Jowan Österlund

biohacker

Jowan is CEO at Biohax International, Swedish company that focuses on biohacking, bodyupgrading and implant development. Digitizing met Jowan’s experience in easthetic modification and professional piercing some 3,5 years ago creating a new discipline. The time of human digitizing is here and Jowan is a global advocate for it being conducted safely and controlled. Having made most digital implants in the world today and with a global network of partners he cannot wait to see what is down the line. With a first goal of making human everyday interaction with digital enviroment seamless and completely customized, Jowan is staying busy all over.

Why we invited him?

Everybody likes to discuss what the future will look like. Autonomous cars, trips to the space, AI mastering the emotions. One of such prospect is human cyborgs. But what if the future is already here and is being created every day? For example, in Sweden, it is normal to have chips inside your body that allow you to open the doors to your office by swiping the hand. In Slovakia, most of us believe, that this will never be common. But do you see a parallel with cars or internet?In the past, no one could predict that one day we all would be driving cars or using internet. (Monika Pohlová)

Iveta Chovancová

social worker

Iveta is a field social worker and director of the civic association Odyseus. In the streets of Bratislava she works with people who inject drugs, and women working in the sex industry. With her team they aim to help these people become equal members of society and live a better quality and healthier life. In addition, she actively represents the region of Central Europe in the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network in order to bring innovation in the care of people who use drugs and Slovakia. Thanks to the experience abroad Iveta believes that the community has the power to joint problem solving, which inspired her to launch an initiative in which people taking drugs involve themselves today. In defending the rights of people working in the sex industry she points out the recommendations of the World Health Organization and the experiences of the women, who provide sexual services for money.

Why we invited her?

Freedom of choice. The phrase, which we use to pretify the zeitgeist so much that we have alomst vulgarized it. For example, we say that everyone is the sole owner of their body, and yet we all tend to condemn others for the way they use their bodies. And what disgusts us the most is the sex industry. But how is it possible that some countries have decriminalized it? Maybe it really is “a profession like any other” after all – if the system works with it properly. (Dominika Babulicová)

Caspar Addyman

psychologist

Dr Caspar Addyman is a developmental psychologist who studies how babies learn about the world. He is lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London and a decade spent working at the world-renowned Birkbeck Babylab. He specializes in the study of learning in the first few years of life and have researched such topics as how we learn our first words, our first abstract concepts and how our sense of time develops. His Baby Laughter project has surveyed families all over the world to find out just what causes little giggles. Caspar has undergraduate degrees in Mathematics (Cambridge) and Psychology (London) and a PhD in developmental psychology (Birkbeck). Before moving into academia he worked as chef and then spent eight years working on financial trading floors. First as a trader and later as a software developer. He has a written a novel about a retired psychologist & a failed comedian and is currently working on a popular science book about laughing babies.

Why we invited him?

My two-year-old daughter has a good mood from morning till night. She consideres funny a lot of things and it’s very contagious. Mostly it changes the whole day for me, too. Caspar’s research attracted me because he shows that smiles and laughs are key competencies in the first few months of life. And I have no doubt that it is same at a later age, too, and that we have something to learn from our children in this respect. Last but not least, like laughing babies, Caspar’s good mood is very contagious. (Dana Retová)

Lucia Molnar Satinska

Lucia Molnár Satinská

linguist

Lucia is a linguist and her research is focused especially on multilingualism in Bratislava and Slovakia. She is interested in the processes that affect the maintenance and loss of certain languages. She started to learn Hungarian when she was 15 years old and today, Hungarian, alongside with Slovak and English, belongs to her everyday work and personal languages. She has a close relationship with the object of her research, she virtually uses all senses when studying languages. Therefore the dividing line between her work and personal life is blurred sometimes. According to Lucia, languages cannot be separated from their speakers, and thus her work has not only scientific but also social aspect.

Why we invited her?

My mother’s family lives in Bohemia, part of Czech republic, where my mother was born. For my growing up in two lingvistic worlds meant to mix words from two languages, which are very similar, but still very different. Curiousity and love for language still remained with my until today. I am completely fascinated by all those new words, which keeps appearing in language and yet I am interested in those old, which are still not completely lost. At least not accordiny to my grandma, she still uses them. 🙂 (Karolína Chromíková)

Slava Epstein

Slava Epstein

microbiologist

Slava Epstein is a Distinguished Professor at the College of Science, Northeastern University in Boston, U.S.A. For the past 15 years, Slava’s lab has been working on one of the most intriguing biological phenomena: why 99 % of microbial diversity has gone missing from the lab. The basic and applied potential of this microbial “dark matter” is unprecedented, and so his lab has focused on, developed, and reduced to practice innovative approaches to sample and utilize this pool of unexplored species. These approaches created a novel platform for drug discovery that beats the industry standards by orders of magnitude.

