TE Dx SEVEN OA K S S CHO O L
Students invited six inspirational speakers to Sevenoaks to share their visions of the future.
In January, six speakers took centre stage at
the Pamoja Hall for the student-organised
TEDxSevenoaksSchool 2019. Ranging from CEOs to
academic visionaries to a Sevenoaks School student,
they shone a light on the future of their respective
professions and their impact on society.
Nigel Topping, CEO of We Mean Business, opened the
event in style with a talk changing our perspectives
on big business, showing us how it can provide the
thrust behind large-scale change. He spoke about his
organisation’s emphasis on sustainable business when
advising some of the world’s largest companies such
as PepsiCo.
We then welcomed Old Sennockian Ellie Desmond
(OS 2013) on stage to discuss the future of solar-
powered cars. She was followed by Rushd Averroës,
CEO of Babb, speaking about how his company
is building the future with a bank based on
cryptocurrency. One of our most insightful talks
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ACADEMIC REVIEW
came from Lower Sixth student Frederick Tsao, who
brought an excellent perspective on the changing
cultural norms that point to a new era of spirituality
in the West.
Professor Matthew Todd, Chair of Drug Discovery
at UCL, introduced the audience to the new scientific
revolution that will arise as a result of Open Source
researching such as his Open Source Malaria project.
His emphasis on extensive collaboration in the future
of science paved the way for our closing speaker of
the evening, Dr Alice Bunn. As International Director
of the UK Space Agency, she discussed how our
species can advance through extra-terrestrial
exploration, and the vital role that international
collaboration plays in it.
Looking ahead to the future, as per the event slogan,
seems essential to society. In hearing these experts’
opinions, we were all left with plenty of reasons for
excitement.
Rohan Chaturvedi, Upper Sixth