Queen’s University Belfast shares sustainability expertise in TEDx talks

Engineering our Sustainable Future is a public event and brings together global experts – including staff, students and alumni - from the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences.

The experts will deliver a series of short talks in partnership with the globally recognised TED brand. The event, which will cover a wide range of topics under the theme of sustainability, will be broadcast on Queen’s University’s YouTube.

Building on the success of three previous TEDxQueensUniversityBelfast events, this will be the first to focus on research from a single faculty.

In her talk Can bees help us to design sustainable supermarkets? Emma Campbell, Research Fellow in Architecture, will offer food for thought using the analogy of a beehive as an alternative to a circular supply model for supermarkets.

In Why we need net zero engineers, Professor David Rooney, Dean of Internationalisation and Reputation, Queen’s School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, will explore the need for engineers to be actively involved in addressing the global challenges of today.

In Flying boats – the race to decarbonise maritime transportation, Research and Development Engineer at Artemis Technologies, and Queen’s alumna, Dr Katrina Thompson, will link Belfast’s maritime heritage with an exciting innovative vessel to be produced in Belfast. The vessel will combine America’s Cup hydrofoiling technology, a Formula One electric drivetrain, and aerospace autonomous flight control systems.

Chemical Engineering PhD student, Ralph Lavery from The Bryden Centre, will explore the use of ammonia from the ancient world to aiding the modern transition to a global hydrogen economy in his talk, It’s Complicated: The History of Ammonia and the Human Race.

Other speakers include: Head of School, School of Natural and Built Environment, Professor Greg Keeffe: Accelerating the decarbonisation of neighbourhoods. Co-Founder, The Why Elephant and Adjunct Professor of Disruptive Leadership at KEDGE Business School, Professor Matthew Anderson: How Leaders win and lose the transformative Power ofTtrust and Institution of Mechanical Engineers ‘Young Member Visionary of the Year’ and CEO of her own start up Pleotek, Anastasia Perysinakis: How Engineers Will Transform Healthcare.

The free event is open to the public, but registration is required.

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