Lily James Olds and Leonie Hoerster host the Bezos Scholars salon at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 9, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
The first-ever TED Salon co-created in partnership with the Bezos Family Foundation featured incredible ideas from the Bezos Scholars — extraordinary young people thinking about the future of education, human rights, financial systems and more — as well as some special TED Fellows guests. The result of a years-long collaboration between the Bezos Scholars and TED Fellows, this energetic, future-facing TED session showcased the organizations’ shared belief in and commitment to socially engaged innovation and human ingenuity.
The event: TED Talks from the Bezos Scholars, hosted by TED Fellows co-director Lily James Olds and senior program manager Leonie Hoerster
When and where: Friday, September 9, 2022, at TED World Theater in New York City
Comedy: From TED Fellow and comedian Negin Farsad, who opened the salon with a stand-up set that hilariously tracked what’s happened over the last couple of pandemic-fueled years.
Joshua Roman and Matthew Garcia perform at the Bezos Scholars salon at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 9, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
Music: From TED Senior Fellow, cellist and classical rockstar Joshua Roman and Bezos Scholar and violist Matthew Garcia, who closed out the session with a stirring rendition to the first movement of Beethoven’s Eyeglasses Duo.
The talks in brief:
Joel Baraka speaks at the Bezos Scholars salon at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 9, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
Joel Baraka, refugee education innovator
Big idea: Gamifying school curricula can help get students in refugee camps get excited about learning.
How? Going to school in a refugee camp is complicated: students encounter crowded classrooms, a rigid curriculum and limited access to teachers. Joel Baraka grew up in the Kyangwali refugee camp in western Uganda and remembers that what he liked best about his school years were the hours he spent outside the classroom playing soccer with his friends or the card game Spades. That’s why as an entrepreneur, Baraka wanted to find a way to “gamify” the learning experience for other refugee students. He presents the educational board game he created, 5 STAZ, that schools in Kyangwali now use as a daily part of schoolwork to help students master their curriculum – and have fun while doing it.
Meghan Hussey speaks at the Bezos Scholars salon at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 9, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
Meghan Hussey, disability inclusion advocate
Big idea: Despite the global conversation around inclusive societies and workplaces for all races and genders, people with disabilities are still routinely excluded from education and employment. Making up an estimated 15 percent of the world’s population, their potential contributions remain unknown and unexplored. It’s time to build an inclusive future for people with all different kinds of abilities.
How? Meghan Hussey, a disability inclusion advocate and Global Development and Government Relations Director for the Special Olympics, believes that everyone benefits when people with disabilities are allowed to thrive — and the only thing holding them back from that is our own attitudes towards “those people.” According to Hussey, an inclusive future is four steps away. First, we must re-examine our assumptions and stereotypes around disability. These arise from the lack of disabled people in our everyday lives, and that lack is largely due to a lack of accommodations. Second, we must actively remove barriers and invite people with disabilities into our lives and organizations. Third, we should recognize how other exclusion issues — gender-based violence, health care accessibility — intersect with each other. And finally, we must listen to the voices of people with disabilities, because they will tell us what’s needed to remove the barriers keeping them from mainstream society.
Matthew Garcia speaks at the Bezos Scholars salon at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 9, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
Matthew Garcia, education equalizer
Big idea: To break down racial, class and geographic barriers, nonprofits should think virtual.
Why? A Latinx son of immigrants from a small Texas border town, Matthew Garcia grew up loving to play the viola but living far away from classical music meccas like New York and Chicago. Through years of intense practice and community support, Garcia overcame the odds, traveling with other elite young musicians to tour four continents and play Carnegie Hall – but then he hit a wall. One of the best violists in the world told him he would never succeed as a professional musician: he hadn’t started early enough and hadn’t gotten the private lessons he’d needed, the violist explained. He had missed out on key resources that gave his peers an edge. Garcia never gave up the viola, but this devastating advice changed his life and spurred him to action. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he founded a virtual nonprofit that provides free virtual private lessons to thousands of youth outside of major US cities. By broadening our ideas about what nonprofits can accomplish in the digital age, Garcia says, we can break down geographic, economic and racial barriers to historically exclusive fields like classical music, art and research.
Miguel Goncalves speaks at the Bezos Scholars salon at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 9, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
Miguel Goncalves, impact investor
Big idea: Millennials and Gen Z are set to become the richest generations in history — inheriting 30 trillion dollars’ worth of economic rewards in the coming years. But they’ll also inherit climate change impacts, global instability and a huge and growing wealth gap. Investor Miguel Goncalves believes that wealth can be leveraged to solve these problems through ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investments, which weigh environmental and social costs and benefits in their return calculations. But how can investors overcome the inertia and bias that many old-guard investors hold towards ESG investments?
How? Recent data suggests that about half of institutional investors consider the benefits of ESG investing to be unproven at best, or unclear at worst. Goncalves thinks that institutional investors are guided by expectations as much as by data, and when it comes down to it, “expectations create reality” — in other words, ESG investing won’t work if people don’t believe in it. To change expectations, Goncalves believes analysts could alter financial metrics to focus on what really matters to each industry, rather than cherry-picking the data that makes companies look good. In addition, financial forecasts should weigh potential blowback from environmental irresponsibility, social scandal or wealth inequality. But what Goncalves believes we really need to make ESG investing work is trust: a belief that companies that do good will be around longer, perform better and, in the end, create sustainable wealth.
Okong’o Kinyanjui speaks at the Bezos Scholars salon at the TED World Theater in New York City on September 9, 2022. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)
Okong’o Kinyanjui, pan-African LGBTQIA+ advocate
Big idea: In many African countries, outdated colonialist laws make it dangerous for LGBTQIA+ people to share their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. In response, online communities are becoming vital safe spaces to combat hate and help people find the support and resources they need to thrive.
How? Okong’o Kinyanjui co-created the Queer African Network, an online platform aiming to provide every queer African with access to verified opportunities, mentorship, fundraising and support. Through a three-week probation period on the network, community leaders are able to authenticate account holders, keeping bots and blackmailers out of private group chats and events. Once safety is established, the community can offer connections and mentorship, moving people closer to financial stability, without sacrificing their identity. There’s also space for queer Africans to share their stories, creating an archive of their lived experiences that can be used to allocate resources. Through constructive online spaces, communities can challenge oppressive systems and create new structures that prioritize collaboration over discrimination.
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The TED Fellows program grows in size and impact each year, welcoming 20 new champions of change into its global community after applications open. Now in its 13th year, with more than 530 Fellows from over 100 countries worldwide, Fellows are innovating within every field imaginable — climate change, biology, technology, education, human rights, the arts and more.
Every day, in every corner of the world, utterly original and potentially ground-shifting ideas are abandoned because the people attempting to activate these ideas are not supported. The TED Fellows program aims to change that, to shift the balance of power by supporting the whole human — both personally and professionally — through connecting people and networks, providing access to tools, professional development and resources, and providing a platform to amplify the work and efforts of these visionary individuals.
What kind of groundbreaking work are our Fellows doing in the world today? Read on to find how the ideas that the Fellows are advancing are the “tip of the spear” of what’s new, what’s coming, what’s needed and what’s possible. The TED Fellows program’s open application makes it possible to find innovators that might be otherwise undiscovered — innovators like you.
Applications for the 2023 TED Fellowship are now open, and you can apply today through June 30, 2022*.
*Note: Our application closes on June 30, 2022 at 11:59pm UTC. We invite you to read important updates about the Fellowship program and this year’s application, find answers to frequently asked questions, follow @TEDFellow and meet all the TED Fellows to learn more about the breadth of this global community.
Become a TED Fellow
People tend to have a passive relationship with the future. Some can’t wait for it to arrive, expecting the best. Others wish it would never come, fearing the worst. Either way, most of us accept that the future is out of our hands.
But not all of us. There are an idealistic few who understand that the future doesn’t just happen. That, for better or for worse, it’s made. What’s more, they have an idea or two for how it should be made. To make the world a little better. Or to keep it from getting worse. They are optimists and activists, artists and inventors, dreamers and doers. The passion in their hearts is matched only by the fire in their eyes. And the more of them we meet, the more certain we are that the future is in good hands.
Does this sound like you? If so, you should apply to be a TED Fellow.
Since the TED Fellows program started more than a decade ago, it has supported and amplified the work of more than 500 founders of the future, who are advancing humanity through visionary action and impact. Our global community of Fellows are innovating within every field imaginable — conservation, technology, human rights, education, climate change and the arts, just to name a few.
TED Fellows are remarkable, passionate and imaginative individuals positively impacting their communities. If you’re at work on a future-shaping idea, we encourage you to apply today.
To learn more about the program, read on below, and take a look at some of our most frequently asked questions. You can also meet all the TED Fellows to learn more about our global community of more than 500 changemakers who are shaping a better future for all of us.
Apply today! The deadline is June 30, 2022 at 11:59pm UTC. We are unable to accept late applications. We look forward to hearing from you.
What happens when I’m chosen as a TED Fellow?
What are the requirements?
You must have…
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The 2022 TED Fellows at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2021 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Session 2 of TED Fellows talks brought us yet another incredible group of individuals doing wildly different things in wildly different places. Eleven speakers and one performer took us across the globe to share their bold plans for social impact, technological innovation, cultural shifts and more.
The event: Talks from Session 2 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022, hosted by TED’s Shoham Arad and Lily James Olds
When and where: Sunday, April 10, 2022, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada
Speakers: Channing Gerard Joseph, Clementine Jacoby, Jawad Sharif, Adjany Costa, Olga Kitaina, Wiatta Thomas, Robert Katzschmann, Albert Cahn, Heejae Lim, Kiana Hayeri, Melaku Belay
Music: With infectious rhythms, “Blinky” Bill Sellanga delivers another killer set of his songs “Jam Now Simmer Down” and “Dracula” to open up the session of talks.
“Blinky” Bill Sellanga performs at TED Fellows Talks Session 2 at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
The talks in brief:
Channing Gerard Joseph speaks at TED Fellows Talks Session 2 at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Channing Gerard Joseph, author, queer culture historian
Big idea: Learning Black queer history is crucial to understanding our shared history.
Why? Black queer communities have largely been erased from history — perceived as immoral, deviant and even dangerous. Thus many don’t know how Black queer people have shaped American history — people like Bayard Rustin who organized the 1963 March on Washington or Francis Thompson who helped shaped the course of Reconstruction and support for the 14th Amendment. Take the fight for queer liberation, for instance. The accepted narrative is that it all started with the Stonewall Inn uprising, which sprouted Pride celebrations … but that isn’t exactly true, says Joseph. The foundation of self-acceptance and solidarity needed for the courageous, confident community to take root had been fostered long before thanks to William Dorsey Swan, the first drag queen. Joseph shares the little-known yet storied history of Swan and the birth of drag, tracing its origins back to the Emancipation Day Parade, a celebration of freedom for Black Americans. Today, drag is mainstream, from documentaries like Paris Is Burning to television shows such as Pose and RuPaul’s Drag Race, without much of a nod to its revolutionary beginnings. The power to choose how we define ourselves is more important than ever. As long as the term queen lives on, it pays homage to a century-and-a-half long celebration of African American liberation, says Joseph. But that also begs the question: How many other Black queer stories have been erased from historical record, and what could those stories teach us about who we are?
Clementine Jacoby speaks at TED Fellows Talks Session 2 at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Clementine Jacoby, criminal justice technology entrepreneur
Big idea: Despite checking all the boxes and meeting all the requirements, hundreds of thousands of people are stuck in prison or on parole due to the faulty, incomplete databases that form the backbone of the criminal justice system. By connecting these stale and scattered databases, we can get these people out of the prison system and help ensure they stay out.