Why we invited him?

My friend Eva is a pharmacist. Generally, she posts very few articles on social networks, so when she shared an article about Slava’s research, I knew it had to be something interesting. I read the story and I was very impressed by Slava’s DIY approach that goes completely against the current high-tech trends, but especially the potential that this research has for all of us. (Dana Retová)

Tomas Brngal

Tomáš Brngál

med graduate

Tomáš Brngál is a graduate of the Faculty of Medicine of Comenius University. Together with Miloš Svrček of FEI STU, he is the co-founder of start up Virtual Medicine, which has been developing for almost three years the unique human VR application called Human Anatomy VR. This educational app is designed for students of medicine and doctors, working on the principle of virtual reality. A month after its release for the Samsung GearVR platform, it was dowloaded by thousands of people in 114 countries around the world.

Why we invited him?

It is amazing to watch Tomas when he talks about the linking of technology to the world of medicine. Tomas decided to set up a startup alongside the demanding medical study, which is admirable. Using virtual reality, he is trying to help students better understand abstract things from the books of anatomy. Virtual reality has the potential to complement the curriculum in books. I believe that Tomas’s passion and love for what he is doing will also be transferred to the viewer. (Monika Pohlová)

Robert Coombs

technologist and strategist

For over a decade, Robert Coombs has built and led the technology, web, communications, public affairs and government relations teams for well-respected state and national nonprofit organizations. With his background as a lobbyist, technologist, strategist, and spokesman(ist), he has had the opportunity to lead efforts on a range of social and political issues including criminal justice reform, innovations in healthcare, and the role of technology in society. And he also loves to automate everything – including his own job hunting.

Why we invited him?

Have you ever seen TEDx talk by Amy Webb who hacked online dating? So, Robert attempted for something similar when he was looking for a job and realized that the candidates selection of leading companies is fully driven by automats. How to trick a robot to find a job? Build your own bot! I cannot wait for Robert to tell the results of his experiment at TEDxBratislava so we all can apply it into our ordinary lives 🙂 (Dominika Babulicová)

Ivana Šáteková

artist

Ivana was born in 1984 in Bratislava. She is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava, the Department of Painting and Other Media at Professor Daniel Fischer. In 2013 she was the finalist of the Slovak round of the Essl Art Award CEE. In 2014, she was awarded the Tatra banka prize for art, for the exhibition I am thirty and I have no plan, exhibited in the Danube Gallery, in which she ironied the present generation of thirties, their superficiality and their “obstruction” in their own lives. In her work she uses painting and drawing inspired by comics and photographs found in books or the internet, but she also works with other media. Typical for her is the uncompromising humor, and irony that she expresses on topical social issues. Her favorite themes include folklore and folk traditions that she connects with the world today, and on the basis of which she demasks some deeply rooted paradoxes and absurdities in Slovak society. She is a member of the Dzive drawing trio.

Why we invited her?

Art has a lot of functions. One of them is the reflection of reality. Ivana is doing it majestically. After all, we might be firstly laughing at her work, but after thinking, we realize that some of the pictures are directly related to us. And we often do the things she is portraiting. Ivana’s attentive perception is a feedback to us all. Ivana, through her work, portrays some of the typical features of the Slovaks, which are not always liked by everybody. But I do believe that her talk at TEDxBratislava 2017 will appeal to everyone. (Monika Pohlová)

AirGym

acrobats

The AirGym is an acrobatic group of professionals in their field who has already performed in almost every country in Europe and many Asian countries. AirGym has its headquarters in Prague since 2012, its founder is Tomáš Pintér, acrobat, lecturer, production and show rigger. Tomáš is also a PhD student at Karl University, where he studies the security in acrobatics shows in the field of Biomechanics. AirGym specialties are mainly aerobatic shows, their main strength is height. Their highest performance so far was 30 meters above the ground.

Why we invited them?

