TEDxSalford

Salil Shetty – Secretary General of Amnesty International

Salil Shetty joined Amnesty International as the organization’s eighth Secretary General in July 2010. A long-term activist on poverty and justice, Salil Shetty leads the movement’s worldwide work to end the abuse of human rights. He is the organization’s chief political adviser, strategist and spokesperson and takes Amnesty International’s campaigns to the highest level of government, the United Nations and business.

Salil Shetty is leading an ambitious growth project for Amnesty International with plans to strengthen the human rights movement in the developing world and emerging economies. This comes at a time when human rights are dominant in the news agenda, inspired by the popular uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. Prior to joining Amnesty International, Salil Shetty was Director of the United Nations Millennium Campaign from 2003 to 2010. He played a pivotal role in building the global advocacy campaign for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals – eight goals to fight poverty, illiteracy and disease.

Ken Shamrock – The World’s Most Dangerous Man

Kenneth Shamrock is an American mixed martial art legend, UFC Hall of Famer and former WWE/TNA wrestler. With Shamrock’s unparalleled impact on the sport as a fighter and wrestler, he can only be described as an icon. Best known for his participation in the Ultimate Fighting Championships, The World Wrestling Federation, Pride Fighting Championships, Pancrase, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, no other fighter possesses the credentials that have rightfully earned Shamrock the title coined by ABC of “The World’s Most Dangerous Man.”

Ken, garnering no less than 14 World and other Major Championships, holds the distinction of being the very first athlete elected to the UFC Hall of Fame. Ken’s involvement in children’s issues brings his own story full circle.  He meets often with various organizations that share his commitment to troubled children, and he freely donates his time to meet with kids in schools, juvenile facilities, recovery centers, hospitals, and churches wherever he travels. Ken currently heads a new project in the Northern Nevada Desert that will eventfully house and care for over 200 at- risk boys and girls, passing on the education, training, hope, and encouragement that Bob Shamrock bequeathed to him so many years ago.

John Robb – Renowned Punk Rock Musician & Music Journalist

John Robb is the vocalist for the punk rock band ‘Goldblade’. Based in Manchester, he has also written several books on music and frequently appears as a journalist/commentator on documentary/light entertainment music shows.

Robb was inspired by the DIY ethic of punk to form Membranes in 1977, the band releasing several albums in the 1980s. In 1994 he formed Goldblade, who have released several albums including 2005′s Rebel Songs and 2008′s ‘Mutiny’ and single “City Of Christmas Ghosts” featuring Poly Styrene on shared vocals. Robb has appeared as a pundit on many television programmes including Channel 4′s “top 100″ shows, BBC’s I Love the 60s/70s/80s/90s series and Seven Ages of Rock, as well as offering expert pop culture opinion on several TV debate shows and both BBC and Channel 4 news. He has contributed to BBC 2′s The Culture Show as well as several appearances on TV documentaries, and he is also a regular on BBC radio commenting on pop culture. He has been a regular contributor to Sky’s The Pop Years and co-produced and presented a ten-part series on the history of punk rock.

Etienne Stott – London 2012 Olympic Gold Medallist from TeamGB

In keeping with the TEDxSalford tradition, we are pleased to confirm our mystery speaker’s appearance  for this year’s conference.  Our mystery speaker for TEDxSalford 1.0 in January 2012 was confirmed to be none other NASA Astronaut Ron Garan who had just returned from a six month stint aboard the International Space Station the previous month.

This year’s mystery speaker is also someone who has achieved an extraordinary feat in the previous couple of months. He/she was part of Team GB’s squad for the London 2012 and is one of the few sportspeople to have achieved the distinction of winning a gold medal for Britain in these Olympics. The speaker had also recently battled a severe career threatening injury which almost ended his/her sporting career. The only other hint we will give you at this stage about his/her identity is that this Olympic Champion’s hometown is none other than our very own Manchester!

