Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) will be hosting the second TEDxUniversitiBruneiDarussalam on September 13.
It will feature seven speakers comprising UBD staff, students and alumni as well as an invited speaker.
Noorfati’ah Nor Hasnul, an aspiring economist currently pursuing her Master of Science in Applied Economics at UBD School of Business and Economics, will emphasise the role of digital literacy in shaping a sustainable future, advocating for collaboration across communities and institutions to bridge the digital divide and promote social inclusion.
Mohd Aziz Zulazmi Samsudin is a mental health counsellor and behavioural coach for a leading mental health tech company in Singapore, who also manages his private counselling practice in Brunei. His focus during TedxUniversitiBruneiDarussalam 2024 will be on mental health accessibility for children with special needs, highlighting how partnerships can drive progress towards more inclusive care systems.
Alya Insyirah Adri Syahme, currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in History and International Studies at UBD’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, will reimagine volunteerism for long-term impact, aligning with the theme by proposing sustainable volunteer models that prevent burnout and foster lasting community engagement.
Scott Valentine, a professor of entrepreneurship at UBD and chairperson of Asia Circular, and Paul Lee, an experienced tech entrepreneur and co-founder of Roiquant, will both explore the power of circular business networks and intellectual honesty in investment, respectively, showcasing the importance of ethical and innovative practices in building resilient futures.
Dr Min Shen, a lecturer of Mandarin and intercultural communication at UBD, as the deputy director of UBD Language Centre, will explore the irreplaceable value of human language learning in an era of rapidly advancing artificial intelligence (AI), emphasising that language fosters deeper cultural and emotional connections that technology cannot replicate.
Her talk will advocate for the preservation of cultural diversity and the role of language in achieving sustainable global communication.
International speaker Rajeeshwaran Moorthy is an educator and executive fellow at The Digital Economist.
He will examine how technology-driven partnerships, particularly through AI and blockchain, can address global sustainability challenges.
His focus on collaboration across sectors highlights the power of collective action in building a more inclusive and sustainable future.