In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized 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-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

Sheraton Brussels
Place Rogier 3
Brussels, Bruxelles-Capitale, Région de (fr), Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest (nl), 1210
Belgium

Giselinde Kuipers

Giselinde Kuipers is a sociologist interested in cultural inequalities: how do cultural tastes and preferences contribute to social inclusion and exclusion? In her award-winning book Good Humor, Bad Taste she explored gender and class differences in sense of humor, explaining along the way why women cannot remember jokes. In the past years, she has studied beauty standards. She has done fieldwork in the modeling and beauty industry in five European countries. Moreover, she has investigated the beauty tastes of ordinary people: what do people think is beautiful? Is this related to the standards of the beauty industry? Kuipers analyzes the relation between beauty and social inequality. When people make judgments about beauty, who gains, and who loses? How is beauty related to other inequalities, such as gender, class or race?

Hanna Tervanotko

As a scholar of ancient Jewish literature, Dr Hanna Tervanotko analyzes the role and function of women in antiquity. Her recent monograph Denying Her Voice: The Figure of Miriam in Ancient Jewish Literature, examines the image of one female figure in the Jewish Scriptures and asks what to what extent literary traditions on women reflect historical realities. Tervanotko builds bridges between women of antiquity and women of today: What can the ancient text tell us about women and moreover why gender equality matters in science?

Leanne Kemp

Leanne Kemp, originally from Australia is a serial entrepreneur, currently the founder & CEO of Everledger - a digital, global ledger that tracks and protects items of value. With a wealth of successful startup companies under her belt, Leanne is pushing boundaries in protecting the global market of diamonds and luxury goods. After 20+ years in the tech sector, from RFID to Supply Chain to Advertising (adtech), with multiple successful exits to both International and Public Listed companies, Leanne turned her mind to expanding horizons and focused on developing an International Business portfolio in the epicentre of global finance, London. She is passionate about technology and innovation and her ambition is to bring transparency and provenance to other high value goods such as rubies, fine art, gold and high-end watches, helping to tackle fraud and deter theft.

Lode Dewulf

Lode Dewulf has always wanted people to feel better. A trained physician, he increasingly realized that outcomes for patients will only improve if medicine is done WITH people. Today he strongly advocates that integrating the patient perspective is a key requirement for bettering care. Eager to challenge the status quo, Lode is on the front-line of work that looks to harness the changing ecosystems and cultures within healthcare. He seeds new solutions and spearheads co-creation initiatives that address issues such as pregnancy and medicine and patient engagement - and is determined to help reignite that elusive sense of purpose in the pharma industry. He joined the pharmaceutical industry in 1989, working to improve knowledge around treatment options for a number of high-profile diseases. In 1999, he co-founded PlanetMedica, the first European healthcare internet portal for the general public. He now works as Chief Patient Affairs Officer at UCB in Belgium.

Michele Levoy

Michelle leads PICUM’s work in advocating, monitoring and raising awareness of undocumented migrants’ human rights towards European and global institutions. In the past 14 years, Michele has supported and helped undocumented women in Belgium who are struggling to have basic access to healthcare, for being victims of home abuse or have faced exploitation at work places.

Rosie Spinks

Rosie Spinks is a freelance journalist born in Los Angeles and based in London. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, VICE, NPR, Quartz, Fusion, Marie Claire, and others. Frequently writing about gender issues and female-centric narratives, Rosie has reported and written about everything from sex workers in South Africa and menstruation health in Madagascar to Instagram models and the homeless community in London. She started her interview-focused blog, the Mouthy Women Project, to give permission to other women in media and creative industries to forget being likeable and start being mouthy.