I met Tomas on the hills in the High Tatras, we hiked a few hills, drank a few beers, and we have not seen each other since. And this friendship ended up as a “+1” friend on the social network… But not having this option, I would never have found out what his passion was. Acrobatics on any instrument thrills and amazes me at the same time and I can never decide which of these feelings convinces my adrenaline to never experience the acrobatics. I am glad that Tomáš and AirGym members are convinced and that their performance will set the level of our adrenaline in perfect comfort. (Peter Jančár)

Scott Bedley TEDxBratislava

Scott Bedley

educator

Scott Bedley is a “punk-rock” educator looking to question the norms of how education works. He is a deeply passionate educator on the west-coast of the United States. This award winning teacher has been working to create researched based learning formats to support education globally for the past 23 years. He is a founding member of Skype’s Master Teachers group focused on connecting classrooms around the world in an effort to create a more collaborative global community. He was highlighted for his efforts in Microsoft’s Global #Empowering Campaign as well as featured by top news sources across the United States such as the Wall Street Journal, O Magazine, Vox, NPR, The NY Times, The LA Times and on CNN. He’s the co-founder of Global School Play Day www.globalschoolplayday.com and the Technology Applied Science Fair. Scott is looking to change the world by impact students lives by reaching their hearts and minds.

Why we invited him?

“Do you know what you just liked?” Recently, I’ve had an urge to ask this question too many times. If you understand why, and even more if you don’t, you need to hear Scott’s story! He taught his 5th-graders to spot fake news and verify facts in the era of too many information and doubtful sources. And the activity has been such a success for children that now they play a national competition with their peasants. Will Slovakia get inspired? 🙂 (Dominika Babulicová)

Jessica McCabe TEDxBratislava

Jessica McCabe

youtuber

Jessica is the creator and host of How to ADHD, a popular YouTube series focused on educating and supporting ADHD brains around the world.  It’s designed as an ADHD toolbox: a humorous and heartfelt mix of research-based strategies and lessons learned from her own journey into ADHD adulthood. Jessica was selected as a spokesperson for CHADD (Children and Adults with ADD/ADHD), and her work has been featured by ADDitude Magazine, Today.com, Upworthy, and more. She posts new episodes for her 100,000+ subscribers every Thursday at her Youtube channel called HowtoADHD.

Why we invited her?

When I was a kid, I was unstoppable, hyperactive, had problems staying focused and most of time I got bored very quickly and that of course caused me problems at school. My teacher said to my mother, that she should be more strict in my upbringing, because it is unacceptable to disturb the classes and she treated my like some kind of the villain. Back then I didn’t understand what was “wrong” with me and teacher showed no compassion at all. Later, when I grew up I realize that we are maybe a little bit different than the others, but it shouldn’t stop us in studying at university or having our own businesses, being successful. The reason why I invited Jessica to be one of our speakers it that even in 2017 there are still many misleading information and myths surrounding ADHD here in Slovakia and it about the time to clear them up and help ADHDers leading normal life 🙂 (Karolína Chromíková)

TEDxBratislava, Patricia Cernakova

Patricia Černáková

certified permaculture designer

Permaculture is a system of sustainable agriculture principles centred around simulating natural ecosystems. As a daughter of permaculture pioneer in former Czechoslovakia, Patricia was in contact with permaculture from her early childhood. She studied Garden and Landscape Architecture at Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra. She dedicates most of her professional time to designing gardens, public spaces and landscapes, as well as to lecturing about permaculture, organic gardening and eco architecture and publishing articles on the topic. She has helped to build a number of school and community gardens (at Bratislava Water Company, Devínska Nová Ves, Jakubovo sq. in Bratislava, Zvolen, …) and eco-centres (Polomy Zaježová and Sosna). She lives in a countryside settlement near the village of Hrušov, in south-central Slovakia.

Why we invited her?

I’ve lived greater part of my life in apartments. When my family and I moved to a family house a few years ago, all of a sudden I had a piece of land to take care of. What to do with it? The idea of an immaculate lawn didn’t excite me, but nor did the outlook of endless hoeing. Then I read a book about bio gardens and discovered the beauty of permaculture. It’s fascinating to watch day-to-day the changes of this functioning mini ecosystem and, on top of that, to be able to just pick a fresh radish for breakfast. 🙂 Patricia is the most renowned permaculture expert in Slovakia and what she does goes far beyond just growing fresh radish. When we discussed the principles of well-functioning ecosystems I realised that many of these principles can be equally well applied to human communities. That’s why I’m very happy that Patricia, in spite of expecting a baby very soon, accepted our invitation to talk at TEDxBratislava. (Rastislav Geschwandtner)

TEDxBratislava Jarmila Bednarikova

Jarmila Bednaříková

historian

Doc. PhDr. Jarmila Bednaříková, CSc. works as historian at the Institute for Classical Studies, Faculty of Philosophy of the Masaryk University in Brno, the Czech Republic. Migration in the history of humankind is the cornerstone of her academic work. She participated in foreign research stays and conferences, among others, at universities in Germany, Poland, Austria, Sweeden, and the United Kingdom. Her 100+ expert publications mainly deal with the history of antiquity, social issues in the Roman Empire, the Great Migration, history of the Franks, or the Hun civilisation. Moreover, she composed a textbook of prehistory and antiquity for elementary schools, and also a historical novel from the late antiquity “Powerful Empire’s Autumn Years” (Brno, 2004).

