TEDxMelbourne

TEDxMelbourne TEDxMelbourne is an independent organisation created in the spirit of TED. We design amazing experiences to create ideas worth spreading.

Ideas change everything – and the people behind them make it possible.We’re looking for leaders to join the TEDxMelbourn...
10/05/2026

Ideas change everything – and the people behind them make it possible.

We’re looking for leaders to join the TEDxMelbourne team:
- Financial Accountant
- Operations Lead
- Partnerships Director

These roles sit at the heart of how TEDxMelbourne operates – guiding strategy, enabling sustainability, and building meaningful collaborations that amplify ideas worth spreading.

If you’re driven by purpose and ready to contribute your expertise to a globally recognised platform for ideas, we’d love to hear from you.

Apply now: https://tedxmelbourne.com/volunteer-applications

For the first time, taste, discernment and a point of view are the whole job.Join TEDxMelbourne and LCI for an intimate ...
05/05/2026

For the first time, taste, discernment and a point of view are the whole job.

Join TEDxMelbourne and LCI for an intimate Salon with Dave King, Co-Founder of Radical Intelligence, exploring the most valuable creative skill nobody's been taught.

The real creative work is just beginning.

📅 11 June 2026 | 6:00–8:00 pm
📍 LCI Melbourne, Collingwood
🎟 Free tickets SOLD OUT

Spots may open up closer to the event.
👉 Join the waitlist: https://tedxmelbourne-can-the-real-creative-please-stand-up-2026.eventbrite.com.au/

Want first access to future events like this?
🔗 Subscribe to our newsletter: tedxmelbourne.com

At TEDxMelbourne, ideas meet ex*****on through creativity, technology, and storytelling.We’re looking for talented indiv...
25/04/2026

At TEDxMelbourne, ideas meet ex*****on through creativity, technology, and storytelling.

We’re looking for talented individuals to join our team in key roles:

- Digital Technologist
- Digital Designer
- Brand & Communications Manager

These roles shape how ideas are experienced – across digital platforms, visual identity, and audience engagement.

If you’re excited by the intersection of ideas, design, and innovation, this is your opportunity to contribute to a platform that sparks conversation and change.

Apply now: https://tedxmelbourne.com/volunteer-applications

What does intelligence look like when biology and technology converge?Dr Hon Weng Chong, founder of Cortical Labs, took ...
23/02/2026

What does intelligence look like when biology and technology converge?

Dr Hon Weng Chong, founder of Cortical Labs, took the TEDxMelbourne stage at Beyond The Horizon to explore a radical shift in computing: what happens when intelligence is built not from code alone, but from living brain cells connected to a chip.

Hon introduced the field of organic computing to create systems that learn, adapt and operate using a fraction of the energy and data required by traditional AI. His team has already demonstrated this by growing neurons on computer chips and teaching them to play a game in minutes.

At the centre of his work is the human brain, the only known system capable of general intelligence. Rather than continuing to replicate its behaviour through increasingly resource-intensive machines, Hon proposes a different path: building computers from the very cells that make intelligence possible.

This breakthrough opens new possibilities, from personalised medicine tested on a person’s own cells to more efficient, adaptable machines. It also raises urgent ethical questions around ownership, responsibility and consciousness, questions that emerge when technology is no longer separate from life itself.

Hon’s talk challenges us to rethink intelligence, computation and what it means to be human, especially as biology and technology continue to converge beyond the horizon.

Photos by
Graphic recording by .gee

22/02/2026

As space missions move from exploration to settlement, the stakes are changing. So what can the origins of life on Earth teach us about our future beyond our atmosphere?

At Beyond The Horizon, Tully Mahr addressed how responsibility should guide space exploration, emphasising that the standards we set now will shape ethical and sustainable practices in the future.

Grounded in her work across Indigenous and Western knowledge systems, she reflected that responsibility must precede entitlement. The way we approach new worlds will reflect the values we choose to prioritise now.

