TEDxDeakin Uni Melbourne

Speakers

Speakers may not be confirmed. Check the event website for the latest lineup.

• Anika Molesworth

  Dr Anika Molesworth is a leader in agro-ecological resilience and sustainable farming systems. Passionate about rural communities and healthy ecosystems, she works to strengthen food systems and rural landscapes for the future. She is a Deakin University alumna and a founding director of Farmers for Climate Action, a national network of nearly 8,000 Australian farmers. Anika has delivered the TEDx talks “Farmers Are Key to a Better Future” and “Repairing the Broken Food System,” and is the award-winning author of Our Sunburnt Country, recognised for outstanding writing on social change.

• Dominique Condo

  Dr Dominique Condo is a leader in high-performance sport in Australia, working at the intersection of science and elite competition. She is Head of AFLW at the Geelong Football Club and a Senior Lecturer in Sports Nutrition at Deakin University. Her work focuses on evidence-based approaches to athlete health, performance, and wellbeing across elite men’s and women’s sport.

• Emma Kowal

  Professor Emma Kowal is an anthropologist whose work examines the intersections of science, medicine, and Indigenous studies. A former medical doctor and public health researcher, she is Professor of Anthropology and founder and co-convenor of the Science and Society Network at Deakin University, with prior leadership roles at the National Centre for Indigenous Genomics and the Alfred Deakin Institute. An award-winning scholar and past President of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S), she is the author of Haunting Biology (2023), exploring science and Indigeneity in Australia.

• Kate Seear

  Professor Kate Seear is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow at Deakin University’s Law School in Australia. An award-winning broadcaster, lawyer, and sociologist, she researches global drug law and policy, human rights, and the social impacts of drug laws, including stigma and harm. She is the author of five books, including Law, Drugs and the Making of Addiction: Just Habits, winner of the UK Socio-Legal Studies Association’s 2020 Theory and History Book Prize, and serves as Deputy Chair of Victoria’s Inquiry into Women’s Pain.

• Kira Hughes

  Dr Kira Hughes is an aerobiologist and award-winning science communicator passionate about helping researchers share their work and advocating for underrepresented groups in STEM. A Deakin University alumna, she is recognised as a Superstar of STEM by Science & Technology Australia and was the 2023 Deakin Three Minute Thesis People’s Choice Winner. Currently a Research Grants Officer at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Kira’s research focuses on airborne allergens and thunderstorm asthma, advancing how these events are understood and predicted.

• Louisa Graf

  Louisa Graf is a graduate marine scientist and PhD candidate specialising in shark and ray research. She is a member of the Movement Ecology and Management of Elasmobranchs lab, within the Deakin Marine Research and Innovation Centre. Her research focuses on the movement ecology of southern Australian coastal sharks and rays, particularly the Southern Fiddler Ray.

• Tuba Kocaturk

  Professor Tuba Kocaturk is a design researcher and systems thinker working at the intersection of design, technology, and urban innovation. Trained as an architect, she explores how circular economy principles and data-informed systems can help cities become more adaptive, regenerative, and human-centred. She is the founding director of the Mediated Intelligence in Design Lab at Deakin University, where she leads interdisciplinary research on intelligent urban futures, with experience spanning TU Delft, Harvard Graduate School of Design, and the University of Liverpool.