Julie Meyer MBE – Founder and CEO of Ariadne Capital

Julie Meyer is one of the leading champions for entrepreneurship in Europe. With over 20 years investment and advisory experience helping start-up businesses, she is the well known founder & CEO of Ariadne Capital, co- founder and Managing Partner of the Ariadne Capital Entrepreneurs Fund, founder of Entrepreneur Country and co-founder of First Tuesday. Julie has added a successful media career to her business commitments, recently joining BBC’s Online Dragon’s Den, in addition to her regular contributions to Business Week, Computing, FT Digital Business & Spectator Business.

She sits on the Boards of  INSEAD, Medikidz, Vestergaard Frandsen and Jellybook. In 2011, she was asked to be on the  Secretary of State’s Entrepreneurs Panel and the Secretary of Health’s Innovation Panel. In  2012, Julie was honoured to receive an honorary MBE, for her ‘services to entrepreneurship’.

Joe Incandela – Team Leader of the Higgs Boson Experiment at CERN

Professor Joseph Incandela is the head of the CMS Experiment at CERN – the experiment aiming to determine the presence of the Higgs Boson. He is the first scientist from a U.S. institution to be elected spokesperson of an experiment at the LHC. The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment is one of the two experiments running on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN to determine the existence of the Higgs boson. Professor Incandela leads the experiment which has between roughly 3,000 scientists from 179 institutions in 41 countries. He had earlier co-led the search for the “top quark” at CERN and his work was instrumental in the final discovery of the top quark in 1995.

On July 4 2012, Joe Incandela made the historic announcement to a worldwide audience during a press conference at CERN that a new particle resembling the Higgs boson had been discovered – “We know it must be a boson and it’s the heaviest boson ever found,” were the memorable words uttered by him during the announcement.

Debra Searle MBE – Adventurer & TV Presenter

Debra Searle is a renowned British adventurer, author and TV presenter. The media worldwide went crazy for the story of the 5ft 5″ young lady who carried on rowing the Atlantic solo when her husband, an experienced oarsman, left the boat after developing an uncontrollable fear of the ocean. Yet, she dared to believe and 111 days later she rowed into Port St Charles, Barbados, to a rapturous welcome. Debra, who was loving life at sea in a 23 foot plywood boat, saw no reason to stop and rowed on to become the youngest and only the third woman in the world to have rowed an ocean solo.

Debra Searle is also an extremely successful businesswoman and became Managing Director of her first company at the age of 23 and today manages to combine business with her life-long ambition to be a professional adventurer. Other adventures have included sailing around Antarctica, the longest canoe race in the world, L’Etape du Tour, and setting a new world record for crossing the channel. Debra is the author of two books and is a regular presenter for the BBC with credits including Grandstand and Extreme Lives.

Geoff Burch – The Alternative Business Guru

Geoff Burch is a bestselling author and leading business expert. Geoff Burch has a wealth of experience in illustrating the thinking required to find business success. He was voted Best Business Communicator of 2011 by the UK Speechwriters’ Guild and speaks regularly for a variety of corporate clients. His books cover such diverse topics as the art of persuasion, commonsense in business and self employment.

As a regular contributor and presenter on television and radio, Geoff is also the star of the recent hit business show on BBC television, All Over the Shop, which focused on small businesses helping them to survive and thrive. His humorous style and easily explained advice worked well and created a strong following amongst the independent business community. As a prolific writer, Geoff has many chart-topping business books published around the globe and is commonly hailed as the most original guru in business.

Paul Zenon – Britain’s Leading Trickster

Paul Zenon is Britain’s leading magician – and funny with it. He has performed in around thirty countries in every conceivable location. He has literally hundreds of television appearances to his name including three top-rating hour-long one-man specials on Channel 4 and one on ITV. Paul has appeared in venues ranging from the Mirage, Luxor, Orleans and Tropicana Casinos, Las Vegas, to an aircraft carrier in the Adriatic, and a London Palladium Royal Variety Show to the back of a truck in a Bosnian war zone.

Paul Zenon appears regularly in the media as an authority with regard to all things weird and wonderful, including the history of Variety and magic (with Houdini as a speciality), the paranormal (as a sceptic) and con-men, scams and hustles. Paul is a long-term favourite on the international comedy club and corporate circuits and in recent years has had recent sell-out appearances at festivals in Edinburgh, London, Brighton, Auckland, Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne, both with his own shows and as a regular in the Olivier Award-winning La Clique.