How? From policymakers to parole officers, everyone in the criminal justice system agrees that bad data keeps people stuck in the system. The reason is simple: vital information related to drug testing, fines, housing and employment is kept in siloed and stale databases, leading to information bottlenecks. Tracking down all the data requires a level of time and energy that is difficult to maintain by parole officers due to their already overwhelming work schedules. At Recidiviz, an engineering nonprofit, Clementine Jacoby works to connect the five databases that control parole and release eligibility. One of her tools helps parole officers identify who is eligible for parole, who is missing a final requirement and who needs the most help. They launched the tool in Idaho, and after just six months, five percent of people on parole and probation were moved to lower levels of supervision — or out of the criminal justice system entirely. Data won’t entirely fix the US criminal justice system, but it can help the 200,000 people stuck in it due to slow data, offer corrections leaders new ways to gauge program success and inform policymakers of better ways to understand the impacts of both new and engrained justice system laws.
Jawad Sharif speaks at TED Fellows Talks Session 2 at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Jawad Sharif, documentary filmmaker
Big idea: Documentary film is a space for debate and dialogue that challenges the danger of reducing reality to a singular story.
How? As a filmmaker, Jawad Sharif amplifies the unheard voices of his homeland Pakistan. “I decided to show this richness by telling the stories of communities that didn’t fit in the single narrative of my country — a narrative that dictates how we have to think and how we have to live.” says Sharif. His filmmaking has led him to the second-highest mountain in the world, K-2, where he followed the path of Pakistani mountaineers like Hassan Sadpara, who make dangerous treks carrying the luggage of foreign climbers. His art introduced him to Faqeer Zulfiqar, one of the only musicians in Pakistan who plays the ancient boreendo instrument. It also led him to Sarah Gill, Pakistan’s first transgender doctor — a massive achievement in the face of discrimination. Sharif’s documentary films give voice to the free thinkers of his country. By countering a narrative that nurtures fundamentalism, he uses this medium as both an act of defiance and an act of creation.
Adjany Costa speaks at TED Fellows Talks Session 2 at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Adjany Costa, Indigenous conservation champion
Big idea: To preserve key ecosystems around the world, global conservation efforts should center the voices of those in communities that are most vulnerable.
How? In places like the Angolan village of Luchaze, generational knowledge, storytelling and ancient wisdom play a key role in community wellbeing — but conservationist Adjany Costa notes that these cultural customs are often left out of environmental conservation strategies. This is what she refers to as “community-based conservation washing.” Similar to the greenwashing associated with many climate actions efforts, it doesn’t consider the environmental, social and economic realities of a place or people. Costa has observed the immediate effects of this exclusionary approach while working in Angola’s Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation area: the KAZA wetlands are teeming with flora and fauna, but its sources in Eastern Angola remain unprotected. Encouraging a new way to think about conservation in Indigenous communities, she asks: What if instead of trying to impose a one-size-fits-all plan on communities, we allow them to use their centenary knowledge to inform policies and practices that are uniquely suited to their way of life? This approach is at the heart of her conservation work, which seeks to empower villagers — like the Luchaze people — to spearhead their own conservation efforts, by teaching them about alternative livelihoods, bridging storytelling gaps that have been created by war and putting the power of decision making back into their hands. Costa acknowledges that while help may come from outside sources, it is ultimately the trust that these communities instill in themselves that will allow them to cultivate a sense of ownership over their land and livelihood. “Lasting conservation comes from within, from believing, from belonging, from dreaming,” she says.
Olga Kitaina speaks at TED Fellows Talks Session 2 at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Olga Kitaina, psychologist, entrepreneur
Big idea: In Russia — with its cultural memory of psychiatry as an instrument of oppression — psychotherapy is a way to move forward from the burden of the past and trauma of the present.
How? During the Soviet Union, psychiatry was often used as a political tool. Since then, Russia has seen major reforms in the use of psychiatry to help instead of traumatize — yet problems remain. Stigmas surrounding mental health endure, and proper channels for support have never been developed. There’s nothing protecting people from scams and fraud, and the lack of proper licensing has allowed the likes of tarot card readers and astrologers to claim the title of psychologist. Kitaina saw an opportunity to remedy that gap and developed an assessment platform to get people the proper professional help they need. As factors such as stress and global issues increase, her goal is to minimize the risk of people giving up on therapy, negatively impacting well-being on both an individual and global scale. On top of that, Kitaina believes that without access to professional help, the biggest losses are the worsening quality of connections between people, the lack of self-awareness and the increase in hatred and violence that flourishes in its stead. Psychotherapy is about more than one individual finding help for their individual issues, she says == when one of us is wounded, all of us share that wound; by knowing ourselves, we become better human beings in our interconnected world, with a real hope of peace.
Wiatta Thomas speaks at TED Fellows Talks Session 2 at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Wiatta Thomas, agribusiness entrepreneur
Big idea: It’s time to abandon the individualistic mindset that often accompanies entrepreneurship and build a better one, founded on working together.
Why? Despite so much money being poured into development in African countries, Wiatta Thomas saw youth failing to launch sustainable agribusinesses due to a lack of access to resources, markets and technology. She recognized this as a symptom of the individualistic entrepreneurial mindset of the American startup scene, and founded Aquafarms Africa — a business incubator that adapts the traditional entrepreneurial approach to a community-focused model. “In attempting to mimic the West, we’ve lost the value of continuing to go forward together,” Thomas says. She and her team share assets like land, water and energy with entrepreneurs looking to launch agribusinesses. This helps farmers grow locally and see an increase in profits in highly sought-after products like yellow and red peppers, lowering the prices for the communities they are being sold to. We need investors to move on from a capitalistic mindset to a mutualistic one, says Thomas, to regenerate the planet, rather than destroy it for short-term profit.
Robert Katzschmann speaks at TED Fellows Talks Session 2 at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Robert Katzschmann, soft-bodied roboticist
Big idea: Instead of building machines out of rigid, noisy materials, let’s build biomimetic machines out of soft, living materials that are adaptive and quiet.
How? Imagine a boat that propels by moving its “tail” from side to side, just like a fish. That’s the kind of machine Robert Katzschmann’s lab builds: pliable-bodied robots that imitate natural movements with artificial muscles. Their biomimetic robotic fish, SoFi, can explore the ocean without propellers, pumping water back and forth inside a deformable tail to imitate the swimming motion of a fish. Now the lab is taking it a step further, outfitting SoFi with artificial muscles that transform electrical energy into movement; when a voltage is applied to SoFi’s “muscles,” they tighten and shorten, just like biological muscle. The possibilities of this technology are thrilling — for instance, robots made of living cells that could heal themselves and proliferate — and promise to more safely integrate into the natural environment while cutting down on noise and pollution.
Albert Cahn speaks at TED Fellows Talks Session 2 at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Albert Cahn, anti-surveillance advocate
Big idea: We’re tracked nearly everywhere we go through the everyday tech we use. The threat is way worse than you imagine, says Albert Cahn — but the solution is simpler than you might think.
How? You may know that advertisers can sell a log of every link you click and place you go on the internet. But did you know the government can buy this kind of data, too? For instance, thanks to commercially available GPS data, the New York City Police Department could buy data on everyone who attended a Black Lives Matter protest, and Texas officials could do the same for visitors to an abortion clinic. And what companies won’t sell, Cahn says, officers can take by force — a product of the US crudely applying its 18th-century Constitution to 21st-century technology. To subvert the immense power this gives the government and police, Cahn proposes “legal firewalls”: laws that wouldn’t fight how our data is collected but rather how it’s exploited by the government. This would look like the creation of new legal codes dictating that our digital lives are outside the bounds of surveillance — and outlawing government data purchases, geofence warrants and police access to other pools of data. Now is the time to take action, Cahn says; otherwise, surveillance will soon be irrevocably embedded into the fabric of society.
Heejae Lim speaks at TED Fellows Talks Session 2 at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Heejae Lim, education technology entrepreneur
Big idea: A parent is a child’s first teacher. We can do a better job of tapping into the incredible potential of families in education.
How? “When teachers and families work together, everyone wins,” says education technology entrepreneur Heejae Lim. Inspired by the tireless efforts of her own mother, who served as de facto translator for Korean immigrant families in their community in England, Lim and her team created a communication app that helps multilingual and underserved families create connections with their children’s teachers in their own languages. Teachers write communications in English and families receive it in their own languages, and vice versa. “We break down the language barrier and bridge cultural and knowledge differences by explaining education concepts and prompting and enabling teachers and parents to talk to each other,” Lim says. All pointing towards the goal of helping the four in five students in the US who come from low-income or immigrant families can thrive.
Kiana Hayeri speaks at TED Fellows Talks Session 2 at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Kiana Hayeri, documentary photographer
Big idea: After a 20-year US occupation and subsequent transition to Taliban rule, the people of Afghanistan continue to face harrowing realities in the face of war and displacement. But many remain hopeful that their country will one day heal.
How? Moved to uncover what life looks like in Afghanistan after its two-decade occupation by the US, documentary photographer Kiana Hayeri traveled across Kabul to chronicle the lives of those who were left to grapple with the aftermath of war. Through a series of vivid images, Hayeri shares what she discovered along the way: a pained mother whose grief was physically debilitating; young sons armed with guns, risking their lives for cause and country; teenagers incarcerated for political charges. In stunning detail, she recounts their stories and transports us to monumental moments — like a military raid on Afghanistan’s National Institute of Music, where a young girl’s dreams of playing music were shattered, and an airport suicide bombing that claimed the lives of more than 100 Afghans. Her journey came to a crushing end the day the Taliban took control of Kabul, and she recalls the mixture of guilt and heartbreak that she felt as she had to leave the country she lived and worked in. Despite death, devastation and deferred dreams, Hayeri hopes for the day when Afghanistan will have the chance.
Melaku Belay and Mehret Mandefro speak at TED Fellows Talks Session 2 at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Melaku Belay, choreographer, dancer
Big idea: Ancient, traditional dances are always in the process of becoming anew. They connect us to the past while they tell stories of the present.
How? Melaku Belay begins with a traditional Ethiopian Eskista dance to the soundscape of Mercato workers pounding recycled metal into new objects in the open-air market. Originating in a moment of danger and improvisation, Eskista is “beauty born out of the desire to survive,” Belay says in his native Amharic, which is translated live onstage by filmmaker and anthropologist Mehret Mandefro, and the sound of the Mercato workers is in honor of the Indigenous trade, knowledge and creativity that thrives there. The improvised Eskista saved the once-homeless Belay when he performed the dance for years in Addis Ababa, dreaming up his present reality of sharing Eskista around the world, telling stories that express a spirit of pride that Ethiopia was never colonized as opposed to stories of hunger or war. Bridging the past, present and future, Belay ends by dancing Eskista to jazz, an African diasporic tradition that resonates with the Ethiopian spirit of freedom. “I love my traditional dance because it is alive in the moment and it leads us to the future,” Belay says.
TED Fellows director Shoham Arad and TED Fellows deputy director Lily James Olds host Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
The TED Fellows program is built around a deep belief in and commitment to socially engaged innovation and human ingenuity. The mission: to shift the balance of power by supporting whole individuals, both personally and professionally. At Session 1 of TED Fellows talks at TED2022, 11 speakers and two performers shared world-changing ideas and innovations from the fields of astrophysics, conservation, social change, art and so much more.
