Journalism, engineering, technology and other topics will take center stage at this year’s second TEDx Education City program.
The event, an independent offshoot of the well-known TED (technology, entertainment and design) talks that take place all over the world, will be held from 3pm to 6pm on Jan. 18 at the HBKU Student Center Ballroom.
It is being organized by students from several Education City universities, as well as Qatar University. Speaking to Doha News, Co-Curator Ahmed Raza Hashmi explained this year’s theme, “Branch Out:”
“During one of our meetings, we were discussing how college students often times find themselves stuck and either don’t want to or can’t do anything else other than their class work. This narrowness of the mindset bothered both of us a lot, so we decided go with the theme that emphasized counter action.”
In a statement, the organizing team added:
“Our theme is about foundations and the versatility of each foundation. When we think about our theme, we think about a tree. The roots and tree trunk represent the foundations and strength in the same way, much like your university degree or ‘core basis’ of your knowledge. However, the trunk also develops in different branches. These branches are your projects, interests, and explorations.”
Six speakers will relate the theme to their backgrounds. They are:
- Sue Pak, a screenwriting professor at Northwestern University in Qatar;
- Eyad Masad, Assistant Dean for Research and Graduate Studies at Texas A&M university in Qatar;
- Mark Stehlik, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar;
- Sara Al-Saadi, a documentary filmmaker and NU-Q alum;
- Omar Chatriwala, journalist and co-founder/publisher of Doha News; and
- Memoonah Zainab, a lawyer and community educator.
All are invited to register for the event, which drew some 500 people in 2012. The registration process can be found here, and involves answering a few brief questions about one’s interest in going to the TEDx session.
Do you plan to go? Thoughts?
