TEDxLondonBusinessSchool sparks conversation and connection

Earlier this year, some 250 attendees gathered at London Business School’s Regents Park campus for a day of talks and performances. With speakers covering a huge array of topics from cultivated meat to the climate crisis, how we age, and the way we treat pain, as well as performances from The Dandelion Chain and YAZ Band, TEDxLondonBusinessSchool provided a space for attendees to pause and reflect on what lies between where we are and where we are going.

AI was a hot topic with Sam Stockwell,Senior Research Associate at the Centre for Emerging Technology and Security (CETaS) within the Alan Turing Institute highlighting how challenging it is to spot deepfakes. He introduced the SIFT framework as a practical way for people to verify what they see online. LBS MBA student Lilian (“Lily”) Crawford (MBA2026) gave an emotive account of how AI is widening the research gap in medicine, and Aritra Sutradhar (MBA2026) and Denira Coleman (MBA2027) intertwined Hindustani music and opera to explore what is possible when human creativity meets AI.

Culture was another major point of interest. Speakers included GRAMMY-winning and BAFTA-nominated composer Stephen Barton, and award-winning film director, writer and producer Margy Kinmoth who offered inspirational insights into the world of artistry.

Troubled by the decline in music taught in schools, Stephen convincingly demonstrated that schools do not need big budgets to teach music. Briefed live by the audience and using freely available tools, he created a new piece of video game music in under three hours. Food for thought given that video game music is a growing industry and will require talented people to feed it.

Margy gave a hard-hitting and thought-provoking talk about female artists operating in contemporary conflict zones, highlighting the grave risks that they run to create their art.

Curiosity and connection were another topic of conversation. London-based content creator, filmmaker, and urban historian Johno Verity demonstrated how everyday curiosity can reconnect us with our surroundings. Connection, or the lack of it, was at the heart of Selin Kesebir, Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at LBS’s talk about the decline of nature in cultural products. The increasing absence of references to nature in films, songs and stories, reveals a growing disconnect from nature, which gave the audience pause for thought.

Sir Andrew Likierman, Professor of Management Practice in Accounting at LBS spoke on the art of good judgement, a subject that Sandrine Hoeur, a student on LBS’s Global Executive MBA programme, also tackled. She shared a framework to help people make smarter emotional choices by using financial frameworks.

Framing was also the order of the day for stem cell biologist Mark Kotter, Founder of bit.bio, who had the audience enthralled with a new way to think about ageing. Similarly, LBS alum Chris Caldwell, tackling the meaty issue of how we tackle the climate crisis, called for pollution to be priced honestly and for systemic change that will reward different things.

TEDxLondonBusinessSchool was chaired by Executive MBA student Ekanjali Dhillon and delivered by an outstanding student committee, bringing together students from across nationalities and programmes. Curation was led by Isabelle Duerbeck, ably supported by Karl Henrik Smith, Carlotta Menozzi, Aman Satyam Bharti, Joanne Ngotho, Prakhar Gupta, Vaishnavi Chavali and Michelangelo Mauro. The Operations team, led by Lexie Meskouris, included Nibha Gupta, Karen Ofori, Tanya Walia and Snega Suresh. Marketing efforts were led by Dipti Bajaj, with support from Bharat Bhattar, Asli Erdal, Waritta Pahirah, Giulio Bricca, Andra Elena Tanasie and Camila Torrealba Besa.

As Lynda Gratton, LBS Professor of Management Practice who opened TEDxLondonBusinessSchool wrote about the event, “Ideas don’t travel alone. They need conversation. They need the unexpected encounter with someone you’d never normally meet. They need to be tested, stretched, and questioned before they can really become something.”