The event: Talks from Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022, hosted by TED’s Shoham Arad and Lily James Olds
When and where: Sunday, April 10, 2022, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada
Speakers: Jessie Christiansen, Adetayo Bamiduro, Gautam Shah, Micaela Mantegna, Ryan Gersava, Enzo Romero, Bree Jones, Lam Ho, Kyra Gaunt, Bektour Iskender, Constance Hockaday
Music: Visual artist and composer Paul Rucker put his strikingly masterful cello technique on display with a haunting yet meditative rendition. And musician “Blinky” Bill Selanga thrilled the audience with his Afrocentric beats and dynamic energy, performing “Kilamu” and “Ama Aje”.
The talk in brief:
Jessie Christiansen speaks at Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Jessie Christiansen, planet hunter
Big Idea: The discovery of 5,000 exoplanets (and counting) is more than impressive; their data could answer timeless questions about our very existence.
How? When Jessie Christiansen joined NASA’s Kepler mission in 2010, she’d already spent four years combing through 87,000 stars, searching for an exoplanet. On her second day of the mission, she’d found her first and second. As of March 2022, 5,000 exoplanets have been found, and the new data means we can finally ask bigger questions: Can planets exist without a star? Can they orbit each other? How many are like Earth? How are planets made? And perhaps most famously: Where do we come from, and how did we get here? “There’s a saying that this generation was born too late to explore the Earth and too soon to explore space. That’s not true anymore,” Christiansen says.
Adetayo Bamiduro speaks at Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Adetayo Bamiduro, motorcycle financing entrepreneur
Big idea: Africa is being left behind in the transition to clean mobility. Motorcycles are the secret to a cleaner, more profitable future for the continent.
How? By 2050, Lagos, Nigeria will outgrow many cities in the world including New York City and Mexico City, becoming home to more than 32 million people. Currently, Lagos and other African mega-cities like it suffer from inadequate road infrastructure, pollution, congestion and poor conditions. One of the many impacted by these issues is the African motorcycle taxi driver, who is excluded from the formal economy, left to the mercy of polluting vehicles and high costs due to exploitative loans sharks. At MIT, Bamiduro met his business partner, and together they embarked on a fix: an integrated approach to the design, manufacturing and financing operations targeted at highly vulnerable informal groups. Broken down into three parts, their solution provides motorcycle taxi drivers with access to electric vehicles and batteries, maintenance and insurance and emergency assistance, helping more than 15,000 drivers renew their livelihoods. By 2025, their goal is to provide electric mobility solutions to 150,000 drivers, paving the way towards a more sustainable and prosperous future for the world’s youngest and fastest-growing continent.
Gautam Shah speaks at Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Gautam Shah, conservationist
Big idea: Wildlife conservation efforts could be more successful if we create and strengthen our relationships with other species. Advanced technologies like the metaverse could play an essential role.
How? “If we want to preserve all life on Earth, we need to create relationships with all life on Earth,” says Gautam Shah, whose combined passion for wildlife and technology makes him acutely aware of the disconnect between humans and other species. Technology has helped us collect lots of data about our fellow non-human inhabitants of Earth, but Shah observes that this data hasn’t been fully contextualized for the millions of people around the world who express interest in wildlife. His solution? A unique digital identity for animals that allows them to exist in virtual spaces like the metaverse, bringing their stories closer to us. By digitally recreating the events that happen in nature — from elephant migration to deforestation — Shah believes that humans could use the metaverse to feel less detached from and more engaged with their natural environment.
Micaela Mantegna speaks at Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Micaela Mantegna, video game lawyer
Big idea: How do we save the metaverse from becoming a bad internet sequel? Basic human qualities of kindness and connection.
How? “The metaverse is here and is already on fire,” says Micaela Mantegna. At a cross-section between augentmented and physical reality, the metaverse has the frightening potential of inheriting the worst traits of the internet, with VR and neurotechnology using involuntary data to create, as Mantagna puts it, “a capitalism of corporeal surveillance.” To save us from this fate, a coordination of engineering and law, based on kindness and connection, must be implemented to ensure content portability across different software environments and identical legal standards throughout. “It’s not every day that humanity has the chance to create new a reality, so, my invitation to you: let’s make it a good one,” she says.
Ryan Gersava speaks at Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Ryan Gersava, social innovator, educator
Big idea: Building a world where all people — including those with disabilities and chronic illnesses — can find belonging starts with healing.
How? Social innovator, educator Ryan Gersava is one of the nearly billion people worldwide living with a disability, which often leads to chronic illness and decreased chances of employment, lack of social protection and extreme poverty. His healing journey led him to start an online vocational school in the Philippines, Virtualahan, which provides training to people with disabilities, recovering addicts and others who struggle to find employment. So far they’ve graduated hundreds of people in more than 60 cities and provinces all over the Philippines, setting them up to earn an average of 40-60 percent above minimum wage. Now he’s calling on organizations to invest in talent with disabilities, and for all of us to investigate our biases around disability and chronic illness, which makes it difficult and painful for people to disclose their conditions. “There’s no need to suffer in silence anymore,” Gersava says. “I invite you to be part of this movement.”
Enzo Romero speaks at Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Enzo Romero, bionic innovator
Big idea: Prosthesis for developing nations should be designed locally, with the needs of the communities they are built for in mind.
Why? As a child born without his right hand, Enzo Romero was astonished and inspired by the prosthetics he would see his favorite movie characters (like Luke Skywalker) wearing. But in his home country of Peru, they are far too expensive for the majority of amputees. With the intent of creating functional and affordable options, Romero and his team at LAT Bionics isolated the most used occupational gestures: pinch, cylindrical and lateral, and designed mechanical and myoelectric prostheses around them. Their devices, such as the Maki, which runs on mechanical activation, and the Pisko, which runs on electronic activation, cost a fraction of what imported tech does. Why? The parts are 3D printed with materials mainly sourced from recycled plastic bottles. “We have the capacity to develop our own technology, having the necessities of our people in mind, so then people with disabilities and limited resources can live life again,” Romero says.
Bree Jones speaks at Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Bree Jones, equitable housing developer
Big idea: Development and homeownership opportunities in overlooked neighborhoods are possible — without the displacement of existing residents.
How? Systemic barriers like redlining have (and continue to) keep Black communities from building wealth through real estate and other assets. Housing advocate Bree Jones explains how developing neighborhoods often are subjected to two trajectories: people move away and the area is deemed a risky investment, so either the quality of life there decays or the neighborhood is gentrified and new residents capitalize off of the distress of legacy residents by scooping up undervalued real estate and selling it back at a higher price. To end these toxic cycles of the racial wealth gap, Jones founded Parity, a nonprofit that creates upfront demand for homeownership in neighborhoods experiencing hyper vacancy by tapping into existing social networks. They’re doing this by leading the purchase and construction of vacant homes and selling them at affordable prices; helping people attain creditworthiness; and preventing displacement, allowing current residents to accrue wealth they can pass on to the next generation. “We’re healing the social fabric of the neighborhood as we’re rebuilding the built environment,” Jones says.
Lam Ho speaks at Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Lam Ho, legal aid activist
Big idea: The way the American legal system works needs to change. Clients deserve to have agency over their own cases in court – and lawyers should support them with their knowledge of the law.
How? As a lawyer, Lam Ho witnessed the same thing happen in courtrooms across the US: clients aren’t given the chance to contribute their perspective during their own legal proceedings. Ho’s mother didn’t have a say in her divorce because she didn’t have an attorney and Ho thought by becoming a lawyer he could help people like her but instead, Ho realized he became a part of the problem. Instead of forcing families with limited resources to accommodate lawyers and their voices being silenced, Ho wants the dynamic of the US legal system to flip. He founded Beyond Legal Aid so lawyers can change the system from within by allowing clients to be participants in the process – rather than be subjected to it. By inviting clients to tell their own stories in court, their own way, justice can be created – even when the law is wrong. “We can give advice and empower them to navigate the law, but ultimately follow their lead and defer to their decisions.” says Ho.
Kyra D. Gaunt speaks at Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Kyra Gaunt, ethnomusicologist
Big idea: Musical play could be an empowering experience for young Black girls through which they can learn to love their own voices and disrupt the trends of anti-Black, patriarchal music.
How? As an ethnomusicologist, Kyra Gaunt studies the consequences of intimate bedroom musical play in Black girls, trying to understand how they could preserve the integrity of their own voices while technology and the media often misrepresent them. After years of viewing thousands of viral dance videos posted to the internet, she has made a few disturbing realizations, like the fact that many girls perform to songs that are produced, engineered and written by men, singing along to lyrics that often express anti-Black, patriarchal sentiments. Music and dance are therapeutic in many ways, particularly for Black girls whose musical play happens during their formative years, but many songs topping today’s charts are peppered with musical mansplaining that can have damaging implications for girls as they grow up to navigate situations like dating. Gaunt believes that Black girls could disrupt the stereotypes and stigmas created by algorithms on online platforms by learning to love their own voice. Whether this means producing their own dance songs or supporting female musicians, they could chart their own revolution in sound.
Bektour Iskender speaks at Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Bektour Iskender, independent news publisher
Big idea: Journalism is a sword and shield against international crime and its leaders.
How? What makes criminal organizations strong? Their strong cross-border connections. They operate over long distances, build efficient logistics and hide their wealth across man jurisdictions. Iskender is one of the founders of Kloop, a self-described, very unusual media organization that reveals these secret operations. Initially a new website and journalism school, Kloop evolved as its students grew older and more ambitious alongside the stories they sought to cover — and became part of an expansive media network reporting on international organized crime. Their investigations put Central Asia on the map like never before. His organization’s work uncovered a corruption scandal that rocked his home country of Kyrgyzstan and sparked protests that eventually forced the president himself to resign, among several other revelations. The story Iskender shares only exemplifies the takeaways he’d like the world to understand. First, journalism networks are incredibly efficient, important and provide safety. Two, support local media organizations all around the world for their unique insights and connections. Recently, Kloop had started to branch out, making a second home in Ukraine. Highlighting his points, Iskender posits that a better linked and funded local journalism collaboration could have saved many lives preceding Russia’s war in Ukraine. Which leads to his third and final point: We must expand the cross-border networks outside of the media world, too. Because every exposed corrupt official, every organized crime leader is a chance to protect our world not only from smugglers and thieves, but also dictators and warmongers.
Constance Hockaday speaks at Session 1 of TED Fellows Talks at TED2022: A New Era on April 10, 2022, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Constance Hockaday, artist
Big idea: To achieve our hopes and goals individually and as a society, we need to fundamentally remodel our leadership styles to be more inclusive, collaborative and compassionate.
How? Though we live in a diverse and ever-changing world, our leadership models are archaic, narrow-visioned and stagnant. To illuminate new modes of leadership, Constance Hockaday invited artists from various backgrounds to design, write, create and perform public addresses as part of her Artists In Presidents project. She learned that leadership begins when one can express their autonomy, agency and desires: we need to be able to believe that our hopes and ambitions for a better world are possible. Belief does not form in a vacuum and it cannot be sustained alone—it’s crucial that we come together to share and build our interconnected dreams. Leadership, Hockaday says, is the ability to listen to these hopes and goals, however fragmented or vague, and guide people towards the truth of what they want and how they can achieve it. Leadership is a commitment to people; it is a way to help those around us understand how their individual dreams for the future are aligned with community-created, shared visions for a better world.
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The TED Fellows program is thrilled to announce the 2022 cohort of TED Fellows, whose work spans five continents and represents 14 countries — including, for the first time, Angola, Ethiopia and South Sudan. This year’s TED Fellows include a technologist making education more accessible for multilingual families, an astrophysicist who discovered 60 new exoplanets in space and a lawyer who made COVID-tracing safe for undocumented communities — to name just a few.