Sir Ian Wilmut OBE: Leading Cloning Pioneer

Sir Ian Wilmut is a world-renowned embryologist and specialist in regenerative medicine. He is best known as the man who led the team that in 1996 first cloned a mammal, a Finn Dorset lamb named “Dolly”. Dolly was the first ever clone derived from an adult cell. The research resulting in Dolly’s birth stemmed from efforts to genetically engineer sheep and cows in order that their milk would contain human proteins with medicinal properties, such as human antibodies.

More recently he was the founding Director of the Centre for Regenerative Medicine in the University of Edinburgh. The Mission of this rapidly expanding Centre is to develop new treatments for human disease through innovative research with stem cells. The new Centre covers the full spectrum of research – from basic mechanisms of stem cell biology, to clinical trials with stem cells and their derivatives. The aim of his own research is to be able to produce human cells for use in research and in future for treatment of diseases, such as motor Neuron Disease. In his talk he will describe the way in which the cloning research has provided revolutionary new opportunities in regenerative medicine.

Ray Hammond – Europe’s Most Experienced Futurist

Ray Hammond is one of the world’s most experienced and most widely published futurists. For over 30 years he has researched, written and spoken about how future trends will affect society and business. As global warming, globalization and the environmental threat continue to be priorities on the world’s agenda, Ray is one of a few commentators equipped to communicate how these massive challenges will affect our futures, the way we do business and the far reaching implications both socially, economically and politically.

Ray is a visiting lecturer at the Institute for the Future of Humanity, University of Oxford, a visiting lecturer at the London Business School and a contributing editor to the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory at the University of Maryland, U.S.A. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (F.R.S.A.). He is also a globally published novelist (Macmillan) whose three recent high-tech futuristic novels have won world-wide critical acclaim. In 2010 Ray was awarded the Medal of the Italian Chamber of Deputies for his services to futurology.

Martin Hall – Vice-Chancellor at University of Salford

Professor Martin Hall is a historical archaeologist and strategic leader. He took up his present role of Vice-Chancellor of the University of Salford in August 2009.

Professor Hall joined Salford from the University of Cape Town where he was Deputy Vice-Chancellor for six years. He has a career that has spanned both political change and transformation in South Africa and new directions in archaeology over the past four decades. He has written extensively on South African history, culture and higher education policy.

His current areas of focus include open access and innovation, inequality and its consequences and post-conflict mitigation and mediation. He writes weekly on these and other issues at his blog.

Jim Al-Khalili OBE – Physicist & Award Winning Science Communicator

Jim Al-Khalili  is a professor of physics, author and broadcaster based at the University of Surrey where he holds a chair in the Public Engagement in Science. He is active as a science communicator and has written a number of popular science books, between them translated into over twenty languages. He is a regular presenter of TV science documentaries, including the Bafta nominated Chemistry: A Volatile History, and presents the weekly Radio 4 programme, The Life Scientific. He is a recipient of the Royal Society Michael Faraday medal and the Institute of Physics Kelvin Medal.

He has also presented Atom, a three-part series for BBC Four, The Secret Life of Chaos, and Science and Islam, covering the leap in scientific knowledge that took place in the Islamic world between the 8th and 14th centuries. He’s also a regular on Radio 4 and on the BBC’s Horizon programme.

Akala – Renowned English Rapper & Poet

Akala is a renowned English rapper, poet, and journalist. Emerging from London’s hip-hop underground, in 2006 Kingslee ‘Akala’ Daley) won the MOBO ‘Best Hip-Hop’ award for his debut album “It’s Not A Rumour”.  Since then he has released his second album “Freedom Lasso” and toured extensively in the UK and around the world. He has also found the time to take his own energetic and original workshops all over the country working for clients such as the BBC, London Metropolitan Archives, Times BFI London Film Festival and various schools/youth clubs around the capital.

