Theme: Sustainability - It's not just recycling.

Welcome to TEDx Keele University 2025!

Join us for a day filled with ideas worth spreading from faculties across the University. Get ready to hear from thought-provoking speakers who will challenge your perspectives and ignite your curiosity. This event will provide a platform for innovative ideas and engaging discussions that will leave you feeling inspired and motivated.

This years theme is 'sustainability'. Keele is one of the global leaders in this field, so come along to learn about some of our most impactful alumni, lecturers, and beyond. We will be approaching this topic from all different angles, integrating all of Keele's different schools to emphasise how the health of our planet impacts everyone and everything.

Don't miss out on this opportunity to be a part of the TEDx community at Keele University. See you there!

The event is now fully booked in-person, but do watch all our inspirational speakers online as this will be livestreamed on the 'Keele Lectures and Talks' YouTube Channel! They will also be uploaded on the official 'TEDx' YouTube channel.

Denise Coates Building
Home Farm Dr, Keele
Newcastle, Stoke-on-Trent, ST5 5NS
United Kingdom

Adam Moolna (Ocean inspiration for a sustainable future)

Lecturer in Environment and Sustainability

With family roots in the western Indian Ocean, Dr Adam Moolna was inspired by wide ocean expanses and biodiverse island ecosystems across Mauritius and Seychelles from an early age. Adam has worked across a broad range of applied sustainability contexts, aspiring to integrate understanding with action and transcending the boundaries between science and society. Adam’s scholarship has become focused on Blue Economy approaches to integrating sustainable development, climate action and conservation linked to coasts and the ocean.

Elliott Lancaster MBE (Sustainability: The Personal Opportunity )

PhD graduate at Keele and a social entrepreneur

Elliott is a PhD graduand at Keele and a social entrepreneur. In 2022, at 25, Elliott was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). Amongst other accolades, he was invited to receive an honourary knighthood from the Mayor of Florence last year. He has represented the UK at several national and global speaking events, including COP28, UN ESCAP, World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, and UK Cabinet Away Day. His work is featured on BBC Breakfast, GB News, Times Radio, and LBC. He sits on several charitable boards and is currently the Vice Chair of Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and an Ambassador of GEN UK.

Mark Ormerod OBE (Opening Remarks)

Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost of Keele

Deputy vice chancellor and provost of Keele University, Professor Mark Ormerod, has an international profile for his leadership and advocacy towards environmental sustainability issues, receiving an OBE for his services to sustainability and education which he has had a strong personal and professional commitment to for the last 40 years. He has been closely involved in leading Keele’s impressive sustainability journey for the last 20 years and will be giving some inspirational opening remarks.

Patrick Shanahan (Green Goals: How football clubs can tackle the environment)

Chief Strategy Officer at Port Vale FC

As Chief Strategy Officer at Port Vale FC, Patrick works closely with the club board to develop long-term strategies for growth and sustainability. His role focuses on creating initiatives that drive success both on and off the pitch whilst ensuring we stay true to our values.

Pawas Bisht (Imagining a different planet: The Power of Storytelling)

Senior Lecturer in Media; Deputy Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures

Dr Pawas Bisht is a Senior Lecturer in Media and Deputy Director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures at Keele University. Pawas is a communications studies researcher and documentary filmmaker undertaking inter-disciplinary, participatory and practice-based research that seeks to effect transformative social, cultural and political change in the context of environmental crises. He led the recently concluded British Academy funded ‘Storytelling for Environmental Change’ project tackling air pollution in India. His films have been shown on Channel 4, CNBC, and Doordarshan (India’s national public service broadcaster) and include work commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme and the Global Environment Facility.

Ranjan Sanyal (The Metabolic Time Bomb: Defuse It Now)

Senior Stroke Consultant Physician in University Hospital of North Midlands NHS trust

Dr. Ranjan Sanyal is a highly respected senior stroke consultant physician in University Hospital of North Midlands NHS trust with a distinguished career dedicated to patient care, education, and research. Renowned for his exceptional teaching abilities, Dr. Sanyal has received numerous awards, including a prestigious lifetime achievement award for excellence in teaching from Keele University. His commitment to fostering the next generation of medical professionals is evident in his engaging and impactful teaching style. Dr. Sanyal’s research interests lie in the innovative use of hypnosis to treat functional neurological disorders and complex symptoms in patients, demonstrating a forward-thinking approach to patient care. Beyond stroke medicine, Dr. Sanyal possesses a deep interest in metabolic health, driven by personal life experience. He is passionate about sharing this knowledge to empower others to achieve optimal health and well-being.

Zoe Robinson (Is Education the Answer? (to our sustainability crises) )

Professor of Sustainability in Higher Education at Keele University

Zoe Robinson is a Professor of Sustainability in Higher Education at Keele University. She held the role as Director of Education for Sustainability at Keele for 10 years with responsibility for embedding sustainability across the curriculum and student experience. She has also held the role of Director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures at Keele, which aimed to bring different disciplines together with non-academic partners to drive real change on sustainability problems. In recognition of her work in education for sustainability, Zoe was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2012, is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA) and was shortlisted in the ‘Most Innovative Teacher of the Year’ category of the Times Higher Education Award in 2019. Zoe has worked in an advisory capacity on education for sustainability for a number of national organisations and is Co-Chair of the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges.