Queen’s partnered with PwC for the ‘TEDxQueensUniversityBelfast’ event which took place at Riddel Hall on Wednesday 6 December 2023.

The event brought together community partners, staff, students and alumni of Queen’s to share inspiring new ideas on the theme of ‘Reimagine: Spark Your Imagination.’

Queen’s is part of the TEDx global community of over 3,000 local, independently organised TEDx events being hosted worldwide each year. TED is an organisation that aims to bring together bright minds to give talks that are idea-focused, and on a wide range of subjects, to foster learning, inspiration, and wonder.

The audience heard from speakers including-

Dr Siobhan Cox from Queen’s School of Natural and Built Environment who presented ‘Reimagining Construction’ - reflecting on how construction can be reimagined to provide not only social benefits, but also environmental advantages to help save our planet.

PhD student Jamie-Lukas Campbell discussed ‘Making Space to Take Up Space’- documenting his journey from an overly anxious teen from the New York suburbs to now being able to ‘take up space’ and learning to advocate in spaces that traditionally exclude marginalised people.

Community partner Matt Leonard, a secondary school languages teacher, posed the question, ‘Are we bad at language learning? Let's rethink the problem’ – delving into the intricate relationship that English speakers often have with multilingualism.

Joanne Mallon, Business Engagement Manager at Queen’s, said:

“This year our TEDx theme was ‘Reimagine’ to continue the legacy of the Queen’s Agreement 25 Conference and it’s focus of looking towards the future by embracing the power of new ideas to create a better world.

“TEDx was a huge success, showcasing the inspiring ideas from 11 bright minds within our university community. As well as hearing from our 11 speakers, the audience were also entertained by MC Emer Maguire, student pianist Jamie Duffy and the Queen’s K-Pop Society.”

Kieragh Nelson, Operate partner at PwC, said:

“We were pleased to once again sponsor TEDx at Queen’s University Belfast. One of our core values is to ‘reimagine the possible’ and we are always working to empower innovation, so this year’s theme was a natural fit. It was great to hear from all the speakers including Grainne Rodgers from our PwC Operate business in Belfast.

“Queen’s has been a valued partner of PwC’s over recent years, and we are excited to continue to work with the University on this and other initiatives such as our tech-powered Advanced Research and Engineering Centre in years to come.”

More information about the event can be found at- https://www.qub.ac.uk/public-engagement/TEDxQUB/Reimagine/.

Media

Media enquiries to comms.office@qub.ac.uk.