Breaking down the culture of cliché and stereotype that smothers the genre he loves is a major part of the mission he’s taken on, and gives impetus to this third album of pointed, perceptive hip hop music from the convention-defying emcee. Akala has performed at various UK festivals including V Festival, Wireless, Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Parklife and Isle of Wight.

Felicity Goodey CBE – Former BBC Journalist and Presenter

Widely known as the “woman who brokered the deal to bring  MediaCityUK to Salford,” Felicity Goodey is a former senior BBC journalist and presenter who discovered a passion for regeneration. She led the team which funded, built and established the country’s most successful arts-based millennium projects, The Lowry theatre and gallery complex. After ten years of leading The Lowry she was asked by Salford City Council to help set up a much bigger regeneration project and now chairs Central Salford, the largest Urban Regeneration Company in the country. In 2006/7 she led the consortium which won the highly contested bid to relocate a major part of the BBC to the North and devised the concept of mediacity:uk, a globally significant new media hub.

Felicity’s business career included founding, with colleagues, the Unique Communications Group, a broadcast production and corporate communications company; she was for many years a non executive Director of Nord Anglia PLC. She is a governor of The Manchester Grammar School, a director, and past President of the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce & Industry, and a council member of Salford University. Honours include a number of honorary degrees, together with the CBE for services to regeneration and an honorary fellowship of the RIBA.

Davide Swarup – Renowned Percussionist and Pioneer of the “Hang”

Davide Swarup is a leading Italian percussionist and one of the world’s leading pioneers of the “Hang” Drum. The “Hang” is a percussion instrument with melody invented in 2000 by PANArt, an evolution of the steel pan. Family name “Hand pan”. It is produced by the two inventors, Sabina Scharer and Felix Rohner, in a limited production in Bern.

Davide went to India in 2000 and discovered his skills in drumming – and he listened for the first time, the Indian santoor, live! He returned to Italy but came back to India in 2002 to buy a santoor and decided to become a musician. In March 2005, a friend of his introduced him to the “Hang” and he fell in love with the instrument. His first three years were a full intense solo playing to discover the instrument and develop his touch. He hasn’t stopped since. He has become one of the leading pioneers of the “Hang” and has toured several continents performing live around the world. He will be giving a full blown performance of the “Hang” at TEDxSalford 2.0.

Dr. Andrew Cooper:  Academic Director for MediaCityUK

Dr. Andrew Cooper, former Associate Dean (Academic) in the College of Arts and Social Sciences is currently the Academic Director for MediaCityUK. During an 18 month secondment to the role, Andrew will work with Brian Longhurst, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Media and Digital Futures, and Jon Corner, the University’s MediaCityUK Director, taking responsibility for the leadership and management of all academic activity at our MediaCityUK facility.

Andrew has been leading the University’s MediaCityUK work-stream on Curriculum and Academic Delivery since September 2009, determining the programmes and research to be conducted from our new facility.

Diarmuid O Neill: Chief Executive of Retrak

Diarmuid O Neill is the Chief Executive Officer of Retrak, an organisation that works with street children in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. Enabling them to find a viable alternative to street life back in the caring environment of a family. Diarmuid has now worked in the Voluntary Sector in the UK & Internationally with youth organisations for over a decade, after beginning his career as a research scientist examining global warming.

Diarmuid has been involved in 2 global coalitions – Safe Families Safe Children, promoting alternative care for street children; and in the Way Forward Project making recommendations to the US government on caring for street children. Retrak is also a member of the Beyond 2015 Campaign seeking to bring highly vulnerable children into the post-Millennium Development Goals agenda.

Andrew Thorp: Founder of Speakeasy/MojoLife

Andrew Thorp is a professional speaker, author and communication skills coach. He co-founded MojoLife, a training and consultancy company based in Manchester (UK) that uses storytelling to help companies become more distinctive and attractive. Andrew also interviews extraordinary people for MojoLife TV, an on-line showcase for inspiring stories of reinvention and creative thinking.