Watch the full talk on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsvzHP_tjLU

At Beyond The Horizon, Tully Mahr began with the question, “Are we alone in the universe?” She traced life’s emergence o...
18/02/2026

At Beyond The Horizon, Tully Mahr began with the question, “Are we alone in the universe?” She traced life’s emergence on Earth to interactions between chemistry, geology, and environment, noting that life did not begin from a single element acting alone but in meeting places where systems worked together.

From this foundation, she turned to the present moment: humanity is preparing for lunar bases, Mars missions, and long-term settlement beyond Earth. The language of claiming, extracting, and colonising is already part of that conversation. Tully questioned whether exploration is being guided by responsibility, or by assumed rights.

Drawing on both Indigenous and Western ways of knowing, she introduced a principle that has shaped her thinking: responsibility comes before rights. As space activity accelerates, she highlighted that ethical accountability must precede expansion; without it, exploration risks repeating patterns of harm already seen on Earth.

Photos by
Graphic recording by .gee

16/02/2026

The human brain is the most efficient computer we know, capable of general intelligence while running on remarkably little energy. Yet modern AI systems require vast resources to imitate even fragments of its capability.

At Beyond the Horizon, Dr Hon Weng Chong shared how his team is reversing this approach by building computers from living brain cells grown on chips. By communicating through electrical signals, these neurons learn, adapt and solve problems with far greater efficiency than traditional machines.

Hon showed how this technology could transform fields like medicine, where treatments may one day be tested on a person’s own cells, while also forcing new ethical questions about responsibility, ownership and consciousness as systems grow more complex.

His work invites us to reconsider intelligence itself, and to confront a future where life and technology are no longer separate.

Watch the full talk on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4oGMaKNYeU

06/02/2026

Organisations invest heavily in creative processes, hoping they will produce innovation. Often, these systems focus on outputs while separating people from the act of creating.

At Beyond the Horizon, Tessa Forshaw, PhD, introduced metacognition as a missing element in how we approach creative problem solving: the ability to notice our own thinking, emotions and actions, then adjust them as we go.

Drawing on her experience as an educator, Tessa showed how this awareness changes outcomes. When people stop following maps and start navigating, they become better equipped to adapt, rethink their strategies and move forward with intention.

Her perspective positions creativity as something we can study, practise and strengthen, and as a capacity we will need if we want to venture beyond the horizon.

Watch the full talk on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N2SOC3B1No

Tessa Forshaw, PhD, researcher and educator, took the TEDxMelbourne stage at Beyond The Horizon to ask what happens when...
05/02/2026

Tessa Forshaw, PhD, researcher and educator, took the TEDxMelbourne stage at Beyond The Horizon to ask what happens when creativity is studied with the same rigour as science.

Despite its central role in human progress, creativity is rarely examined through scientific research. Tessa explores the science of creativity as a way of understanding how we think about thinking itself, and why this awareness shapes how new ideas emerge.

At the centre of her work is metacognition: the quiet practice of noticing our thoughts, emotions and actions, then adjusting them in response to the moment.

Through years of teaching creative problem solving, Tessa saw a shift when metacognition became part of the process. Students moved away from rigid frameworks and began to think more adaptively, learning how to navigate uncertainty rather than follow predefined paths.

Her talk reframes creativity as both a skill and a discipline, one that can be learned, practised and refined. By understanding how our minds work, we can unlock new ways of seeing and imagine futures we have not yet learned how to picture.

Photos by Fifth Castle Media
Graphic recording by Jessamy Gee

02/02/2026

AI is advancing quickly, from machines that perceive the world to digital twins that mirror ourselves. The pace is exciting, but the consequences of misuse are real.

At Beyond the Horizon, Rita Arrigo shared a grounded view of what comes after the hype: AI as a tool we actively shape, nurture and take responsibility for, rather than something that replaces us.

Drawing on her experience from the early internet through to responsible innovation today, Rita showed why staying curious matters, why leadership in technology cannot be passive, and why humans must remain in control as systems grow more powerful.

Her perspective reframes our relationship with AI as an active one, built on intention, accountability and care, where the future of technology reflects the values we choose to embed in it.

Watch the full talk on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAHDtXDn56Y

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