Why we invited her?

Fear sells. “What’s gonna happen to us?”, red bold headlines scream. There comes the new, the alien, the unknown. What do they want in here, at all? In fact, WE’ve been here since… long ago. I switch off the TV, switch off internet. I don’t fear the loss of my identity, but I do have fear of hysteria and myths; fear of a discussion where emotions dominate the reason. Nevertheless, the history of humankind is interlaced with migration. Many migration waves in the past were much greated than the present one. Despite that, we are here, in rich Europe. We often forget that, in the past, we also run away while searching for a better place for our life. Just as dozen of cultures did before us. Historian Mrs. Bednaříková talks about migration extremely interestingly. Her story clearly shows that migration waves can end up both, quite well or badly. It’s our choice which way to take. (Marek Plavčan)

tedxbratislava veronika rybanska

Veronika Rybanská

anthropologist

Dr. Veronika Rybanska received her D.Phil from the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Oxford in 2016. She is a developmental psychologist and anthropologist who has conducted fieldwork at multiple sites in the UK, Slovakia, and Vanuatu. Her work focuses on cognitive development, education, and issues of migration and integration. Her research on cross-cultural cognitive development has been published in high impact journals and she is currently working on developing of computational models and simulations of the cognitive mechanisms she has researched in the field.

Why we invited her?

I remember wanting everything and having it immediately when I was a kid. Even these days I often struggle with this problem. However, the older I get the more I try to look into the future and resist certain temptations. Sometimes I even manage to halt my emotions and delay instant gratification with a vision of a greater future gain, but I still can’t quite control it. Veronika Rybanská, an anthropologist of Oxford, travelled to Oceania to study how children from other cultures learn to resist temptation. (Šimon Šiplák)

tedxbratislava eva mosnakova

Eva Mosnáková

WW II survivor

She was born in Brno in 1929. Her father came from the Jewish burgess family, mother from craft-peasant Czech family. After the suppression of the Slovak National Uprising, she hid with her parents at the farmstead Laciház of brave husband and wife of the Conrads family. After Slovakia was occupied by Germans, her family was threatened because of their Jewish descent. Dramatic events occurred when SS-man Zimmermann from the Seredi Concentration Camp came to Močenk to search for the hidden Jews. The family had to leave a safe hideout at Laciház. The brother of their rescuer’s wife cared for them. He became her husband after the war. Even in post-war years, her life was marked by a new dictatorship. The husband was unjustly sentenced to the uranium mines in Jáchymov. Her fate was so markedly marked by the noble, brave people who inspired her to – as opposed to hate speech, greed and lies – to the grace, to help others without the right to reward, to the side of truth and humanity.

Why we invited her?

Eva Mosnáková is a living example of how much can be found in life after a great loss. When we want to. (Zuzana Kováčová)

tedxbratislava ester wiesner

Ester Wiesner

jazz musician

Ester Wiesnerova is a Slovak vocalist, composer, lyricist and educator. She fuses jazz with Slovak traditional and classical music, while adding a little bit of a folky singer/songwriter flavor. She a senior at Berklee College of Music, majoring vocal performance and jazz composition, where she is a part of the prestigious Berklee Global Jazz Institute. The Forbes magazine listed her among 30 most successful Slovaks under the age of 30 and she was awarded the title “the Best Newcomer of the Year” in the competition New Faces of Slovak Jazz. The general Slovak public knows Ester mainly thanks to a TV competition, The Voice of Czechoslovakia. She was also recognized for her volunteer activities – organizing fundraising events on behalf of disabled children, concerts in prison and rest homes, and music workshops for children.

Why we invited her?

Ester is talented and passionate about music. But she’s more than a musician. Walking towards her dreams, she seeks to utilise her precious experience at home, in Slovakia. Greatly inspiring is not merely her voice, but also her life energy. (Marek Plavčan)