Andrew previously worked in the golf industry for 22 years as an interim manager, marketeer, journalist and coach. He refereed in the Ryder Cup Matches, ran golf tournaments worldwide and in 2009 published his first book, examining what businesses can learn from elite athletes about improving performance. Andrew spoke at the TEDxWarwick conference in 2010 and was recently interviewed on Radio 4 about his own story of reinvention.

Zachary Latif: Portfolio Manager at TLG Capital

Zachary Latif joined TLG Capital in 2011 to focus on credit and liquid markets. TLG Capital is a company that invests in frontier markets, specifically Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia & South East Asia. The core focus is directed towards consumer led growth in sectors like healthcare driven by the rising middle classes.

Zachary has traded emerging market debt and is a specialist in hard to value assets. He has also reviewed investment teams on projects as diverse from Uganda’s premier pharmaceutical plant to cancer health care facilities in West Asia to the establishment of a family medicine practice in Liberia (the only surviving clinic in Monrovia after the civil war in Liberia). Zachary has been invited to speak at numerous conferences and  has a widely-read monthly newsletter on asset allocation within the credit markets. He holds a Masters degree in Finance achieved at the age of 18 from Cass Business School in 2003.

Prof. Anthony Redmond OBE: Co-Director, Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute

Prof. Tony Redmond has been involved in international emergency medical assistance for over twenty years, responding to natural disasters, major incidents, conflicts and complex emergencies throughout the world. Professor Redmond is Co-Director of the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute, Hospital Dean at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, and Professor of International Emergency Medicine at Manchester Medical School within the University of Manchester. He is also the Emeritus Professor of Emergency Medicine, Keele University, Staffordshire.

He is Director of the UK international Emergency Trauma Register which aims to improve the training and accountability of those who respond to large scale emergencies overseas and Chairman of the Foreign Medical Teams working group at WHO. He has recently been appointed by Manchester Academic Health Science Centre to head up its global health initiative, has an impressive track record of involvement in international emergency medical assistance, spanning over two decades – most recently when he headed up a medical team in China following the 2008 earthquakes and again in 2010 with the Haiti earthquake.

Speakers from TEDxChange 2012 (Livestream):

Melinda Gates: Melinda Gates serves as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She helps set the overall direction of the foundation, shaping strategies, reviewing results, and advocating for the foundation’s issues. Melinda will discuss family planning and how the power to plan changes the lives of women and their families and improves whole societies.

Jeff Chapin: Jeff Chapin is a mechanical engineer and product designer for IDEO. He specializes in designing sanitation solutions for the developing world and has conducted projects in both Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Jeff will challenge traditional perceptions of ‘design’ by emphasizing the importance of sustainable, market-based systems for developing societies.

Sven Giegold: Sven Giegold is a Member of the European Parliament and one of the founding members of Attac Germany. Sven has dedicated much of his career towards green industry issues. He will talk about the power of collective action and how the actions of individuals, communities, and progressive business can lead to critical changes at a national and international level.

Theo Sowa: Theo Sowa is an independent advisor and consultant, specializing in international social development with a particular emphasis on children’s rights and protection issues, especially in conflict situations. She is currently the Interim CEO of the African Women’s Development Fund, a pan African women’s grant making organization. Born in Ghana, she has lived and worked in many countries in Africa, as well as the UK, Europe, and the USA.  Her work includes advisory roles to African and other international women and children’s rights activists and leaders, plus policy development and advocacy with a variety of international agencies and organizations.

Baaba Maal: Baaba Maal is a Senegalese singer and guitarist born in Podor, on the Senegal River. Baaba sings primarily in Pulaar and is the foremost promoter of the traditions of the Pulaar-speaking peoples. He has released several albums. In July 2003, Baaba was made a UNDP Youth Emissary. In March 2012 he visited Mauritania with Oxfam to call attention to the humanitarian need resulting from the food crisis in the Sahel. Also an Ambassador for Nelson Mandela’s 46664 campaign, he has become an increasingly vocal champion for the rights of women and girls.

Irene Khan: Former Secretary General of Amnesty International

From 2001 – 2009 Irene Zubaida Khan was Secretary General of Amnesty International, the world’s largest human rights organization. As the first woman & Asian to head the organization, she led the organization through developments in the wake of the attacks of September 11 2001, resisting the backlash against human rights, expanding Amnesty’s work on economic, social and cultural rights, and launching a global campaign to stop violence against women. She is currently the Chancellor for the University of Salford.

