TEDx Uppsala University – From antibiotics to natural cleaning products
TEDx Uppsala University is now officially a recurring event. For the second year in a row, a group of students at Uppsala University have organised a full day of thought-provoking and inspiring short talks – this time on the theme “Who Cares?”.
This year’s TEDx Uppsala University was held on 15 November and offered eight short talks of very high quality. Uppsala University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor Anders Malmgren opened the event:
“I'm very proud of and impressed by our present and former students for organizing this event. Just like Uppsala University’s overall objective is to contribute to making the world a better place, today’s list of speakers is full of people who want to make a difference.”
Among the speakers were Uppsala University professor Otto Cars, founder of the international network ReAct, who talked about the large and growing problem of antibiotic resistance.
The 150 participants also got to hear Malin Forsgren talk about Operation Smile – an organisation working in over 60 countries to offer surgery to children with cleft, to enable them to live normal lives. Martin Wehlou, physician and developer, spoke about the problems of journals systems used in healthcare and pushed for more modern systems that could help doctors in diagnosing and prescribing medication to patients.
In addition, talks were held on the subjects of creativity and learning, natural cleaning products we already have in our homes, change processes, equality in industry management, and democracy.
What is TED and TEDx?
The TED format involves short, well-prepared talks – 18 minutes long – with opportunity for discussion and questions. Talks should be varied and cover different subjects, and they should build on a central idea. TED is an American non-profit organisation which started in 1984 by organising conferences on the topics of Technology, Entertainment, Design, but which today can cover nearly any topic imaginable. The organisation is focused on “Ideas worh spreading”. TEDx events are standalone events organised by volunteers, but must adhere to strict rules regarding format and design. TEDx events can be connected to universities – as is the case with TEDx Uppsala University.
David Naylor