The event took place on the 21st of February as part of The University of Edinburgh's Innovative Learning Week. The theme of the conference was Thinking in Abundance. This theme encompassed the scarcity and abundance of resources, new definitions of want and need, and fresh perspectives upon problematic issues. Thinking in Abundance was about looking again at problems and instead of seeing them as a deficit, using what we do have to make connections, find inspiration, and solve issues.

Teviot Row House
13 Bristo Square
Edinburgh, Edinburgh, City of, EH8 9AJ
United Kingdom

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Assaad Razzouk

Assaad is the Chief Executive of a global sustainable resource developer and operator, Sindicatum Sustainable Resources and a leading international voice on climate change policy. Believing the current climate change movement to have failed, he has become a leading campaigner for decarbonisation and international responsibility for the environment, proposing new ways to tackle the critical issues we face.

Craig Macfarlane

The Co-Founder of Bugs for Life, Craig presents an unusual solution to the growing global food crisis - insects. Craig draws on his time studying bug-eating in Africa and South-East Asia to deliver this inspiring and entertaining talk.

Faith Liddell

Faith is an experienced director, producer and project manager who has worked in key strategic and creative roles across theatre, literature, music, film and visual arts for the last 25 years specialising in festivals. Since 2007 Faith has held the role of Director of Festivals Edinburgh, the organisation designed to take the lead on the joint strategic direction of all 12 of Edinburgh’s major festivals and to sustain Edinburgh’s pre-eminence as the world’s leading Festival City.

Gareth Williams

Gareth is a composer who has written for Scottish Opera and many more, but has been heavily involved in a project with the respiratory ward at Glasgow's Gartnavel Hospital where they created songs and an opera for people suffering from Cystic Fibrosis. CF patients cannot physically spend time together so it was done over the Internet and Skype.

Holly Maltby

Holly is in her 4th year at Edinburgh University and is studying Philosophy and Theology.

Johanna Holtan

For the past five years, Johanna has worked with students on global citizenship and social innovation projects at Edinburgh University - including launching TEDxUniversityofEdinburgh in 2012. She is also co-founder of CycleHack and Penny in Yo' Pants, and believes in the power of giving people the opportunities to create and prototype their own solutions.

Jolyon Mitchell

Jolyon is Professor of Communication, Arts and Religion at Edinburgh University. His work has focused on peace building, violence and arts in warfare. Before his post in the university he was a journalist for the BBC world service.

Jonny Ross-Tatam

Jonny studies History at the University of Edinnburgh. He is the founder and president of the Buchanan Institute, Scotland’s first student-led think-tank.

Lilly Asch

Lily Asch

Lily Ash

Raymond MacDonald

Raymond MacDonald

Professor MacDonald is the head of the School of Music at Edinburgh University. Improvisation and the psychology of music in particular music, health & wellbeing are his main interests within the field. He is a jazz saxophonist & improviser and likes to investigate the boundaries and ambiguities of conventional "classical playing".

Sethu Vijayakumar

Sethu is Professor of Robotics at the university’s world renowned School of Informatics. His work is in the field of robotics and in particular bionics and how they can be utilised in the future.

Steve Earl

Steve’s passion is to engage in a collaborative society where everyone has the opportunity to thrive and participate. Past projects have focused on the importance of communicating science in an educational and entertaining manner, helping to create an ethos of learning and creativity. Steve's talk will focus on his Non-Fiction Science project as he discusses our relationship with creativity & learning in society and how we can use it to change the stories we tell ourselves and create new stories.