University’s first TEDx event aims to inspire student and professional nurses
Nursing leaders at Queen Margaret University (QMU), Edinburgh, have received a licence to organise TEDxQMU as part of the high profile ideas sharing platform and will stage a national event for the wider healthcare community in Scotland as well as nursing students.
The full day event, which will be held on the 17th April, will involve a range of inspirational speakers including Andy Murray, the Scottish doctor and exercise advocate, who is known for running 78 consecutive days in the Moroccan Sahara, Dee Sissons, the Director of Nursing for Marie Curie UK as well as David Duke, the founder of the charity Street Soccer Scotland, who helps homeless people engage in football and get their lives back on track.
The aim of TEDx events is to share ideas with individuals, communities and organisations. Organised by Queen Margaret University, the theme of the event is ‘Flourishing People, Spaces and Places’ which will see an eclectic range of speakers and TED Talks to engage in a wide variety of topics such as recovering from homelessness, the importance of exercise to health and wellbeing, urban poverty, flourishing in times of economic hardship and flourishing in dying.
Professor Brendan McCormack, Head of Division of Nursing at QMU will host the event. Professor McCormack has 24 years specialist experience in the nursing of older people and is considered an internationally-renowned authority on person-centred nursing and practice development.
Commenting on the selection of the theme, Professor McCormack, describes ‘Flourishing’ as being “a core part of our humanity that sometimes becomes drowned by stress, poor leadership and routinized work. This theme will help to remind us all of the need to celebrate the importance of innovation, passion, community and connectedness”.
Professor Petra Wend, Principal of Queen Margaret University, will also speak at the event. She explained: “Queen Margaret has a long history of nursing through our programmes in Scotland and internationally, and of working with allied health professionals. We are delighted to have attracted such an interesting range of speakers to our first ever TEDx event which we hope will offer a high quality learning experience for both our students and nursing and health professionals. Of course, the theme of ‘flourishing’ fits with the University’s aim of improving quality of life”.
The event will be held on 17 th April at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh and will be streamed live online to allow our colleagues in our Singapore campus to join in as well as the wider QMU and TEDx audience.
Delegates will hear from the following guest speakers during the day-long event. These are:
Dr Andy Murray- Freelance Sports and Medicine Doctor, who will focus on ‘Flourishing through Exercise’
Dee Sissons- Director of Nursing Marie Curie Cancer Care UK , who will focus on touching topic ‘Flourishing in Dying’
David Duke- Chief Executive of Street Soccer (Scotland), who will focus on ‘Flourishing through Football’
Janice Burr- Leader of Musselburgh based choir, Clark Community Choir, will be performing on the day with a lively ‘Generations Singing Together’ set list
Jane and Alison Gordon- Co-founders of Sisters for Change, who will talk about ‘Women Flourishing in a Fairer World’
Mike Stevenson- Managing Director of Thinktastic, a prominent social entrepreneur who will focus on ‘Flourishing in Urban Poverty’
To book a place at the event, email tedx@qmu.ac.uk by 23rd March 2015. Spaces are limited and based on a first come first serve basis.
Notes to Editor
TED is a non-profit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 30 years ago, TED has grown to support its mission with multiple initiatives. The two annual TED Conferences invite the world's leadingthinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes or less. Many of these talks are then made available, free, at TED.com . TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Sal Khan and Daniel Kahneman.
The annual TED Conference takes place each spring in Vancouver, British Columbia, along with the TEDActive simulcast event in nearby Whistler. The annual TEDGlobal conference was held in October 2014 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. TED's media initiatives include the TED.com website, where new TED Talks are posted daily; the Open Translation Project , which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as translations from volunteers worldwide; the educational initiative TED-Ed. TED has establishedthe annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world get help translating their wishes into action; TEDx, which supports individuals or groups in hosting local, self- organized TED-style events around the world, and the TED Fellows program, helping innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.
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For further media information please contact Dane Thomson, TEDx Intern, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, tel: 0131 474 0000, Email: DThomson@qmu.ac.uk