Each TED Fellow was selected for their remarkable achievements, the potential impact of their work and their commitment to community building. The TED Fellows program celebrates its thirteenth year with a network of 532 Fellows from more than 100 countries.
Meet this year’s extraordinary group of 20 visionaries.
Adetayo Bamiduro
Motorcycle financing entrepreneur | Nigeria
Cofounder of mobile delivery platform Metro Africa Xpress (MAX), which provides Africans access to clean vehicles and is improving the current gig economy model. MAX seeks to build labor justice, provide sustainable living wages and fight unemployment throughout Africa by enabling couriers to finance their own motorcycles, tuk-tuks and cars.
Melaku Belay performs an Agew ethnic dance incorporating eskista — meaning “dancing shoulders” — at the Fendika Center. He’s joined by a music and dance ensemble, and an eight-member Ethiocolor band. (Photo: Evy Ottermans)
Melaku Belay
Choreographer and dancer | Ethiopia
Cultural ambassador bringing global attention to the dynamic traditions of Ethiopian dance and music, innovating Eskista dance through original choreography. Belay is the director of the Fendika Cultural Center in Addis Ababa, a venue bringing people together through traditional and contemporary Ethiopian arts.
Albert Cahn
Anti-surveillance advocate | US
Lawyer and technologist fighting the abuses of mass surveillance by state and local governments with the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP). STOP creates exemplary legislative changes in New York, such as making COVID-tracing safe for all residents — including people who are undocumented — and stopping the use of facial recognition software in schools.
Jessie Christiansen
Planet hunter | Australia + US
Researcher at the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, working with vast amounts of sky survey data to find exoplanets and reveal new insights into the nature of the formation of planets.
Adjany Costa
Indigenous conservation champion | Angola
Ethno-conservationist working with the natives of the headwaters of the Okavango Delta to help provide them with legal and economic frameworks for protecting their land, one of the world’s last truly wild spaces, which also protects the waterways that serve millions downstream. Youngest minister in Angolan political history.
Ryan Gersava
Social innovator + educator | Philippines
Founder of Virtualahan, an online vocational school providing inclusive training to people with disabilities, recovering addicts and others who struggle to find employment, while simultaneously empowering companies to become inclusive employers. Virtualahan is increasing salaries and employment opportunities for its students across the Philippines.
Lam Ho
Legal aid activist | US + Vietnam
Founder and director of Beyond Legal Aid, embedding pro-bono lawyers within communities to support strategic litigation, especially focused on empowering individuals who often have no means of recourse through the justice system. Beyond Legal Aid pushes the existing legal aid system by centering grassroots communities and dismantling traditional hierarchies in favor of bilateral relationships.
Clementine Jacoby
Criminal justice technology entrepreneur | US
Tech-for-good engineer and entrepreneur making real-time data available to justice agencies across the country through her organization Recidiviz, which makes complex and fragmented data usable, enabling leaders to take action and track the impacts of their decisions.
Bree Jones
Equitable housing developer | US
Founder of PARITY, an equitable development company building social movements to revitalize neighborhoods experiencing hyper-vacancy and abandonment due to structural racism. Jones is repositioning undervalued neighborhoods through a community ownership model and holistic support.
Channing Gerard Joseph
Author and queer culture historian | US + Germany
Storyteller, journalist and historian illuminating the birth of gay liberation in 19th-century Washington, DC, through the life of William Dorsey Swann, an American former slave and the world’s first self-described drag queen.
The autonomous robots that Robert Katzschmann’s lab creates, such as the one pictured here, are made of soft and rigid functional materials. They sense the world through intelligent and flexible electronics, which gives them superior ability to travel to the deepest parts of the ocean. (Photo: Robert Katzschmann)
Robert Katzschmann
Soft-bodied roboticist | Switzerland + Germany + US + Singapore
Roboticist exploring the deepest oceans and the undersea impacts of climate change using pliable-bodied robots. Katzschmann’s robots, which closely imitate nature, are able to traverse high-pressure systems and obstacles on the ocean floor — places previously unreachable with hard-bodied navigation tools.
Olga Kitaina
Psychologist and entrepreneur | Russian Federation + US
Psychologist improving the accessibility of mental health care in Russia, where the stigma against psychotherapy is deeply entrenched. Kitaina’s online platform, Alter, matches clients to a vetted network of therapists.
Heejae Lim helps a student and family at school through TalkingPoints, her online platform that has connected more than five million parents and teachers of underserved, multilingual students. (Photo: Heejae Lim)
Heejae Lim
Education technology entrepreneur | Korea + UK + US
Education technology pioneer and founder and CEO of TalkingPoints, a communication app helping millions of multilingual and underserved families create connections with their children’s teachers in their own languages, decreasing barriers to education and helping students thrive.
Monica Malta
Human rights champion | Brazil + Canada
Mental health researcher and human rights activist protecting Brazil’s most marginalized people, including the LGBTQ+ community, drug users, HIV-positive individuals and survivors of gender violence. In addition to providing resources mitigating the impacts of violence, disease and addiction, Malta advocates for protection for these communities by scholarly research in service of policy change and legal protections.
Micaela Mantegna
Video game lawyer | Argentina
Activist and video game evangelist pursuing scholarship in digital realities, especially the metaverse. Mantegna is authoring work on how to create equity and protect our rights in these emergent spaces, which are fast becoming civic spaces for engagement.
Yohanis Riek
Medical doctor and entrepreneur | South Sudan
General resident surgeon at one of the major public hospitals in South Sudan, where 50 percent of the population lives below the poverty line and there’s the highest maternal mortality rate in the world. Through his health care nonprofit Yo’ Care South Sudan, Riek provides health care to supplement South Sudan’s beleaguered system, which has a severe shortage of trained medical personnel.
Engineer Enzo Romero, who developed a bionic prosthesis for himself after being born without a hand, tests out the functionality of an accessible prosthetic hand at the LAT Bionics offices in Lima, Peru. (Photo: Enzo Romero)
Enzo Romero
Bionic innovator | Peru
Technological inventor and researcher building prosthetics incorporating custom attachments and haptic feedback, such as vibration and pressure sensations that enable users to “feel” their new limb. LAT Bionics, Romero’s company, offers prosthetics at an accessible price.
Gautam Shah
Games conservationist | Kenya + US + India
Founder of Internet of Elephants, a company that creates immersive digital experiences based on scientific data from real wildlife in order to engage new audiences with conservation efforts around the globe.
Jawad Sharif
Documentary filmmaker | Pakistan
Filmmaker reviving the suppressed cultural and indigenous identities of Pakistan through accessible documentary films. Sharif’s films chronicle the lives of forgotten traditional musicians and the plight of climate and conflict refugees who are struggling within a highly restrictive government and political environment.
Plants growing in an AquaFarms Africa greenhouse in Conakry, Guinea, which produces fish, vegetables and fruit through aquaponics — the combination of aquaculture and hydroponics — and an innovative social franchising model. (Photo: Wiatta Thomas)
Wiatta Thomas
Agribusiness entrepreneur | Guinea + US + Liberia
Agri-tech pioneer empowering young Guinean entrepreneurs through innovative social franchising ownership models in aquaponics, a low-cost, soilless farming technology. Thomas aims to decrease barriers to entry to markets and create local economic value for pan-African empowerment.
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The TED Fellows program celebrates its 10-year anniversary at TED2019: Bigger Than Us on April 15, 2019. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Every year, TED opens applications for its new group of TED Fellows. We get thousands of applications from all corners of the world, representing every field under the sun — musical theater, electric aviation, landscape architecture, quantum computing. How do we select just 20 people to become part of the new class TED Fellows?
It’s not an easy process. (Our acceptance rate is less than one percent.) But we love reading applications and hearing about the latest medical breakthroughs, ambitious art projects and incredible explorations into outer space and under the sea. Reading these applications reminds us just how many extraordinary people are doing extraordinary work, every day.
What exactly makes for a good application? Here are five traits that we look for in a TED Fellow.
A track record of achievement. In order to be selected, you have to be doing something that has created a positive impact in the world. What does that “something” look like? It depends. Maybe you’ve started a company or invented a new product. Maybe you’ve made a groundbreaking film or discovered a new galaxy. Whatever you’re doing, you should be deep in your craft, building something big. Successful applicants show us clearly what they’ve done so far, and what they want to accomplish.
Individuals on the cusp of a big break. Beyond a track record, we look for people who are ready to make a giant leap forward and could benefit from the kind of support TED can provide. Fellows are often in the early stages of their careers, but we also know that big breaks can happen at any age (though you must be at least 18 years old to apply). What that scale looks like depends on the project, but we select Fellows whose ambitions are big.
Originality and authenticity. An original “idea worth spreading” is the key to a successful Fellows applicant. Maybe you’re working to make a current system more efficient or equitable. Or maybe you’re working across fields, challenging the underlying assumptions of our current systems and creating brand-new ones. Sometimes we select Fellows whose work is just getting off the ground — but whose vision of the future is so imaginative and convincing that we know TED’s support can help them realize that future.
Kind, collaborative character. The TED Fellows program now encompasses more than 500 Fellows in more than 100 countries. We’re looking for people who want to engage deeply in this amazing network — build companies together, start nonprofits, share research and support one another. Often, TED Fellows are engaging deeply with the communities around them, perhaps in the places where they were born or raised. In our experience, some of the best and most overlooked ideas for our contemporary global challenges come from those whose lives depend on the solutions.
The truth is, we don’t always know what we’re looking for. Often, applicants totally surprise and challenge us with brand-new ways of thinking about the world: from the music of sign language to mental health first aid to discovering new types of galaxies. There really is no secret formula to becoming a TED Fellow — some come from rigorous academic backgrounds, and some have no formal educational training but alternative life experiences that have greatly deepened their craft. If you’re unsure about applying, do it anyway. Many TED Fellows have applied multiple times before being selected.
Apply online until June 30, 2021 at 11:59pm UTC, and spread the word to all the outstanding innovators you know.
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Have you ever wondered what, or who, shapes your future? What we’ve noticed over the past decade of selecting TED Fellows is that the people who are actually shaping the future are the people doing the work, often at the local level. They’re the ones working on the ground to better their communities — and scaling that impact as they dream bigger.
Your future is shaped by the engineer turning her community’s passion for dirt bike culture — a heavily policed pastime — into an opportunity for STEM career development.
Your future is shaped by the urogynecologist providing accessible medical advice for mothers, from pregnancy through infancy, directly to their mobile phones.
Your future is shaped by the theater artist who illuminates how coming undone, in all its pain, can be the first step toward transformation — if you allow it to be.
Your future is shaped by the geothermal entrepreneur creating a new energy future, one house at a time, by consumerizing geothermal technology.
The TED Fellows program recognizes people like this: the folks working on the ground on world-changing ideas. To support their work, the program offers them TED’s power to articulate and amplify their visions. A world-changing idea is central to the selection of a Fellow, but our support goes deeper on the personal level. The TED Fellows program supports the individual capacity-building required to take the global stage. We equip TED Fellows with public speaking and media training, professional coaching, educational programming and peer support. We connect TED Fellows to a global network of peers and industry leaders — because the only way to succeed is together.
The TED Fellows program works to celebrate local ideas, and elevate real leaders to places of authority and influence. We work to shift power and get important new ideas about science, art, justice, medicine, technology and design into the cultural mainstream. We work to help the vast and global TED audience take action to create a more informed, creative and just society. Most of all, we work to improve conditions for the planet and for communities around the world, creating positive change within our economic, judicial and creative systems.
