Jude D'Souza

Designer

By day, I'm a manager of an international team of Presentation Specialists in the medical communications industry. By night, I'm an amateur writer and poet who produces a variety of eclectic local cultural activities under the banner of Entropy Events, including open-mic nights, poetry slams and even political hustings. The longest-running regular event is a hybrid of open-mic and discussion group named 'Speakeasy' in which poetry, prose and music are used as jumping-off points for wide-ranging discussion and debate across various themes. In addition to producing and directing two acclaimed local community productions of 'The Vagina Monologues', I have also directed my own play ‘Dead End’ to sell-outs in both Macclesfield and Bollington. A former trustee and longtime member of the Macclesfield Barnaby Festival, I have masterminded several original events such as the fiendish hi-tech Great Barnaby Treasure Hunt and the MP3-based FlashPod. As a cinephile who is passionate about introducing people to great movies, I also run a night called Cinevangelist at a local boutique cinema in which the films being screened are not revealed in advance in order to introduce audiences to brilliant but under-seen movies across numerous genres. In this capacity I have also been a judge in a local short film competition and a panel member in a discussion of Saudi Arabian film 'Wadjda' at Manchester Metropolitan University Students' Union.

CINEMA, particularly auteurs rewriting conventional wisdom by taking risks within the studio system; gender parity and representation within cinema. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, including Ray Kurzweil's idea of the Singularity, how we can legislate this emerging technology at the same pace it is developing and how researchers aim to keep their experiments within the bounds of safe control. GEOPOLITICS, particularly the cyber cold war that has embroiled numerous nations since the turn of the century, the tenuous webs of alliances and the long-term global impact of foreign policy by the worlds leading powers. INFORMATION, including the challenges of maintaining objectivity in an increasingly polarised world and the growing threat of state actors illicitly influencing the populations of their geopolitical opponents through social media and faux reporting. CLIMATE CHANGE, in terms of how we can encourage society to think beyond their wallets to consider long-term implications of their actions on the planet; how politicians can be convinced to put the moral imperative ahead of campaign contributions and how scientists and entrepreneurs can be motivated to find innovative solutions to our most pressing upcoming needs such as generating energy, continuing to feed a booming population and processing an exponentially-growing volume of waste. TECHNOLOGY, particularly the continuing rapid development of virtual reality, haptic feedback systems and wearable technology, and the various potential applications in industry, learning and leisure.