Theme: Restore

Join us in the Great Hall, Parliament Buildings, for another year of TEDxStormont as we explore the theme of 'Restore.' Discover innovative ideas, inspiring stories, and thought-provoking discussions on how to rejuvenate our world, revive our communities, and rekindle hope for a sustainable and harmonious future. Engage with speakers who are leading the charge in restoring ecosystems, relationships, and societal well-being. TEDxStormont invites you to be part of this vital conversation about renewal and recovery. Together, we can learn, adapt, and empower ourselves to restore the balance in our lives and the world around us.

Lunch and refreshments are provided.

Great Hall, Parliament Buildings
Stormont
Belfast, Antrim, BT4 3XX
United Kingdom

Alex Kane

Political Columnist and Commentator

At the age of six, having been in an orphanage for two years, Alex Kane was assessed by two psychiatrists as almost certainly educationally sub normal. Fortunately for him, Alex’s adoptive parents ignored both the assessment and the fact that he hadn’t actually spoken for the two years he was in the orphanage. He is now one of Northern Ireland’s best known political columnists and commentators, working across a range of television, radio and social media platforms. His approach to life can be summed up in the words of Eden Ahbez: “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.”

Celtic Psalms

Music Group

The music group Celtic Psalms (Kiran Young Wimberly & The McGraths) have been singing Biblical Psalms set to Irish and Scottish airs since 2013, recording four albums along with the renowned traditional musician and producer Dónal O'Connor. In the past decade they have travelled to the US on five tours, performed live on BBC and RTE national television and radio multiple times, shared their music at international conferences, and have also sang in many intimate concerts in sacred and secular venues in Ireland, north and south. The Celtic Psalms were also published by the globally renowned sacred music publisher, GIA. The McGraths (Declan, Kelly, Ellen, and Chloe) live in Dungannon, Co. Tyrone.

Declan Keeney

Professor of Screen Technologies & Innovation

Declan Keeney is professor of Screen Technologies & Innovation at Ulster University and director of the Ulster Screen Academy. Declan is also co-founder & CEO of Studio Ulster, a £72m commercial virtual production studio complex that includes a dedicated UKRI funded research facility known as the CoSTAR Screen Lab. It is located at Belfast Harbour Studios. He has worked in the screen industry for over twenty-five years including thirteen years at the BBC. Declan is a board member of the British Film Institute (Northern Ireland Governor), a fellow of The Royal Society of Arts, a senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and a member of the British Council’s Arts & Creative Economy Advisory Group.

Ed Lindsay

Custodian and Owner of Finnebrogue Woods

Ed Lindsay is current custodian and owner of Finnebrogue Woods, a 230 acre estate near Downpatrick, Co. Down. Having cut his teeth in the retail motor industry, Ed set up his first business renting Scandinavian tipis all over Ireland just as the financial crash of 2008 was taking hold. As the tipi business was growing from strength to strength, he took on the ownership and running of the family estate from his father, with the sole purpose of keeping it going while simultaneously avoiding financial ruin. With no real business plan or dazzling long term strategy, Ed set about trying to secure the future sustainability of the farm creating a lakeside wedding venue, farm shop, café and a school of bushcraft. He is married to the amazing Rachael with 3 adult children.

Heidi McIlvenny

Marine Scientist

Heidi McIlvenny is a marine scientist dedicated to understanding and protecting marine ecosystems and empowering communities that live, work, and play within them. Heidi's multidisciplinary research spans from carbon sequestration in coastal habitats to the transformation of governance for sustainability. Prior to pursuing a PhD at Queen’s University Belfast, she was the marine conservation manager at Ulster Wildlife where notable achievements include pioneering Northern Ireland's first native oyster restoration project. Heidi actively contributes to the RSPB Advisory Committee and the Irish Ocean Literacy Network. Her leadership experience extends globally as a One Young World Ambassador.