Want to join us? Apply to be a TED Fellow.
Our application is open to anyone with an internet connection until June 30, 2021, and we invite you to learn more about applying to become a TED Fellow by visiting go.ted.com/tedfellowsapply.
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The TED Fellows program is thrilled to announce the 2021 cohort of TED Fellows, whose work spans five continents and represents 14 countries — including, for the first time, Peru. Each TED Fellow was selected for their remarkable achievements, the potential impact of their work and their commitment to community building.
This year’s TED Fellows include a dermatologist teaching doctors how to better serve their patients with darker skin, the inventor of a hybrid-electric aircraft and a honey entrepreneur using beekeeping to mitigate human-elephant conflict. Also, a sex educator transforming the way we talk about pleasure, a climate-impact journalist and a playwright whose work is slated to be one of the very first new shows on Broadway when theaters reopen — to name just a few.
The TED Fellows program celebrates its twelfth year with a network of 512 Fellows from 100 countries.
Rumaitha Al Busaidi
Adventurer + entrepreneur | Oman
Scientist, activist and athlete empowering Arab women to step into spaces previously denied to them — whether it’s a football field, volcano summit or the front line of the battle against climate change. Rumaitha Al Busaidi is the founder of WomeX, a platform teaching negotiation skills to Arab women in order to nurture a new wave of female entrepreneurs in the region.
Alicia Chong Rodriguez
Health care technology entrepreneur | Costa Rica + Peru
Engineer and founder of Bloomer Tech, a company transforming everyday bras into smart medical devices that gather often overlooked data on heart disease in women, a frequently misdiagnosed and under-researched killer.
Image from To Catch a Dream, a surreal fashion film directed by Jim Chuchu.
Jim Chuchu
Filmmaker + cultural innovator | Kenya
Filmmaker and founder of The Nest Collective, a Nairobi-based artist group. Jim Chuchu’s film Stories of Our Lives celebrates the narratives of Kenya’s queer community in the midst of pervasive societal censure. He is also founder of the HEVA Fund, the first organization in the region dedicated to making capital investments in the creative sector and building financial infrastructure around creative pursuits in East Africa.
By retrofitting existing aircraft with a hybrid-electric system, mechanical engineer Cory Combs is building the biggest plane ever to fly with hybrid propulsion: the Electric EEL.
Cory Combs
Electric aviation entrepreneur | US
Cofounder of Ampaire, a startup developing the next generation of hybrid-electric aircraft to reduce the environmental impact of air travel. Their Electric EEL is the largest hybrid-electric aircraft ever to fly — and the first to have flown a jaw-dropping 341-mile route.
Farwiza Farhan
Conservationist | Indonesia
Founder of HAkA, an organization working to protect the Leuser Ecosystem in Sumatra — a UNESCO world heritage site and the last place on Earth where the endangered orangutan, rhino, elephant and tiger still roam together in the wild. Farwiza Farhan is strengthening the power of women and grassroots community in the Leuser Ecosystem to meaningfully participate in environmental protection, conservation and decision-making.
Larry Irvin
Education innovator | US
Founder of Brothers Empowered to Teach (BE2T), an organization recruiting and training men of color to become teachers. Through innovative programming, mentorship and paid fellowships, BE2T is increasing the number of Black male teachers in US public schools.
Jenna Lester works with a patient at the Skin of Color dermatology program at UCSF. Lester founded the program to address the underrepresentation of non-white skin in dermatology research and practice. (Photo: Barbara Ries / UCSF)
Jenna C. Lester
Dermatologist | US
Founder of Skin of Color dermatology program at UCSF, which is addressing the persistent issues that arise from the exclusion and marginalization of non-white patients in medical research and practice. Jenna Lester is combatting medical disparities due to racial inequality, addressing vital education gaps in textbooks and curriculum about non-white skin and training a new generation of doctors.
Lei Li
Medical imaging innovator | China + US
Engineer developing advanced photoacoustic imaging that can track the progress of diseases, such as cancer, that can otherwise go undetected. This process (which is much safer than other forms of radiation-based imaging) produces high-resolution images of our deepest internal systems, providing anatomical, functional and molecular information all at once.
Kaz
Sex educator + podcaster | Kenya
Educator building a positive and safe space for sexual discourse in Kenya through her podcast and TV segment The Spread. Through these platforms, Kaz illuminates and confronts the pleasure gap, challenges restrictive LGBTQ+ policy and emphasizes reproductive rights.
Francisca Mutapi
Epidemiologist | Zimbabwe + UK
Pan-African biomedical researcher empowering African scientists and policymakers to tackle infectious diseases and improve epidemic preparedness. Francisca Mutapi leads collaborative research developing and deploying infectious disease diagnostic tools and interventions across the continent, especially in places with limited infrastructure or resources.
Mavis Nduchwa
Honey aggregator | Botswana
Founder of Kalahari Honey, which uses beehives as “living fences” to mitigate conflict between Botswana’s farmers and foraging elephants, who are afraid of bees. This local form of conservation, based on traditional knowledge and practices, also provides income to the farmers through honey sales.
Tom Osborn
Mental health innovator | Kenya
Founder of Shamiri, a youth-led organization providing mental health care solutions to teens across Kenya, where 45 percent of young people report clinical depression. In a region where mental health professionals are scarce and disorders are stigmatized, Shamiri implements evidence-based, low-cost wellness interventions in Kenyan schools.
The hornbill bird beak is traditionally used to adorn the headgear of the Nyishi tribe in Arunachal Pradesh, India. In this image, a forest guard holds an artificial replacement, part of a conservation effort to save the iconic birds documented in journalist Sonali Prasad’s Ranger Ranger series, chronicling the guardians of India’s national parks.
Sonali Prasad
Environmental journalist + artist | India
Artist and journalist documenting the emotional grief and human toll of climate change in order to inspire people to take action. Sonali Prasad’s work tells stories about loss, survival and resilience in response to environmental crises and natural disasters. She establishes new rituals and practices to help us mourn a world stricken by catastrophic climate events.
Sathya Raghu
Green farming innovator | India
Green farming entrepreneur helping small-holder farmers in India confront the impacts and crises of climate change. Sathya Raghu cofounded Kheyti, an agricultural startup building low-cost greenhouse systems that protect crops from climate risks, such as extreme heat and water shortages, and radically improve yields.
Nithya Ramanathan
Technologist | US
Founder and CEO of Nexleaf, a nonprofit using data and technology to improve the health of people around the world. Nexleaf partners with countries to create data analytic tools to keep vaccines at the correct temperature and alert local staff when vaccines are in danger of becoming unusable.
Fariel Salahuddin
Barter economist | Pakistan
Finance expert and founder of UpTrade, a company helping Pakistani herding communities use their livestock to acquire civic-improvement assets (like water pumps and solar lights) instead of cash. Fariel Salahuddin aims to make livestock bartering as common as micro-finance in order to provide farmers higher value for their assets, relieve onerous debt, eliminate the need for charity funding and build self-reliance.
Born and raised in the Oaxacan region of Mixteca Baja, one of Mexico’s culturally rich but economically poor regions, Germán Santillán cofounded Oaxacanita Chocolate to help revitalize the economy of his homeland through a neglected indigenous crop: cocoa.
Germán Santillán
Cultural chocolatier | Mexico
Founder of Oaxacanita Chocolate, an artisanal chocolate company reviving indigenous Mixtec chocolate-making practices and craft. Drawing on Oaxaca’s rich history as the cradle of chocolate, the company partners with indigenous communities to spark economic growth in one of Mexico’s culturally rich but economically poor regions.
Keenan Scott II
Theater artist | US
Playwright and actor combining spoken word, slam poetry and song into theater works that celebrate all aspects of the African Diaspora. Keenan Scott II’s play Thoughts of a Colored Man, slated to premiere on Broadway, follows seven Black men as they confront the highs and lows in their communities and invites the audience to bear witness to their emotional lives.
Smita Sharma
Photojournalist | India
Photojournalist documenting victims of gender-based violence, sexual crimes and human trafficking in the Global South through long-form visual narratives. Smita Sharma uses visceral and beautiful images to bring her subjects out of the world of faceless statistics and emphasize their humanity.
Filmmaker Mila Turajlic reviews unedited footage for her latest project based on the Non-Aligned Movement Archive. Shot by a now-deceased Yugoslavian cameraman, the rare footage documents the African Independence Movements of the 20th century close up.
Mila Turajlić
Documentary filmmaker | Serbia
Filmmaker from the former Yugoslavia awakening forgotten personal histories to create new forms of political imagination. By amplifying the voices and experiences buried in the collapse of her country, Mila Turajlić seeks to bridge gaps between estranged neighbors and heal the wounds of societies that have come undone.
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In the midst of this global pandemic, the TED Fellows program is more committed than ever to finding and amplifying individuals making a vital impact in their communities and doing the work of future-making. Read on to learn how to apply, and how the TED Fellows program is meeting this moment.
Since launching the TED Fellows program, we’ve gotten to know and support some of the brightest, most ambitious thinkers, change-makers and culture-shakers from nearly every discipline and corner of the world.
Whether it’s discovering new galaxies, leading social movements or making waves in environmental conservation, with the support of TED, Fellows are dedicated to making the world a better place through their innovative work. And you could be one of them.
Apply to be a TED Fellow now through August 24, 2020 — that’s coming up soon, so don’t procrastinate!! We do not accept late submissions!
What happens when I’m chosen as a TED Fellow?
What are the requirements?
What do you have to lose?
Nothing! Apply today. The deadline is August 24, 2020 at 11:59pm UTC. We do not accept late applications, so don’t wait until the last minute!
We invite you to find answers to some frequently asked questions and meet all the TED Fellows to learn more about the breadth of this global community.
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The TED Fellows program is excited to announce the new group of TED2020 Fellows and Senior Fellows! This year’s class represents 13 countries across four continents, and they’re making strides in an impressive range of fields — from astrobiology and ethnomusicology to maternal healthcare and beyond. This group is taking a hard look at the world’s most pressing issues and offering bold, fresh ideas to create meaningful impact.
The TED Fellows program supports extraordinary, iconoclastic individuals at work on world-changing projects, providing them with access to the global TED platform and community, as well as new tools and resources to amplify their remarkable vision. The TED Fellows program now includes 492 Fellows who work across 99 countries, forming a powerful, far-reaching network of artists, scientists, activists, architects, entrepreneurs, journalists and more, each dedicated to making our world better and more equitable.
Below, meet the group of Fellows and Senior Fellows who will join us at TED2020, April 20-24, in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Zahra Al-Mahdi
Multimedia artist (Kuwait)
Artist using satire, dark humor and tactile collage techniques to reveal the unintended impacts humans have on their societies and ecosystems.
Feras Fayyad
Documentary filmmaker (Syria | Germany | Denmark)
Filmmaker documenting the lives of his fellow Syrian citizens as they struggle to survive and save their neighbors.
Madame Gandhi
Activist (US)
Electronic musician and gender-rights advocate blurring the boundaries between art, performance and activism.
Kathy Hannun
Geothermal entrepreneur (US)
Cofounder of Dandelion, a green energy startup pioneering novel drilling techniques to make geothermal installations less expensive and intrusive.
Just ten feet below the frost line, the ground is a constant 55 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. Dandelion Energy, founded by Kathleen Hannun, harnesses this reservoir of renewable energy to heat and cool homes.
Aparna Hegde
Maternal health innovator (India)
Urogynecologist and founder of ARMMAN, an organization leveraging mobile technology to empower, inform and serve the more than 14 million Indian women and children plagued by gaps in healthcare infrastructure.