Irene has been keen to draw attention to hidden human rights violations. In Australia, she drew attention to the plight of asylum seekers in detention. In Burundi, she met with victims of massacres and urged President Buyoya and other parties to the conflict to end the cycle of human rights abuse. In Bulgaria, she led a campaign to end discrimination of those suffering from mental disabilities.

Dario Autiero: Lead Researcher at OPERA Collaboration

Dario Autiero, of  the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Lyons, France, leads the OPERA Team’s analysis of the faster-than-light neutrino tests at CERN. The Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus (OPERA) is a scientific experiment for detecting tau neutrinos from muon neutrino oscillations. It is a collaboration between CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, and the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in Gran Sasso, Italy.

In September 2011, Dario Autiero of the Institut de Physique Nucléaire de Lyon presented findings that indicated neutrinos were arriving at OPERA about 60 nanoseconds earlier than they would if they were travelling at the speed of light. These results are as of yet unexplained. The experiment was recently repeated with a different technique but yielded similar results. In his talk, Dario will focus on the neutrino velocity results arising from the neutrino experiment and possible explanations for this anomalistic behaviour.

Anne Lise Kjaer: Futurist and Trends Specialist

Anne Lise Kjaer is a renowned global futurist. She delivers out-of-the-box thinking and is a sought after inspirational speaker. Anne Lise works with some of the world’s leading brands including ACNielsen, Nokia, IKEA, Sony, Toyota, Unilever,and McKinsey. She has an exceptional eye for ‘the next big thing’ and an original and inspiring way of translating fledgling concepts into viable commercial propositions.

The Financial Times wrote: “Anne Lise’s unique world vision is as fertile as Dali’s only she creates social prototypes based on nascent trends”. In particular she facilitates a new understanding for the consumer of the future, Anne Lise says: ‘if the challenge is to create clarity out of complexity then that means getting to know – and identify with – your customers. Only then can you understand what they will want from you.’ Today her client base numbers over 200 international corporations. Despite her global vision, Anne Lise retains strong links with her home country, where she is regarded as a leading commentator.

Col. Ronald Garan: Mystery Speaker

Ron Garan is a NASA astronaut recently returned from a six month mission of exploration and scientific research onboard the International Space Station as a flight engineer for Expeditions 27 and 28, traveling 65,340,224 miles in 2,2624 orbits around the Earth during 164 days in space.  During his mission, Garan participated in his fourth spacewalk, working outside in the vacuum of space for six and one half hours. He completed his first spaceflight in 2008, as a Mission Specialist on Space Shuttle Discovery, when he accumulated 20 hours and 32 minutes in three spacewalks.  A retired Colonel in the United States Air Force, Garan is a decorated fighter pilot, a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Engineers Without Borders, and founder of the Manna Energy Foundation.

In addition to being a space explorer, Ron has a strong belief in the ability of social entrepreneurship and appropriately targeted philanthropy to solve many of the problems we face here on Earth. His life is committed to using the perspective of living and working in space to improve life for all.

John Robb: Vocalist for GoldBlade

John Robb is the vocalist for the punk rock band “Goldblade”. Based in Manchester, he has also written several books on music and frequently appears as a journalist/commentator on documentary/light entertainment music shows..

Robb was inspired by the DIY ethic of punk to form Membranes in 1977, the band releasing several albums in the 1980s. In 1994 he formed Goldblade, who have released several albums including 2005′s Rebel Songs and 2008′s ‘Mutiny’ and single “City Of Christmas Ghosts” featuring Poly Styrene on shared vocals. Robb has appeared as a pundit on many television programmes including Channel 4′s “top 100″ shows, BBC’s I Love the 60s/70s/80s/90s series and Seven Ages of Rock, as well as offering expert pop culture opinion on several TV debate shows and both BBC and Channel 4 news. He has contributed to BBC 2′s The Culture Show as well as several appearances on TV documentaries, and he is also a regular on BBC radio commenting on pop culture. He has been a regular contributor to Sky’s The Pop Years and co-produced and presented a ten-part series on the history of punk rock.

