October 25, 2016

TEDxWollongongWomen to showcase distinguished UOW speakers

Event to explore the concept of time through unique perspectives

An impressive line-up of University of Wollongong academics will explore the concept of time when UOW hosts its third TEDx on Saturday (29 October).

TEDxUWollongongWomen, held to coincide with this year’s TEDWomen Conference in San Francisco, will expand on the core theme – It’s About Time – with five speakers from the UOW community taking the stage.

The audience at TEDxUWollongongWomen will hear from an English language educator, a health professional, a lawyer, a biologist, and a marketing expert in a series of talks.

The event will also include with a licensed broadcast of a session from the official San Francisco TEDWomen2016 event. This will be followed by five topical eight-minute talks by members of the UOW community.

UOW Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) Professor Judy Raper said the speakers would each share their experiences on the notion of time, offering the audience a diverse range of talks.

“Each of our speakers will address the theme, It’s About Time, from a different perspective,” Professor Raper said.

“We expect people attending the event and watching online to learn something new, be challenged by what they hear and inspired by our speakers’ passion for their work.”

The event speakers, Ika Lestari Damayanti, Dr Lyn Phillipson, Associate Professor Julia Quilter, Professor Sharon Robinson, and Professor Charles Areni, will bring their unique viewpoints and perspectives on time – it’s conventions, confines, and challenges – to the stage.

Tickets to TEDxUWollongongWomen, which were free, were snapped up in a day.

The event will be live streamed on the TEDxUWollongong website and Facebook, so viewers can tune in from anywhere in the world.

Attendees and viewers are encouraged to join the conversation on social media using the hashtag #TEDxUWollongongWomen.

Speakers

Ika Lestari Damayanti, an international student and PhD candidate, will discuss her theories as to why storytelling is an effective method for teaching English as a foreign language. Ika’s model for teaching English is being implemented in classrooms in her home city - Bandung in West Java, Indonesia. Ika won the UOW Three-Minute Thesis in July 2016 and represented the University at the Three-Minute Thesis Asia-Pacific Competition in Queensland on September 30 at which she won the People’s Choice Award. The ABC also recently profiled her experiences as an international student as part of a series of iView.

Dr Lyn Phillipson (@LynPhillipson), an NHMRC-ARC Dementia Fellow based at the UOW School of Health and Society, works to understand the challenges people living with dementia face day-to-day. At TEDxUWollongongWomen, Dr Phillipson will speak about her research and challenge society to look to ways of being more inclusive of people with dementia and their carers.

Associate Professor Julia Quilter (@jquilter3) from the School of Law, will discuss the problems that arise when governments are too quick to pursue attention-grabbing 'quick fix' criminal law solutions to complex social problems. Associate Professor Quilter will use the example of recent criminal law reforms directed at alcohol-related street violence to show that over-reliance on new offences and higher penalties may be ineffective, and have undesirable unintended effects.

Professor Charles Areni (@CSAreni), a Professor of Marketing who was recently appointed Executive Dean of the Faculty of Business, examines men’s traditional role of being the breadwinner, and challenges them to become the Chief Domestic Officer of the family. The subject hits close to home for Professor Areni who co-authored a book on the subject titled The Other Glass Ceiling in 2014.

Professor Sharon Robinson (@Antarcticmoss) is a plant ecophysiologist and climate change biologist who is well known for her research on Antarctic mosses. Professor Robinson’s research studying vegetation on the planet’s coldest continent has helped her and other scientists learn important details about past weather patterns and implications for global climate change. Her talk will share details of how she conducts her research and why it matters.
 

About TEDx, x = independently organised event

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organised events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organised events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organised TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organised. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

About TED

TED is a nonprofit organisation devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or fewer) delivered by today's leading thinkers and doers. Many of these talks are given at TED's annual conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, and made available, free, on TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Monica Lewinsky, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Sal Khan and Daniel Kahneman.

TED's open and free initiatives for spreading ideas include TED.com, where new TED Talk videos are posted daily; the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as translations from thousands of volunteers worldwide; the educational initiative TED-Ed; the annual million-dollar TED Prize, which funds exceptional individuals with a "wish," or idea, to create change in the world; TEDx, which provides licenses to thousands of individuals and groups who host local, self-organised TED-style events around the world; and the TED Fellows program, which selects innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.