Daniel Alexander Jones
Theater artist (US)
Performance artist creating unique and ritualistic dramatic experiences through music, monologue and improvisation by channeling Jomama Jones, a mystical alter ego.
Katie Mack
Cosmologist (US)
Theoretical cosmologist and scientific storyteller unraveling connections between the smallest particles, largest interstellar objects and various ways the universe might end.
Itamar Mann
Human rights lawyer (Israel)
Author and litigator defending the rights of refugees who flee their countries and cross violent borders.
Barbara Maseda
Data transparency advocate (Cuba)
Data journalist exploring and creating ways to collect and share data in places where information is often manipulated and restricted, especially in Cuba.
An artificial cloud hanging over this pavilion rains whenever someone sits inside. Cloud House, an installation by Matthew Mazzotta, provides an experience that replicates the sensory and ecological effects of rainfall. (Photo: Tim Hawley)
Matthew Mazzotta
Artist + activist (US | Canada)
Artist and activist creating unexpected built environments in order to engage communities in public dialogue.
Aaron Morris
Immunoengineer (US)
Scientist developing implantable technology to create an early-warning system for autoimmune disorders, organ transplant rejection and cancer.
Naomi Mwaura
Transportation activist (Kenya)
Transport entrepreneur working to end sexual harassment on Kenyan public transit by advocating for a gender-balanced workforce and training transit workers.
Rohan Pavuluri
Legal aid entrepreneur (US)
Founder of Upsolve, an organization helping low-income Americans file bankruptcy for free and navigate an increasingly complex and expensive legal system.
“I am fascinated by the way a king cobra locks eyes with me,” says Gowri Shankar, coming face to face with a king cobra. Concerned by the encroachment of human dwellings deeper into forests that serve as the king cobra’s natural habitat, his mission is to conserve and rescue while educating people about the highly venomous and deadly snakes. (Photo: Sujan Bernard)
Gowri Shankar
King cobra conservationist (India)
Ecologist studying the king cobra and educating the people of India on the importance of this feared, maligned and now threatened reptile species.
Khalil Ramadi
Medical hacker (US)
Biomedical researcher developing hair-thin brain probes, ingestible medical devices and other innovative technologies to help us better understand how the gut and brain are interconnected.
Sarah Rugheimer
Astrophysicist (UK | US)
Astrophysicist studying the telltale chemical signatures on distant planets that could someday reveal the presence of extraterrestrial life.
Peter Schwartzstein
Climate journalist (UK | US | Greece)
Journalist reporting on the immediate, present-day violence and disruption caused by climate-related environmental change.
In the besieged town of Ghouta, Syria, doctors have built a subterranean hospital known as the Cave, protected from the dangers of the ongoing conflict above. Feras Fayyad’s Oscar-nominated documentary “The Cave” follows the courageous work of the hospital’s doctors as they contend with daily bombardments, chronic supply shortages and the ever-present threat of chemical attacks.
Almudena Toral
Visual journalist (US | Spain)
Journalist reporting stories about migration, violence and trauma through documentary films. Currently tracking the difficulties and exploitation faced by immigrants and asylum seekers in the US and Latin America.
Bianca Tylek
Criminal justice advocate (US)
Criminal justice advocate and founder of Worth Rises, a national nonprofit working to dismantle the prison industry through policy advocacy, corporate activism and community organizing.
Brittany Young
STEM educator (US)
Engineer-turned-teacher creating pathways for young people to careers in science, technology, engineering and extreme sports — all around a shared passion for dirt bikes.
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Senior Fellows embody the spirit of the TED Fellows program. They attend four additional TED events, mentor new Fellows and continue to share their remarkable work with the TED community.
Kyra Gaunt
Ethnomusicologist (US)
Digital ethnomusicologist illuminating the prevalence of gender-based exploitation and violence against marginalized girls in digital spaces.
Alison Killing
Architect + technologist (UK | Netherlands)
Architect and open source investigator using journalism and mapping tools to help people better understand the impacts of surveillance and the built environment on human rights.
Adam Kucharski
Epidemiologist (UK)
Infectious disease scientist creating new mathematical and computational models to understand how epidemics like Zika and Ebola spread — and how they can be controlled.
When Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil detected the galaxy LEDA 1000714, she produced the first-ever observation and description of a double-ringed elliptical galaxy. The galaxy, illustrated above, is now known as “Burçin’s galaxy.”
Jae Rhim Lee
Designer + entrepreneur (US | South Korea)
Designer developing new rituals and objects around death to point us toward a more sustainable future, including a mushroom burial suit that converts our unused bodies efficiently into clean compost.
Sonaar Luthra
Water risk forcaster (US | India)
Environmentalist measuring climate-related water risk and implementing solutions for organizations and communities facing 21st-century water security challenges.
Majala Mlagui
Politician (Kenya)
Elected Deputy Governor of one of Kenya’s counties, championing the socioeconomic advancement of women, youth in government, ethical mineral value chains and environmental conservation.
Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil
Astrophysicist (Turkey | US)
Astrophysicist studying extreme objects — including a rare double-ringed elliptical galaxy she discovered — to help us understand how galaxies form and evolve.
Paul Rucker’s “Forever” imagines figures from the civil rights movement in the style of commemorative postage stamps, including these young victims of the 1963 Birmingham church bombing. As Rucker says: “‘Forever’ brings into question who makes the criteria, whether for being an official civil rights martyr, or chosen for a commemorative stamp — and what if our criteria had a different objective?”
Paul Rucker
Multidisciplinary artist (US)
Multidisciplinary artist exploring issues related to mass incarceration, racially motivated violence and the continued impact of policies that sustain inequity.
Edsel Salvana
Molecular biologist (Philippines)
Physician studying the genetics of HIV, developing an affordable test for HIV drug resistance and fighting the spread of misinformation around vaccines and immunization.
Kibwe Tavares
Filmmaker + architect (UK)
Filmmaker and cofounder of Factory Fifteen, a studio collective using dance and live performance to help understand design and our built environment.
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TED Fellows celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the program at TEDSummit: A Community Beyond Borders, July 22, 2019 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Every year, TED begins a new search looking for the brightest thinkers and innovators to be part of the TED Fellows program. With nearly 500 visionaries representing 300 different disciplines, these extraordinary individuals are making waves, disrupting the status quo and creating real impact.
Through a rigorous application process, we narrow down our candidate pool of thousands to just 20 exceptional people. (Trust us, this is not easy to do.) You may be wondering what makes for a good application (read more about that here), but just as importantly: What exactly does it mean to be a TED Fellow? Yes, you’ll work hand-in-hand with the Fellows team to give a TED Talk on stage, but being a Fellow is so much more than that. Here’s what happens once you get that call.
1. You instantly have a built-in support system.
Once selected, Fellows become part of our active global community. They are connected to a diverse network of other Fellows who they can lean on for support, resources and more. To get a better sense of who these people are (fishing cat conservationists! space environmentalists! police captains!), take a closer look at our class of 2019 Fellows, who represent 12 countries across four continents. Their common denominator? They are looking to address today’s most complex challenges and collaborate with others — which could include you.
2. You can participate in TED’s coaching and mentorship program.
To help Fellows achieve an even greater impact with their work, they are given the opportunity to participate in a one-of-a-kind coaching and mentoring initiative. Collaboration with a world-class coach or mentor helps Fellows maximize effectiveness in their professional and personal lives and make the most of the fellowship.
The coaches and mentors who support the program are some of the world’s most effective and intuitive individuals, each inspired by the TED mission. Fellows have reported breakthroughs in financial planning, organizational effectiveness, confidence and interpersonal relationships thanks to coaches and mentors. Head here to learn more about this initiative.
3. You’ll receive public relations guidance and professional development opportunities, curated through workshops and webinars.
Have you published exciting new research or launched a groundbreaking project? We partner with a dedicated PR agency to provide PR training and valuable media opportunities with top tier publications to help spread your ideas beyond the TED stage. The TED Fellows program has been recognized by PR News for our “PR for Fellows” program.
In addition, there are vast opportunities for Fellows to hone their skills and build new ones through invigorating workshops and webinars that we arrange throughout the year. We also maintain a Fellows Blog, where we continue to spotlight Fellows long after they give their talks.
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Over the last decade, our program has helped Fellows impact the lives of more than 180 million people. Success and innovation like this doesn’t happen in a vacuum — it’s sparked by bringing Fellows together and giving them this kind of support. If this sounds like a community you want to join, apply to become a TED Fellow by August 27, 2019 11:59pm UTC.
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TED Fellows celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the program at TEDSummit: A Community Beyond Borders, July 22, 2019 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
The event: TEDSummit 2019, Fellows Session, hosted by Shoham Arad and Lily Whitsitt
When and where: Monday, July 22, 2019, 9am BST, at the Edinburgh Convention Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland
Speakers: Carl Joshua Ncube, Suzanne Lee, Sonaar Luthra, Jon Lowenstein, Alicia Eggert, Lauren Sallan, Laura Boykin
Opening: A quick, witty performance from Carl Joshua Ncube, one of Zimbabwe’s best-known comedians, who uses humor to approach culturally taboo topics from his home country.
Music: An opening from visual artist and cellist Paul Rucker of the hauntingly beautiful “Criminalization of Survival,” a piece he created to explore issues related to mass incarceration, racially motivated violence, police brutality and the impact of slavery in the US.
And a dynamic closing from hip-hop artist and filmmaker Blitz Bazawule and his band, who tells stories of the polyphonic African diaspora.
The talks in brief:
Laura Boykin, computational biologist at the University of Western Australia
Big idea: If we’re going to solve the world’s toughest challenges — like food scarcity for millions of people living in extreme poverty — science needs to be more diverse and inclusive.
How? Collaborating with smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, Laura Boykin uses genomics and supercomputing to help control whiteflies and viruses, which cause devastation to cassava crops. Cassava is a staple food that feeds more than 500 million people in East Africa and 800 million people globally. Boykin’s work transforms farmers’ lives, taking them from being unable to feed their families to having enough crops to sell and enough income to thrive.
Quote of the talk: “I never dreamt the best science I would ever do would be sitting on a blanket under a tree in East Africa, using the highest tech genomics gadgets. Our team imagined a world where farmers could detect crop viruses in three hours instead of six months — and then we did it.”
Lauren Sallan, paleobiologist at the University of Pennsylvania
Big idea: Paleontology is about so much more than dinosaurs.
How? The history of life on earth is rich, varied and … entirely too focused on dinosaurs, according to Lauren Sallan. The fossil record shows that earth has a dramatic past, with four mass extinctions occurring before dinosaurs even came along. From fish with fingers to galloping crocodiles and armored squid, the variety of life that has lived on our changing planet can teach us more about how we got here, and what the future holds, if we take the time to look.
Quote of the talk: “We have learned a lot about dinosaurs, but there’s so much left to learn from the other 99.9 percent of things that have ever lived, and that’s paleontology.”
“If we applied the same energy we currently do suppressing forms of life towards cultivating life, we’d turn the negative image of the urban jungle into one that literally embodies a thriving, living ecosystem,” says Suzanne Lee. She speaks at TEDSummit: A Community Beyond Borders, July 22, 2019, in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Suzanne Lee, designer, biofabricator
Big idea: What if we could grow bricks, furniture and even ready-made fabric for clothes?
How? Suzanne Lee is a fashion designer turned biofabrication pioneer who is part of a global community of innovators who are figuring how to grow their own materials. By utilizing living microbial organisms like bacteria and fungi, we can replace plastic, cement and other waste-generating materials with alternatives that can help reduce pollution.
