learn, and he is also passionate about popular science activities. He has been recognised as an "Outstanding Educator" by Suzhou City and Suzhou Industrial Park in 2020, and received the "Outstanding Teacher" award from Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University annual learning and teaching award in 2020.

He Ma

Student of Financial Mathematics, Class of 2022, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

She is a passionate ENFJ girl who values life, freedom, and diversity. Currently studying Financial Mathematics at the School of Mathematics and Physics, Ma has been honored with the university's top scholarship for 2022, ranking 1st in her major. She is also the founder of the university's Quantitative Finance Club. She won first place in a micro-course competition and has also secured a second-place award in the Asia-Pacific Mathematical Modeling Competition. As a J person, her life is always well organized; however, because of the characteristics of J, every broken or changed plan also brings her a lot of trouble. Her busy college life and experience in establishing clubs made her reflect on the problems of her plans skills; her chance encounter with meditation also gave her a better understanding of the characteristics of "J".

Ka Du

Associate Language Lecturer, Modern Languages Centre at XJTLU

Ka Du joined XJTLU in 2019. She loves teaching Chinese and enjoys every moment she spends with her students. Before joining XJTLU, she had been teaching Chinese in Thailand, New Zealand, and the United States. She was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymph Cancer in 2021 and is now cured after nine months of treatment. Ka started to share her treatment experience on the RED social media platform to support patients like her. She has been in contact with hundreds of patients so far and has formed a small community to support each other.

Lin Zhang

Founder, Director and President of Shanghai Museum of Glass

Mr. Zhang Lin established the Shanghai Museum of Glass in 2011, proposing a brand-new concept of the museum that is interactive, community-based and globally recognized. Looking to build a “museum that influences the rest of the world”, Mr. Zhang Lin led his team to innovatively transform an obsolete industrial area into an exceptional, multi-functional museum park that is constantly growing, fully displaying its endorsement of a post-industrial, unique and delicate lifestyle. As soon as it opened, the Shanghai Museum of Glass was named by CNNGO, as one of "China's three most must-see museums," alongside the National Museum of China and Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum. Over the years, the "museum lifestyle" has been extended infinitely with the expansion of the museum park's scale and cultural content, and the Shanghai Museum of Glass has become one of the most important art and cultural institutions in China and the world.

Mengjie Wang

Illustrator and Picture Book Creator

Holding an MA degree in Illustration from Kingston University London, she excels in narrative depiction and the exploration of children's psychology. Rather than sticking to a specific art style, she embraces various expressions to keep her creativity fresh. Her works have been recognized in the iJungle Illustration Awards, the 3X3 Illustration Show in the US, and the UK's WIA Illustration Awards Merit category. Her picture books have won the Gold Award at the CIB8 Original Picture Book Awards and the Excellence Award at the Dongfang Wawa (Eastern Babies) Original Picture Book Competition. Her commercial collaborations include prominent names like Fashion Bazaar, ELLE, Amazing SONG, and Nayuki's Tea. She has focused her commercial picture books on themes like gender equality and campus violence, with titles like "We Are All the Same" and "It's Not Your Fault" for the PROYA charity campaign, receiving widespread acclaim on various platforms.

Miguel Baptista Nunes

Professor and Dean of the School of Internet of Things at XJTLU Entrepreneur College (Taicang)

Miguel Baptista Nunes, BSc, MSc, PhD, FHEA, FBCS, serves as the Professor and Dean of the School of Internet of Things at XJTLU Entrepreneur College (Taicang). He is a Fellow of the British Computing Society and the Higher Education Academy in the UK.Miguel's research interests lie in IS, knowledge management, and information management, particularly focusing on IS modeling, design, development; IS project management; risk management in IS; and IS change management. He also maintains a historical interest in e-learning. Over his career, Miguel has published over 200 refereed articles across academic journals and conferences, authored 5 books, chaired numerous international conferences, and led several projects funded by the EU, UK, and more recently, China.

Momoe Niioka

The Founder and CEO of BES Creative Design Company in Suzhou

Originally from Tokyo, Japan, Ms. Momoe is the Founder and CEO of BES Creative Design Company in Suzhou. After graduating from the Chinese University of Hong Kong with degrees in Sociology and Journalism, she joined Japan's top securities firm, "Nomura Securities", and worked at the Pulipe Corporate Revival Group Co., Ltd. There, she managed overseas acquisitions and market development for major Japanese corporations such as NTT, Docomo, AU, Fujitsu, Kyocera, Hitachi, Sharp, Sony, and Panasonic.

Yan Ji

Head of the Multimedia Research Team, Chinese Cultural Teaching Centre, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Joined XJTLU in 2016 with research interests including media practices, new media operations, media literacy, AIGC, and self-management, among others. She currently oversees the operation of the New Media Matrix for the Chinese Cultural Teaching Centre, the Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University Party Committee's official WeChat account "Blue XJTLU with Red Five Stars", and teaches the "New Media Operations" course. The new media matrix she manages spans across platforms like WeChat Official Accounts, Weibo, WeChat Video Accounts, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu. Notably, "Xipu Guan Xiaoli" is one of the most influential social media accounts of XJTLU and is highly regarded by the university's staff, students, and parents.