Professor Abhay Pandit, Director of the Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials (NFB) was invited to present at the first TEDx event to be held in Galway. TED is a small nonprofit organisation devoted to ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’.
TED was first held in Monterey, California, in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: those of Technology, Entertainment and Design. Since then, its scope has become broader still, showcasing ideas that matter in all disciplines. TED is now an annual event where some of the world’s leading thinkers and doers are invited to share what they are most passionate about.
In recent years, TED has expanded to include an international conference, TEDGlobal; media initiatives, including TED Talks and TED.com; the TED Prize and independently held TED events known as TEDx.
TEDx is a new program that enables local communities to organize, design and host their own independent TED-like events. The format includes a programme of short 18 minute carefully prepared talks, demonstrations and performances on a wide range of subjects which foster learning, inspire wonder, and thus provoke conversations that matter.
TEDx events are fully planned and coordinated independently on a community-by-community basis. Iain McClaren, Director of the Centre for Excellence in Learning & Teaching (CELT) at NUI Galway, organised the first TEDx event to be held in Galway. The event was a sell-out attracting crowds from the University, the local community and beyond.
Professor Pandit spoke about biomimicry as a basis for developing biomaterials based strategies in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine research. His presentation took the audience on a journey through the history of biomaterials and how biomimicry can form a basis for the future developments in this field. Speaking after the event, Professor Pandit said ‘this is a fantastic opportunity to deliver our message to the wider community, an opportunity to share the excitement at the cutting edge research and to outline the strategies we pursue on a daily basis at the NFB to achieve improved mechanisms to restore damaged tissue to their original and functional state.’
You can view the presentation by clicking here.