Dawn Gibbins: Entrepreneur, MBE

Global Champion of Change Dr Dawn Gibbins MBE is the daughter of great British inventor Peter Gibbins, Dawn achieved worldwide business success with her father when they set up the environmental transformation institution Flowcrete in the early 1980’s. It grew from being a small start-up family business to a global giant, flooring the world of commercial and public environments from NASA to the 02 Stadium. Flowcrete has 30 offices globally and 12 manufacturing plants – Flowcrete’s strap line is ‘ For the world at your feet’ yep that’s all they did … flooring, seamless flooring.

Honours for her success include being crowned the Variety Club of Great Britain’s Legend of Industry, awarded Bank of America Businesswoman of the Year, Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year, Most Influential Person in British Manufacturing and the youngest industrialist to be invested with an MBE for Services to UK Industry.

Ed Stafford: Explorer – Amazon Man

Ed Stafford became the first person to walk the entire length of the Amazon River in August 2010. His adventure has been described as one of the most dangerous and difficult expeditions ever undertaken encountering venomous snakes, severe floods, electric eels, jaguars and hostile local tribes, one of whom held him for questioning about the murder of one of their tribesman. Since returning home to the UK his story has featured in over 300 articles around the globe.

Ed’s Amazon accomplishment has been described by Sir Ranulph Fiennes as being “in the top league of expeditions past and present”. In February 2011 Stafford was a nominee for the National Geographic Adventurer of the Year 2010 and then in March the same year he was awarded European Adventurer of the Year 2011. The Guinness World Records formally recognised Stafford’s achievement and he appears in the 2012 Guinness Book of Records.

Tom Hingley: Former lead vocalist of Inspiral Carpets

Vocalist Tom Hingley first emerged amidst the groovy fury of Manchester’s “baggy” or “Madchester” scene in the late ’80s as a frontman for the group Inspiral Carpets. After such vaunted Mancs as the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays, the Carpets were one of the prime movers of that scene (and outlasted both of those other combos). Hingley went on to form a group called the Lovers with Jerry Kelly of the Lotus Eaters, then dropped out of sight, even working for a catalogue company for a time.

Hingley re-emerged in the new millennium as an acoustic singer/songwriter with his debut solo effort, Keep Britain Untidy. He followed that with another solo effort, Soulfire, continuing to tour extensively and to play gigs with the Lovers, who often featured Inspiral Carpets classics in their set list.

Prof. Trevor Cox: Renowned science communicator

Trevor Cox is a British academic and science communicator, a Senior Media fellow for EPSRC, and is President of the Insitute of Acoustics for the 2010-12 period. Cox has presented a range of popular science documentaries for BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 3 and BBC World Service, including Sounds of Science, Aural Architecture, Life’s Soundtrack, Science vs Strad, The Pleasure of Noise, World Musical Instruments, Dragon’s Lab, Biomimicry and Save our Sounds. He was co-originator and judge of BBC Radio 4’ ‘So You Want To Be A Scientist?’, a competition to find Britain’s best amateur scientist.

He has gained worldwide news coverage for stories such as “Does a duck quack echo?” and “The Worst Sound in the World”. He has also investigated the World’s scariest scream. In addition, he has appeared in features on BBC1, Teachers TV, Discovery and National Geographic channels, and as an expert in news items on a variety of television and radio channels.

Julie Summers: Author, Historian, Broadcaster

Julie Summers is an author, historian and broadcaster with wide experience of writing about and interviewing people who have experienced extreme situations.  She has worked with mountaineers who have climbed and returned from the world’s highest peaks, and written about those who have not.  She has interviewed men who worked on the Death Railway in Thailand as prisoners of the Japanese in the Second World War and with people who have been affected by war in childhood.

