TEDxLeidenUniversity 2018: Building Bridges

Seun Bakare

Seun Bakare talks about his experience at the African Commission in protecting LGBT rights. With his experiences he wants to encourage the audience to follow their conscience in difficult situations. Over the past 10 years, Seun Bakare actively practiced law at the African Union’s human rights organ, the International Criminal Court and other organizations. He has gained experience in governance and democracy, human rights and rule of law, LGBTI and PLHIV advocacy as well as all aspects of public international law. With his work at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, he significantly contributed to the protection of gay and lesbian rights on the African continent.

Raphael Rodan

In this talk Raphael will explore these questions by sharing a memory from his childhood. A moment resulting in a loss of innocence, a moment when the first bricks of this invisible wall appeared inside his mind. Raphael Rodan was born in Israel, a country known for its’ abundance in stories, many loaded with messages of violence and separation. Growing up in these circumstances inspired Raphael to use stories to another end. Can storytelling be used as a tool in the overcoming of national conflicts?

Karin van der Tuin

Karin van der Tuin talks about the past and future developments of DNA research. Based on a live experiment, she will confront the audience with the ethical dilemmas that need to be solved by society. Karin van der Tuin is a medical doctor and PhD candidate at the department of Clinical Genetics at the Leiden University Medical Center. Her research focusses on the genetic background of rare endocrine tumors, in particular thyroid cancer in children and young adults, but she gained national attention with two projects during Lowlands Science: Thrill-seeking gene and DNA-dating.

Rosalinde Spitters

Rosalinde confronts the audience with the culture of stress that exists within universities and society in general. Based on this, she will present the tools in which students and staff can change university culture for the better. Rosalinde Spitters knows what is going on within the walls of academia when it comes to high stress levels and is willing to lobby for change. Through her work, she has witnessed its enormous effects on one’s life: mentally, socially, and physically, causing unhealthy lifestyles not only among students but also among her colleagues or other employees. Connecting all these stories, Rosalinde inspires us to unite and create a change to improve the well-being our universities create.

Stephan Holwerda

Stephan will talk about why politics based on identity is not effective, through his own personal experiences and different philosophers like John Rawls. He will use the example of Yemen to illustrate the problematics of identity politics and to make students doubt about using identity politics in their own environment. He notes that the idea of classifying one’s own political views to and with an identical social group is an idea shunned upon in less-developed nations but is slowly gaining wide-spread attention in western countries. Stephan hopes to draw light on such contrasts and other issues related to racism, sexism and religious extremism through his own stories and personal identity.

Thomas Sharp

Thomas Sharp talks about his multidisplinary background, which has given him the opportunity to do some unique reserach. His wide-ranging interests and desire to combine different fields of research have led him to study various subjects including biochemistry, chemistry, structural biology and bionanotechnology. This has given him a strong multidisciplinary background and approach towards diverse subject matters such as, for instance, the research on the immune system. His projects include studying how to connect self-made DNA nano-templates with the immune system for it to destroy cancer cells and eventually cure the disease.

Timo Schmidt

Timo Schmidt talks about his experiences while making a documentary about the European refugee crisis, which he undertook on a bike. Based on his experiences, he gives the audience the tools to create their own narrative on events in the news via three steps: perspective, distance and frame of reference. Timo Schmidt is a former student of Leiden University, currently studying at the University of Oxford for a MSc in Migration Studies. Two years ago, he started a unique project together with his friend Florian Volz: Refugee Roads.