Jamie Duffy

Musican and Songwriter

Jamie Duffy is a twenty-two year old musician and songwriter from Ireland. Having grown up in the small border village of Glaslough into a musical family, Jamie blends traditional, modern and classical influences into his music to create sounds that are beautiful, evocative and unique. His debut single, a piano piece titled Solas (meaning ‘light’ in Irish), is the biggest streaming debut song from an Irish artist since Take Me To Church by Hozier, being streamed over 65 million times. Solas was composed in Belfast whilst Jamie was a student at Queens University Belfast. Jamie studied at Queens and graduated in Politics and International Relations this year, demonstrating to him how relationships between music, politics and culture are extremely important for areas such as international development and peace building, around the world. His recent releases have been inspired by the Great Famine and themes from Irish Folklore, and he is looking forward to exciting projects in 2024.

Jane Shaw

Therapist, Writer and Educator

Jane Shaw marries neurobiology, Jungian psychology, and craniosacral therapy to support individuals to recover from and become resilient to adverse life experiences. Having spent many years in the world of business and finance, Jane has been immersed in the field of holistic health for twenty years, seamlessly blending neuroscience and new medicine with profound teachings from ancient healing arts. As a therapist, writer, and educator, she delivers training programmes and retreat experiences both in Ireland and internationally. Jane holds an M.A. in Economics from the University of Edinburgh and an M.A. in Jungian and Archetypal Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute, always continuing to learn from both her academic studies and lived experience.

John Martin

Head of Policy and Advocacy at RSPB NI

John Martin has worked in the environmental NGO sector in Northern Ireland for a decade, focusing on sustainable land use management, water quality, forestry, as well as climate and marine conservation. Throughout this time, John has made representation in the Stormont Assembly, the Dáil Éireann, Westminster, and the European Parliament and Commission. He currently leads a Policy and Advocacy team focusing on policy and legislation which will have the biggest positive impact for nature and people in the long term. John is also a non-executive director for the Mourne Mountain Heritage Trust, which seeks to sustainably manage the Mourne ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’. In 2021, John was appointed by the environment minister to the Council for Nature Conservation in the Countryside to advise the NI Executive on issues relating to conservation.

Justin Lowry

Antique Dealer and Reuse Revolution Enthusiast

Justin Lowry is the owner of On The Square Emporium, which within ten years has grown to become Ireland’s largest antique and vintage store. Justin is fuelled by a passion to create a true emporium of the vintage, the antique and the weird and wonderful! He is compelled by a drive to collect, keep, use, upcycle, restore, and repurpose furniture and items that others no longer need. This ethos is a reaction to the mass consumerism of the throwaway society in which we live in and its choking effects on our environment. Justin believes now is the time for a vital rethink on disposable consumerism and embrace a reuse revolution. Either that, or it’s just a front for his addiction to hording.

Kiran Young Wimberly

Presbyterian Minister and Co-founder of Celtic Pilgrims

Kiran Young Wimberly is an American Presbyterian minister and spiritual director living on the north coast of Ireland. Collaborating with traditional musicians, Kiran has recorded four albums of Celtic Psalms – music that has touched the lives of listeners from many religious and spiritual backgrounds around the world. During the Covid pandemic, she started the podcast Psalms for the Spirit, exploring how honest prayers, expressed through music and poetry, can lift the spirit and offer resources for resilience in difficult times. Kiran is co-founder of Celtic Pilgrims, a non-profit that builds bridges through spirituality, music and the arts, in Northern Ireland and beyond.

Matthew Taylor

Mental Health Campaigner

Matthew Taylor is a 21-year-old activist, public speaker, and writer, responsible for co-founding the UK’s first entirely youth-led mental health charity. at the age of 17. Pure Mental NI has gone on to benefit thousands of children and young people through a range of youth work programmes, innovative approaches to public policy, and the development of an emotional curriculum for Northern Ireland’s primary and post-primary schools. In 2022 Matthew was awarded the Diana Award, the highest honour a young person in the UK can receive for their humanitarian and community work.