Her interest is in how people cope with these experiences once they return to everyday life.  A compassionate interviewer and practiced listener, Julie inspires confidence in her interviewees and has teased out some of the most extraordinary stories of survival and inner strength from men, women and children.  In her talk ‘This Game of Ghosts’ she explores some of these experiences and asks whether memory can be trusted and how much our own personal narratives are shaped by our perception of reality.

Stephen Venables: Renowned British mountaineer

Stephen Venables is a mountaineer, writer and broadcaster who prefers the untrodden path – he is the first Briton to have climbed Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen. Nearly all his Himalayan expeditions have been to previously unclimbed peaks. In the case of Everest, others had been there first, so he climbed a new route, without oxygen equipment, and established a new altitude record for surviving a night out in the open.

He has published twelve books, taken part in numerous television films and has just returned from his third crossing of South Georgia – on this occasion following other steps – Sir Ernest Shackleton’s. He has a horror of committee meetings, but couldn’t refuse the invitation to be president of the world’s oldest mountaineering association, the Alpine Club, during its recent 150th anniversary.

Dr. Heather Whitney: Award winning biologist

Dr Heather Whitney is a molecular biologist by training, but now uses ideas from across the scientific spectrum (from optical physics to beekeeping) to study plant-animal interactions. As both a researcher and speaker, she hopes to show that plants are much more sneaky than is usually suspected – they have to do everything that animals do (from finding a mate to coping with predators) but manage it without moving. Heather and her work have been featured on Radio 4′s Material World and The Naked Scientist.

As a scientist, Heather has won awards for her research and has recently been awarded a L’Oréal-UNESCO UK and Ireland for Women Award in Science Fellowship. She spent several years as a researcher at the University of Cambridge before moving to the University of Bristol.

Dr. Umut Kose: Researcher at CERN

Umut Kose is a leading researcher at the OPERA Experiment at CERN. The OPERA Experiment result on “the measurement of the neutrino velocity” has hit the headlines starting from June 2011. In this talk, Umut Kose will give a background talk about the history of  the OPERA Collaboration and their groundbreaking experiment.

Umut Kose was awarded his PhD in 2006 on the analysis of “antineutrino charm production and anticharmed pentaquark search in the CHORUS experiment”. Following his Ph.D. he worked as a PostDoc Fellow at Nagoya University, Japan, on the OPERA experiment analysing neutrino events recorded in the Emulsion Cloud Chambers (ECC). He is currently an INFN Fellow at Padova University, Italy, where he continues to search for neutrino oscillations in direct appearance mode in the ”nu_mu–>nu_tau channel.”

Benedict Allen: Pioneering Explorer & TV Filmmaker

Benedict Allen, one of Britain’s most prominent explorers, is best known for his arduous expeditions to remote corners of the globe without the help of any technology back-up and surviving against all the odds in adverse conditions. By not using a film-crew and pioneering the use of a hand-held video camera, he allowed millions of people around the world to witness for the first time adventures unfolding genuinely in inhospitable terrain and has paved the way for the current generation of TV adventurers.

Benedict Allen has experience of surviving adversity in some of the world’s most remote location. An accomplished adventurer, he uses his experiences to inspire and motivate audiences around the globe to achieve their own personal goals and shows that is it possible to succeed even when faced with adversity. “Benedict is part of the history of television” says Mark Thompson, Director General, BBC. With that rare ability to enthral and educate audiences with a great story, Benedict’s presentations are a balanced mix of entertaining anecdotes and inspirational messages where he guides audiences through a world of adventure and emotion.

Prof. Vito Di Bari: One of Europe’s most renowned futurists

Vito Di Bari is an acclaimed futurologist and an authority on innovation. Mixing Italian strengths of creativity and design with strong scientific analysis, he explains future mega-trends and scenarios of our fast-pace changing world. He is the Innovation Designer of Milan’s World Expo 2015. He is recognized worldwide for his numerous innovative theories, and multitude of published works.

Exploring the future of technology applied to everyday life, Vito shows you how our lives will change and why. Connecting recent discoveries in media, nanotech and robotics, he explains how corporations and individuals will change their behaviours and attitudes. He expertly analyzes for his audiences the intersections between the future success of trends and the adoption of innovations and their impact on our lifestyles.