Quote of the talk: “If we applied the same energy we currently do suppressing forms of life towards cultivating life, we’d turn the negative image of the urban jungle into one that literally embodies a thriving, living ecosystem.”
Sonaar Luthra, founder and CEO of Water Canary
Big idea: We need to get better at monitoring the world’s water supplies — and we need to do it fast.
How? Building a global weather service for water would help governments, businesses and communities manage 21st-century water risk. Sonaar Luthra’s company Water Canary aims to develop technologies that more efficiently monitor water quality and availability around the world, avoiding the unforecasted shortages that happen now. Businesses and governments must also invest more in water, he says, and the largest polluters and misusers of water must be held accountable.
Quote of the talk: “It is in the public interest to measure and to share everything we can discover and learn about the risks we face in water. Reality doesn’t exist until it’s measured. It doesn’t just take technology to measure it — it takes our collective will.”
Jon Lowenstein shares photos from the migrant journey in Latin America at TEDSummit: A Community Beyond Borders. July 22, 2019, in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Dian Lofton / TED)
Jon Lowenstein, documentary photographer, filmmaker and visual artist
Big idea: We need to care about the humanity of migrants in order to understand the desperate journeys they’re making across borders.
How? For the past two decades, Jon Lowenstein has captured the experiences of undocumented Latin Americans living in the United States to show the real stories of the men and women who make up the largest transnational migration in world history. Lowenstein specializes in long-term, in-depth documentary explorations that confront power, poverty and violence.
Quote of the talk: “With these photographs, I place you squarely in the middle of these moments and ask you to think about [the people in them] as if you knew them. This body of work is a historical document — a time capsule — that can teach us not only about migration, but about society and ourselves.”
Alicia Eggert’s art asks us to recognize where we are now as individuals and as a society, and to identify where we want to be in the future. She speaks at TEDSummit: A Community Beyond Borders, July 22, 2019, in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Alicia Eggert, interdisciplinary artist
Big idea: A brighter, more equitable future depends upon our ability to imagine it.
How? Alicia Eggert creates art that explores how light travels across space and time, revealing the relationship between reality and possibility. Her work has been installed on rooftops in Philadelphia, bridges in Amsterdam and uninhabited islands in Maine. Like navigational signs, Eggert’s artwork asks us to recognize where we are now as individuals and as a society, to identify where we want to be in the future — and to imagine the routes we can take to get there.
Quote of the talk: “Signs often help to orient us in the world by telling us where we are now and what’s happening in the present moment. But they can also help us zoom out, shift our perspective and get a sense of the bigger picture.”
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Since launching the TED Fellows program ten years ago, we’ve gotten to know and support some of the brightest, most ambitious thinkers, change-makers and culture-shakers from nearly every discipline and corner of the world. The numbers speak for themselves:
Whether it’s discovering new galaxies, leading social movements or making waves in environmental conservation, with the support of TED, our Fellows are dedicated to making the world a better place through their innovative work. And you could be one of them.
Apply now to be a TED Fellow by August 27, 2019.
What’s in it for you?
What are the requirements?
What do you have to lose?
The deadline to apply is August 27, 2019 at 11:59pm UTC. To learn more about the TED Fellows program and apply, head here. Don’t wait until the last minute! We do not accept late applications. Really.
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Twelve mainstage sessions, two rocking sessions of talks from TED Fellows, a special session of TED Unplugged, a live podcast recording and much more amounted to an unforgettable week at TED2019. (Photo: Marla Aufmuth / TED)
If we learned anything at TED2019, it’s that life doesn’t fit into simple narratives, and that there are no simple answers to the big problems we’re facing. But we can use those problems, our discomfort and even our anger to find the energy to make change.
Twelve mainstage sessions, two rocking sessions of talks from TED Fellows, a special session of TED Unplugged, a live podcast recording and much more amounted to an unforgettable week. Any attempt to summarize it all will be woefully incomplete, but here’s a try.
What happened to the internet? Once a place of so much promise, now a source of so much division. Journalist Carole Cadwalldr opened the conference with an electrifying talk on Facebook’s role in Brexit — and how the same players were involved in 2016 US presidential election. She traced the contours of the growing threat social media poses to democracy and calls out the “gods of Silicon Valley,” naming names — one of whom, Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter, sat down to talk with TED’s Chris Anderson and Whitney Pennington Rodgers the following day. Dorsey acknowledged problems with harassment on the platform and explained some of the work his team is doing to make it better.
Hannah Gadsby broke comedy. Her words, and she makes a compelling case in one of the most talked-about moments of the conference. Look for her talk release on April 29.
Humanity strikes back! Eight huge Audacious Project–supported ideas launched at TED this year. From a groundbreaking project at the Center for Policing Equity to work with police and communities and to collect data on police behavior and set goals to make it more fair … to a new effort to sequester carbon in soil … and more, you can help support these projects and change the world for good.
10 years of TED Fellows. Celebrating a decade of the program in two sessions of exuberant talks, the TED Fellows showed some wow moments, including Brandon Clifford‘s discovery of how to make multi-ton stones “dance,” Arnav Kapur‘s wearable device that allows for silent speech and Skylar Tibbits‘s giant canvas bladders that might save sinking islands. At the same time, they reminded us some of the pain that can exist behind breakthroughs, with Brandon Anderson speaking poignantly about the loss of his life partner during a routine traffic stop — which inspired him to develop a first-of-its-kind platform to report police conduct — and Erika Hamden opening up about her team’s failures in building FIREBall, a UV telescope that can observe extremely faint light from huge clouds of hydrogen gas in and around galaxies.
Connection is a superpower. If you haven’t heard of the blockbuster megahit Crazy Rich Asians, then, well, it’s possible you’re living under a large rock. Whether or not you saw it, the film’s director, Jon M. Chu, has a TED Talk about connection — to his family, his culture, to film and technology — that goes far beyond the movie. The theme of connection rang throughout the conference: from Priya Parker’s three easy steps to turn our everyday get-togethers into meaningful and transformative gatherings to Barbara J. King’s heartbreaking examples of grief in the animal kingdom to Sarah Kay’s epic opening poem about the universe — and our place in it.
Meet DigiDoug. TED takes tech seriously, and Doug Roble took us up on it, debuting his team’s breakthrough motion capture tech, which renders a 3D likeness (known as Digital Doug) in real time — down to Roble’s facial expressions, pores and wrinkles. The demo felt like one of those shifts, where you see what the future’s going to look like. Outside the theater, attendees got a chance to interact with DigiDoug in VR, talking on a virtual TED stage with Roble (who is actually in another room close by, responding to the “digital you” in real time).
New hope for political leadership. There was no shortage of calls to fix the broken, leaderless systems at the top of world governments throughout the conference. The optimists in the room won out during Michael Tubbs’s epic talk about building new civic structures. The mayor of Stockton, California (and the youngest ever of a city with more than 100,000 people), Tubbs shared his vision for governing strategies that recognize systems that place people in compromised situations — and that view impoverished and violent communities with compassion. “When we see someone different from us, they should not reflect our fears, our anxieties, our insecurities, the prejudices we have been taught, our biases. We should see ourselves. We should see our common humanity.”
Exploring the final frontier. A surprise appearance from Sheperd Doeleman, head of the Event Horizon Telescope — whose work produced the historic, first-ever image of a black hole that made waves last week — sent the conference deep into space, and it never really came back. Astrophysicist Juna Kollmeier, head of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, shared her work mapping the observable universe — a feat, she says, that we’ll complete in just 40 years. “Think about it. We’ve gone from arranging clamshells to general relativity in a few thousand years,” she says. “If we hang on 40 more, we can map all the galaxies.” And in the Fellows talks, Moriba Jah, a space environmentalist and inventor of the orbital garbage monitoring software AstriaGraph, showed how space has a garbage problem. Around half a million objects, some as small as a speck of paint, orbit the Earth — and there’s no consensus on what’s in orbit or where.
Go to sleep. A lack of sleep can lead to more than drowsiness and irritability. Matt Walker shared how it can be deadly as well, leading to an increased risk of Parkinson’s, cancer, heart attacks and more. “Sleep is the Swiss army knife of health,” he says, “It’s not an optional lifestyle luxury. Sleep is a non-negotiable biological necessity. It is your life support system, and it is mother nature’s best effort yet at immortality.”
The amazing group of speakers who shared their world-changing ideas on the mainstage at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, April 15 – 19, 2019 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Bret Hartman / TED)
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Biologist Danielle N. Lee teaches a memorable lesson on animal monogamy during TED Fellows Session 2 at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, on April 15, 2019 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Dian Lofton / TED)
The event: An afternoon session of talks and performances from TED Fellows, hosted by TED Fellows director Shoham Arad and TED Senior Fellow Jedidah Isler.
When and where: Monday, April 15, 2019, 2pm, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC.
The talks, in brief:
Erika Hamden, an astrophysicist who builds telescopes at the University of Arizona.
Erika Hamden shows a view of the Moon next to, at lower left, a giant balloon carrying a space telescope she and her team designed. She speaks during TED Fellows Session 2 during TED2019: Bigger Than Us, on April 15, 2019 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Christopher Bahl, molecular engineer and protein designer.
Alexis Gambis, a filmmaker and biologist, as well as founder and executive director of film festival Imagine Science Films and creator of streaming film platform Labocine.
Hiromi Ozaki, an artist who explores the social and ethical implications of emerging technologies.
Muthoni Drummer Queen, musician and founder of two East African festivals: Blankets & Wine and Africa Nouveau.
Conservationist Moreangels Mbizah worked with the famous Cecil the lion — until he was shot by a trophy hunter. How can we prevent the next tragedy? By enlisting locals to protect the species they coexist with. Mbizah speaks during TED Fellows Session 2 at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, on April 15, 2019 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Moreangels Mbizah, a lion conservationist and founder of Carnivore Conservation Zimbabwe.
Leila Pirhaji, a biotech entrepreneur and founder of ReviveMed, an AI-driven metabolomics platform focused on discovering drugs for metabolic diseases.
Moriba Jah shares a visualization of space junk during TED Fellows Session 2 at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, on April 15, 2019 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Moriba Jah, a space environmentalist and inventor of the orbital garbage monitoring software AstriaGraph.
Brandon Anderson, a data entrepreneur and inventor of the police-reporting platform Raheem.
Skylar Tibbits, a designer, computational architect and founder of the Self-Assembly Lab at MIT.
Danielle N. Lee, a behavioral biologist, educator and STEM advocate.
Andrew Nemr, tap dancer and dance oral historian, artistic director of the Vancouver Tap Dance Society
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Amma Ghartey-Tagoe Kootin (center) with performers from her new musical, At Buffalo, as the groundbreaking TED Fellows program celebrates its 10th anniversary. Fellows Session 1 at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, April 15, 2019, Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
The event: Talks and performances from TED Fellows, celebrating the 10th anniversary of this life-changing, world-changing program. Session 1 is hosted by TED Fellows director Shoham Arad and TED Senior Fellow Jedidah Isler.
When and where: Monday, April 15, 2019, 10:30am, at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC.
Opening: We begin the day by sharing a powerful moment with Dr. Robert Joseph, a Hereditary Chief of the Gwawaenuk First Nation, and Kristen Rivers of the Squamish Nation, who welcome us to Vancouver with a simple message: Let us be one with each other.