Michael Boyd

Sport and Business Specialist

Michael Boyd has more than twenty years of leadership in sport, business, and charity development. Michael currently works for Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission since 2021, leading on Engagement, Sport, Business and Human Rights. He is also the Chair of the Commonwealth Forum of National Human Rights Institution’s Sports and Human Rights Working Group and a member of the UN Business and Human Rights Working Groups. Michael previously worked at a senior level for the Irish Football Association for seventeen years between 2004 and 2021. In 2018 he received the prestigious Ulster University Outstanding Graduate Award for services to Football, Peace, Good Relations and Community Development.

Michael O’Sullivan

Economist and Author

Michael O’Sullivan is Managing Partner at Harvest Innovation Advisory and a senior adviser at WestExec Advisers as well as a board member of the Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation. Michael has twenty years’ experience in global financial markets, most recently as Chief Investment Officer in the International Wealth Management Division of Credit Suisse, where he worked for twelve years. He now advises a number of asset management and fintech companies. Michael is also the author of The Levelling, which outlines what’s next in politics, economics, finance and geopolitics in the post globalization era. He is also the author of two books on Ireland and is a Forbes contributor, TED speaker and the author of the BBC 4 documentary 'World of Debt'. Michael studied in his native Cork and received MPhil and DPhil degrees at Balliol College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He has taught finance and economics at Oxford University and Princeton University.

Paula Kennedy Garcia

Customer Experience Thought Leader, Innovator and Strategist

Customer experience thought leader, innovator and foresight strategist, Paula Kennedy Garcia has been at the forefront of conversations that shape the intersection of global brands and technology in the age of automation and Artificial Intelligence. Renown for her visionary thinking, Paula has earned multiple awards for her innovation and futurist leadership, fuelling growth and advancing customer and user experiences with the use of emerging technologies like AI, neuroscience, machine learning and language translation, as well as creating pioneering solutions for digital health and well-being, global online safety and the gig-economy, to name a few. A prolific Forbes Technology Council contributor, she champions the importance of human-centred design at the core of machine-driven transformative change.

Romav Ali

A-Level Student

Romav Ali and her family arrived in Northern Ireland in February 2016 as refugees from war torn Syria. Since then, Romav has been an active member of her school and local community, winning the Ulster Schools U16 Gaelic Football championship with Aquinas Diocesan Grammar School and volunteering with the Northern Women Muslim Organisation and the NI Muslim Family Association. She recently won the Soroptimist public speaking competition for her powerful speech about war, being a refugee, and her journey from Syria to Northern Ireland. Romav is an A-Level student with the hope of studying medicine and becoming a doctor.

Sinead Sharkey-Steenson

Leadership Career Coach

Sinead Sharkey-Steenson is a top Leadership Career Coach and a specialist in empowering women for senior roles. With 10,000+ success stories, Sinead is happiest helping women maximise their impact at C-Suite & CEO level through mentoring and coaching women from diverse backgrounds to achieve success. She is a leading force in women's networks, including founding Lean In Women Entrepreneurs, a support haven for business owners. A lifelong learner, Sinead holds a BA Hons in Psychology from QUB, MSc in Computing and Information Systems, MSc in Human Resource Management, and is a highly acclaimed and qualified coach. Originally from the north of England, Belfast has been her home for nearly thirty years, where she's a dedicated mum to two girls and an ardent feminist. From menopause to neurodiversity, Sinead champions vital women's issues!

Susan Lagdon

Lecturer in Psychology (Mental Health)

Dr Susan Lagdon is a lecturer in Psychology (Mental Health) at Ulster University and a fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy. Susan is also co-chair of Northern Ireland Forensic Managed Care Network. Her research interests include domestic and sexual violence and abuse, particularly the mental health implications of interpersonal trauma and the availability and types of support for victims. Susan’s work involves the use of multiple mix methods with a particular focus on participatory and stakeholder engagement to guide the research process. In the words of Kurt Lewin: “If you want truly to understand something, try to change it.”