On Thursday March 5th, the Trinity Business School sported a TEDx red rather than the usual Trinity blue. Featuring a square stage with the iconic TEDx letters in the background, the Dargan Theatre, best known by students in the context of lectures or, when in their most dire state, exams, had been entirely transformed. The evening’s four hour program welcomed seventeen speakers, consisting of Trinity students, alumni, staff, and researchers.
As a nod to the Business School’s 100th anniversary and a play on the classic introductory course name, the event ran under the theme “Change101”. Host of the night Maria Gallo noted that the “theme brings us back to the basics of change: what drives it, how it unfolds, and what it means for the people and the planet”.
Four of the sixteen speeches were given by current Trinity students, all LaidLaw scholars: Bhadra Panicker, Evie Kramer, Ishna Tripathi, and Neasa Nic Corcráin. Panicker’s talk was entitled “When the Law Gets It Wrong” in which she discussed her research on miscarriages of justice against women, honing in on the case of Joanne Heyes, also known as the “Kerry babies case”. Tripathi presented her research into investigating possible exomoons around brown dwarfs in her talk “Cloudy with a Chance of Exomoons – Hunting for transiting exomoons around a brown dwarf”, reminding the audience that even when your research doesn’t turn out the way you hoped, “not finding something is still finding something”. History and Political Science Student, Evie Kramer, wanted to “challenge the way you see jealousy and success” in her talk “Reframing jealousy — how others’ success becomes your own”, and highlighted how actually, “success is closer than expected”.
Neasa Nic Corcráin’s talk “Changing the cycle: exposing toxins in period products” highlighted her research into toxins in period products and the lack of regulation on the market. Commenting on her experience to The University Times, Nic Corcráin said it was “so cool being one of four undergraduate women speaking” and that the event made her “really hopeful for the future”. Reflecting on her anxieties leading up to the talk, she added: “I hate public speaking, so I actually really regretted agreeing to do it for so long, but after a while I kinda realised that my topic was bigger than me, and it’s actually just not about me, it’s about all the women who were not believed when they said that something was wrong”.
This is the first TED x Trinity event in five years, the last being in February of 2019 under the theme “Autonomous”. TEDx events are organised independently under a free license granted by TED. While these TEDx talks are not directly controlled by TED, they support the organisers throughout the process and offer guidelines for curation, speaker coaching and more. The TED x Trinity event was hosted by Trinity Business School and organised by Dr Maria Gallo, Strategic Projects Manager at the Business School and Una Hennigan, Event Manager at the School. The event had been in the works for nine months, a bit like “giving birth to a baby”, as Gallo and Dean of the Business School Laurent Muzellec described it on stage.
The first block of talks under the subtitle “Change and Society” saw nine speakers take the stage. Among these were Trinity graduate Olamide Obadina and Laurent Muzellec. With the talk “Inclusion Without Division: Rethinking DEI for Europe”, they spoke about the origins of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) and the importance of developing it to fit the European context. Both highlighting the advantages and pitfalls of current DEI approaches, they urged a renaming to Equity, Unity, and Pluralism (EUA) as a way to avoid a similar cultural setback as has been seen in the US. As Obadina remarked, “Talent exists everywhere, but opportunity does not”.
The second half of the program entitled “Change with People and the Planet”, featured talks by Trinity Alums, including professional GT Racing driver Alex Denning with “Motorsport Has Changed — Drivers Are Now Businesses”, in which he reflected on his career and the importance of personal branding. Linda Djougang, who is a professional rugby player and Trinity Nursing graduate, spoke about her journey coming to Trinity and discovering rugby at 19, after moving to the country from Cameroon as a child. Her talk is entitled “A Different Kind of Journey: From Rejection to Resilience”.
Professor Jane Stout, Vice-President of Biodiversity and Climate Action at Trinity College, tied up the evening with her talk “Nature: Our Operating System at Breaking Point”, in which she reflected on the relationship between humans and nature, and the importance of protecting the ecosystems that uphold human societies.
The full program is listed below, and you can learn more about the speakers on the TEDx events page. All talks will be published online to the Ted.com website in the spring, available for everyone to watch.
Programme Part I: Change 101 & Society – 3:00pm – 4:45pm
Dublin to Dakar: How Technicians Make Great Art
Blú Hanley
Blú Hanley is Head of Lighting at The Lir National Academy of Dramatic Art, Trinity College Dublin.
The Chilling Effect of Cultural Silence
Eimear Nolan
Dr Eimear Nolan is an Associate Professor of International Business at Trinity Business School and the Founder and Director of Trinity’s Flexible Executive MBA Programme.
Reimagining Justice: How to Build Legitimate AI for Judges
Brian Barry
Dr Brian Barry is Associate Professor at the School of Law, Trinity College Dublin.
Inclusion Without Division: Rethinking DEI for Europe.
Laurent Muzellec and Olamide Obadina
Professor Laurent Muzellec is the Dean of Trinity Business School at Trinity College Dublin and a scholar whose work explores digital transformation.
Olamide Obadina is a First Class Global Business Trinity graduate and DEI researcher.
The Human Equation in an Age of Intelligent Machines
Na Fu
Professor Na Fu is Chair of Responsible Leadership and Director of the Trinity AI XR Lab at Trinity Business School.
Bringing the Pieces Together: The Blockchain Opportunity
Lory Kehoe
Lory Kehoe is a European fintech, digital assets executive and PhD researcher at Trinity Business School.
When the Law Gets It Wrong
Bhadra Panicker
Bhadra Panicker is a Law and Business student and Laidlaw Scholar at Trinity College Dublin.
Remembering in the Future – Why Past Wisdom Matters Now?
Ronika Chakrabarti
Dr Ronika Chakrabarti is an Associate Professor in Marketing at Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin.
(Short Intermission)
4:45pm – 5:00pm
Programme Part II: Change 101 & People + Planet – 5:00pm – 6:45pm
When Machines Listen but Don’t Care: Loneliness and Trust in the Age of AI
Colman Noctor
Dr Colman Noctor is psychoanalytical psychotherapist, Lecturer in Mental Health at SETU, author of two bestselling books, and an alum of Trinity College Dublin.
Changing the Cycle: Exposing Toxins in Period Products
Neasa Nic Corcráin
Neasa Nic Corcráin is a 2025 Laidlaw Scholar and an Environmental Science and Engineering student at Trinity College Dublin.
Where My PhD Didn’t Take Me: A Journey into Play
Wen Wan Wang-Whelan
Dr Wen Wan Wang-Whelan is a creative psychotherapist and a PhD graduate from Trinity College Dublin.
Cloudy with a Chance of Exomoons – Hunting for Transiting Exomoons Around a Brown Dwarf
Ishna Tripathi
Ishna Tripathi is studying Physics and Astrophysics and is a Laidlaw Scholar at Trinity College Dublin.
Reframing Jealousy — How Others’ Success Becomes Your Own
Evie Kramer
Evie Kramer is a History and Political Science student at Trinity College Dublin and a Laidlaw Scholar.
Motorsport Has Changed — Drivers Are Now Businesses
Alex Denning
Alex Denning is a professional race car driver with Lamborghini, alum of Trinity Business School, and, in 2022, was Motorsport Ireland Young Driver of the Year.
A Different Kind of Journey: From Rejection to Resilience
Linda Djougang
Linda Djougang is an Irish international rugby player and a Nursing graduate from Trinity College Dublin.
Nature: Our Operating System at Breaking Point
Jane Stout
Professor Jane Stout is Vice-President for Biodiversity and Climate Action and Professor of Ecology in the School of Natural Sciences at Trinity College Dublin.