The talks, in brief:
Ashwin Naidu, conservationist and founder of the Fishing Cat Conservancy
Jess Kutch, founder of the digital labor organizing platform Coworker.org
Brandon Clifford, ancient technology architect and founder of the design studio and research lab Matter Design
Documentary filmmaker Nanfu Wang uncovers untold stories behind China’s one-child policy, and the creeping effects of propaganda. She speaks at Fellows Session 1 at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, April 15, 2019, Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Nanfu Wang, documentary filmmaker who tells stories about human rights in China
Taghi Amirani, documentary filmmaker
Gangadhar Patil, journalism entrepreneur and founder of 101Reporters
Federica Bianco, urban astrophysicist and professional boxer
In a spoken-word piece, writer Marc Bamuthi Joseph investigates the pride and terror of seeing his son enter adulthood. He speaks at Fellows Session 1 at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, April 15, 2019, Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Marc Bamuthi Joseph, writer and performer
Ivonne Roman, police captain and cofounder of the Women’s Leadership Academy
We take an interstitial break to watch a trailer from the new film from Blitz the Ambassador, a TED Senior Fellow: The Burial of Kojo. The visually astonishing film was just released on Netflix after being acquired by Ava DuVernay’s company, Array Releasing. Preview it above.
Technologist Arnav Kapur is working on a device that picks up neural signals and converts them to speech — a breakthrough tech that could give a voice back to some people who have lost their ability to speak. He speaks at Fellows Session 1 at TED2019: Bigger Than Us, April 15, 2019, Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)
Arnav Kapur, technologist and inventor of the AI device AlterEgo
Bruce Friedrich, food innovator and founder of the Good Food Institute
Laurel Braitman, writer-in-residence at the Stanford University School of Medicine
Amma Ghartey-Tagoe Kootin, scholar and artist who develops theatrical works based on historical documents
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The TED Fellows program turns 10 in 2019 — and to mark this important milestone, we’re excited to kick off the year of celebration by announcing the impressive new group of TED2019 Fellows and Senior Fellows! This year’s TED Fellows class represents 12 countries across four continents; they’re leaders in their fields — ranging from astrodynamics to policing to conservation and beyond — and they’re looking for new ways to collaborate and address today’s most complex challenges.
The TED Fellows program supports extraordinary, iconoclastic individuals at work on world-changing projects, providing them with access to the global TED platform and community, as well as new tools and resources to amplify their remarkable vision. The TED Fellows program now includes 472 Fellows who work across 96 countries, forming a powerful, far-reaching network of artists, scientists, doctors, activists, entrepreneurs, inventors, journalists and beyond, each dedicated to making our world better and more equitable. Read more about their visionary work on the TED Fellows blog.
Below, meet the group of Fellows and Senior Fellows who will join us at TED2019, April 15-19, in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Alexis Gambis (USA | France)
Filmmaker + biologist
Filmmaker and biologist creating films that merge scientific data with narrative in an effort to make stories of science more human and accessible.
Ali Al-Ibrahim (Syria | Sweden)
Investigative journalist
Journalist reporting on the front lines of the Syrian conflict and creating films about the daily struggles of Syrians.
Amma Ghartey-Tagoe Kootin (USA)
Scholar + artist
Scholar and artist working across academia and the entertainment industry to transform archival material about black identity into theatrical performances.
Arnav Kapur (USA | India)
Technologist
Inventor creating wearable AI devices that augment human cognition and give voice to those who have lost their ability to speak.
Wild fishing cats live in the Mangrove forests of southeast Asia, feeding on fish and mangrove crab in the surrounding waters. Not much is known about this rare species. Conservationist Ashwin Naidu and his organization, Fishing Cat Conservancy, are working to protect these cats and their endangered habitat. (Photo: Anjani Kumar/Fishing Cat Conservancy)
Ashwin Naidu (USA | India)
Fishing cat conservationist
Conservationist and co-founder of Fishing Cat Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting fishing cats and their endangered mangrove habitat.
Brandon Anderson (USA)
Data entrepreneur
Human rights activist and founder of Raheem AI, a tech nonprofit working to end police violence through data collection, storytelling and community organizing.
Brandon Clifford (USA)
Ancient technology architect
Architectural designer and co-founder of Matter Design, an interdisciplinary design studio that uses the technology of ancient civilizations to solve contemporary problems.
Bruce Friedrich (USA)
Food innovator
Founder of the Good Food Institute, an organization supporting the creation of plant and cell-based meat for a more healthy and sustainable food system.
Christopher Bahl (USA)
Protein designer
Molecular engineer using computational design to develop new protein drugs that combat infectious disease.
Erika Hamden (USA)
Astrophysicist
Astrophysicist developing telescopes and new ultraviolet detection technologies to improve our ability to observe distant galaxies.
Federica Bianco (USA | Italy)
Urban astrophysicist
Astrophysicist using an interdisciplinary approach to study stellar explosions and help build resilient cities by applying astronomical data processing techniques to urban science.
Gangadhar Patil (India)
Journalism entrepreneur
Journalist and founder of 101Reporters, an innovative platform connecting grassroots journalists with international publishers to spotlight rural reporting.
In Tokyo Medical University for Rejected Women, multimedia artist Hiromi Ozaki explores the systematic discrimination of female applicants to medical school in Japan. (Photo: Hiromi Ozaki)
Hiromi Ozaki (Japan | UK)
Artist
Artist creating music, film and multimedia installations that explore the social and ethical implications of emerging technologies.
Ivonne Roman (USA)
Police captain
Police captain and co-founder of the Women’s Leadership Academy, an organization working to increase the recruitment and retention of women in policing.
Jess Kutch (USA)
Labor entrepreneur
Co-founder of Coworker.org, a labor organization for the 21st century helping workers solve problems and advance change through an open online platform.
Leila Pirhaji (Iran | USA)
Biotech entrepreneur
Computational biologist and founder of ReviveMed, a biotech company pioneering the use of artificial intelligence for drug discovery and treatment of metabolic diseases.
Moreangels Mbizah (Zimbabwe)
Lion conservationist
Conservation biologist developing innovative community-based conservation methods to protect lions and their habitat.
Moriba Jah (USA)
Space environmentalist
Astrodynamicist tracking and monitoring satellites and space garbage to make outer space safe, secure and sustainable for future generations.
Muthoni Drummer Queen (Kenya)
Musician
Musician and cultural entrepreneur fusing traditional drum patterns and modern styles such as hip-hop and reggae to create the sound of “African cool.”
Nanfu Wang (China | USA)
Documentary filmmaker
Documentary filmmaker uncovering stories of human rights and untold histories in China through a characteristic immersive approach.
TED2019 Senior Fellows
Senior Fellows embody the spirit of the TED Fellows program. They attend four additional TED events, mentor new Fellows and continue to share their remarkable work with the TED community.
Adital Ela (Israel)
Sustainable materials designer
Entrepreneur developing sustainable materials and construction methods that mimic natural processes and minimize environmental impact.
Anita Doron (Canada | Hungary)
Filmmaker
Filmmaker who wrote The Breadwinner, an Oscar-nominated coming-of-age story set in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Constance Hockaday (USA)
Artist
Artist creating experiential performances on public waterways that examine issues surrounding public space, political voice and belonging.
Eman Mohammed (USA | Palestine)
Photojournalist
Photojournalist documenting contemporary issues, including race relations and immigration, often through a characteristic long-form approach.
Erine Gray (USA)
Social services entrepreneur
Software developer and founder of Aunt Bertha, a platform helping people access social services such as food banks, health care, housing and educational programs.
In one of her projects, documentary photographer Kiana Hayeri took a rare, intimate look at the lives of single mothers in Afghanistan, capturing their struggles and strengths. Here, two children hang a picture of their father. (Photo: Kiana Hayeri)
Kiana Hayeri (Canada | Iran)
Documentary photographer
Documentary photographer exploring complex topics such as migration, adolescence and sexuality in marginalized communities.
An illustration of Tungsenia, an early relative of lungfish. Paleobiologist Lauren Sallan studies the vast fossil records to explore how extinctions of fish like this have affected biodiversity in the earth’s oceans. (Photo: Nobu Tamura)
Lauren Sallan (USA)
Paleobiologist
Paleobiologist using the vast fossil record as a deep time database to explore how mass extinctions, environmental change and shifting ecologies impact biodiversity.
Pratik Shah (USA | India)
Health technologist
Scientist developing new artificial intelligence technologies for antibiotic discovery, faster clinical trials and tools to help doctors better diagnose patients.
Premesh Chandran (Malaysia)
Journalism entrepreneur
Cofounder and CEO of Malaysiakini.com, the most popular independent online news organization in Malaysia, which is working to create meaningful political change.
Samuel “Blitz the Ambassador” Bazawule (USA | Ghana)
Musician + filmmaker
Hip-hop artist and filmmaker telling stories of the polyphonic African diaspora.
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tedstaff
Alexis Gambis
Ali Al-Ibrahim
Amma Ghartey-Tagoe Kootin
Arnav Kapur
Ashwin Naidu
Brandon Anderson
Brandon Clifford
Bruce Friedrich
Christopher Bahl
Erika Hamden
Federica Bianco
Gangadhar Patil
Hiromi Ozaki
Ivonne Roman
Jess Kutch
Leila Pirhaji
Morangels Mbizah
Moriba Jah
Muthoni Ndonga
Nanfu Wang
Adital Ela
Anita Doron
Jessica Ladd
Jorge Mañes Rubio
Erine Gray
Kiana Hayeri
v
David Sengeh
Premesh Chandran
Samuel “Blitz the Ambassador” Bazawule
Every year, TED opens applications for its new group of TED Fellows. We get thousands of applications from all corners of the world, representing every field under the sun — marine mammal conservation, biomechatronics, Khmer dance, space archeology. How do we select just 20 people to become TED Fellows?
It’s not an easy process. (Technically, our acceptance rate is lower than Harvard’s.) But we love reading your applications and hearing about your latest medical breakthroughs, ambitious art projects and incredible explorations in outer space and under the sea. We also love seeing the diversity of the people doing this groundbreaking work.
What exactly makes for a good application? Here are five traits that we look for in a TED Fellow.
A track record of achievement. In order to be selected, you have to have done something in the world. What does that “something” look like? It depends. Maybe you’ve started a company or invented a new product. Maybe you’ve made a groundbreaking film or discovered a new galaxy. Whatever you’re doing, you should be deep in your craft, building something big.
Individuals on the cusp of a big break. Beyond a track record, we are looking for people who are ready to make a giant leap forward, and could benefit from support. Fellows are often in the early part of their careers, but we also know that big breaks can happen at any age. Fellows’ projects should have real potential for impact, and they should realistically be scalable in the next three to five years. What that scale looks like depends on the project, but we select Fellows whose ambitions are big and often global.
Originality and authenticity. An original “idea worth spreading” is the key to a successful Fellows applicant. Maybe you’re working to make a current system more efficient or equitable. Or maybe you’re working across fields, challenging the underlying assumptions of our current systems and creating brand-new ones. In fact, we’ve chosen Fellows whose work is just getting off the ground — but whose vision of the future is so imaginative and convincing that we know TED’s network can help them realize that future.
Kind, collaborative character. The TED Fellows program now encompasses more than 450 Fellows in more than 90 countries. We’re looking for people who want to engage deeply in this amazing network — build companies together, start nonprofits, share research. Often, TED Fellows are engaging deeply with the communities around them, perhaps in the places where they were born or raised. In our experience, some of the best and most overlooked ideas for our contemporary global challenges come from those whose lives depend on the solutions.
The truth is, we don’t always know what we’re looking for. Often, Fellows totally surprise and challenge us with brand-new ways of thinking about the world. There really is no secret formula to becoming a TED Fellow, but we know it when we see it. If you’re unsure about applying, do it anyway.
Does this sound like you or someone you know? Our application is now open. Dream bigger and apply by August 26, 2018.
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