In news that’ll surprise nobody in the city, Vivid Sydney 2018 is shaping up to be a fantastic event, yet again.
But Vivid isn’t the only interesting event happening in Sydney this June. There’s just over a week to go for TEDxSydney 2018 (it’s on June 15 at the ICC Sydney), and this year, with the theme being Humankind, is choc full of some incredible speakers and performers in the fields of music, AI, and biorobotics!
Here’s a look at some of the contributors this year:
Fang Chen: A Senior Principal Researcher at Data61, CSIRO, Fang Chen is a thought leader in AI and Human-Machine Interaction. She has pioneered the theoretical framework of human behaviour understanding, for building human-machine trust.
Anjali Jaiprakash: A robobiologist (yes, that’s a profession!), Jaiprakash combines robotics and biology to make medical practices more accessible for everyone. Her work touches upon medicine, engineering and design. In 2017, she was announced as one of the world’s 25 Women in Robotics you should know about, by RoboHub, and this year, she’s one of MIT Technology Review’s Top 10 Innovators under 35.
Magda Szubanski: The “Most Talked About Person of 2017”, Magda is a household-name comedienne, actor, and best-selling and award-winning author. You know her from a bunch of groundbreaking shows, including Fast Forward and Big Girl’s Blouse.
Stephen Scheeler: Tech business leader and former CEO of Facebook Australia New Zealand.
Nicole Gurran: She’s an urban planner and policy analyst, with a forward-thinking approaches to affordable rental supply in Sydney. We’re all ears!
Bruce Pascoe: An indigenous writer, Pascoe is a Prime Minister’s Literary Award winner (for YA fiction in 2013, for his book Fog a Dox). His non-fiction book, Dark Emu (2014) has won the Book of the Year and Indigenous Writer’s Prize in the 2016 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.
Eddie Woo: He believes mathematics can be enjoyed by everyone. If you watched this young mathematics teacher’s Youtube channel (named ‘Wootube’, natch), you might just start believing it too!
There will also be performances by Moorambilla Voices youth choir and a young local singer-songwriter Odette (you might know her single Watch Me Read You).
Also returning is the Kick Start program from Principal Partner, St.George Bank, where businesses of any size have the opportunity to pitch their ideas on stage in 60 seconds. The wining pitch could win them a $40,000 cheque to help transform their business.
Standard registrations for TEDxSydney 2018 are open here.