Journeys

During his day job, Alessandro is the Artificial Intelligence & Operations Innovation Manager at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre. With over 30 years of experience in satellite operations, he has been a pioneer in supporting space operators with machine learning and AI techniques for mission planning, subsystem behaviour prediction, and anomaly detection and prevention. But by night, Alessandro has devoted himself to practicing Laughter Yoga, bringing joy and new perspectives to the groups that join him. Laughter Yoga was invented in India as a way to relieve stress and keep a positive mind, especially in challenging times. It combines laughter exercises with yoga breathing techniques, bringing more oxygen to the body and brain, leading practitioners to feel more focused and energetic, and increasing their wellbeing. We thank Alessandro for providing us all the possibility to experience this unique practice. Join us on 24 September for our TEDxTUDarmstadt event and let yourself be surprised by the refreshing effects Laughter Yoga has on your body and mind.

Olga Reis's talk explores leveraging perspective shifts to overcome personal and professional hurdles, though an official video is not publicly available. Drawing on a multicultural background and international experience, her talk outlines a "journey mindset" focused on resilience.

Besides being an Associated Professor of Public Health and leading a research group with focus on suicide prevention at the medical University Vienna, Austria, he is the founding chair-man of the Wiener Werkstätten for Suicide Research. The Foundation is one of the leading suicide prevention groups in central Europe. ​ One of his research fields as a suicidologist and mental health researcher are media effects on suicide. Here, he deals with the roles of media in suicide prevention and shows that media can save lives by preventing suicide. As a well-known suicidologist and mental health researcher, he will give us an insight into his work and show us that media can save lives by preventing suicide. ​

To meet Sustainable Development Goals, such as “affordable and clean energy”, Dreizler presents a way to store excess energy, that can be extracted on demand, with the use of iron particles. The innovative concept includes the storage of energy by the chemical reduction of iron oxides and the on-demand oxidization of iron particles. This results in a release of chemical into thermal energy and furthermore in the production of iron oxide particles. To close the cycle, the iron oxide particles are collected and transported to regions where excess renewable energy needs to be stored. As a successful researcher, scholar and professor, Andreas Dreizler has published more than 380 papers in professional journals, conference proceedings and textbooks in the field of reactive flows and diagnostics. Moreover, he is a member of national academies such as the National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech), and is part of the Executive Committee of the International Combustion Institute. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Since 2015 she volunteers at the Young European Federalists (JEF Germany) because she is convinced that Europe is a necessity for the future and that it affects us everyday. Both, with her job and her voluntary work she is committed to the European idea because she believes that we can be part and shape the European journey. In her TED Talk she will therefore take a short walk through history to show, that Europe and especially the European Union is a human journey and enterprise and that is is and always has been a counter-proposal for building a different future. Having grown up in the black forest near the french border in a binational household, Europe has always been a certainty for Emmeline. It was when living in New Zealand that she gained more perspective on the European history and its culture, thus intensifying her feeling of belonging. She therefore completed her studies in European Studies and Political Communication to gain a broader understanding of the culture, history and the functioning of the Europe and the European Union. She now works for the Franco-German Youth Office (Deutsch-Französisches Jugendwerk), which was created in 1963 with the Treaty of Elysee to enable young people to have exchange experiences. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

For TED, Luise Volkmann talks about her musical life journey. She shares her experiences of how music performance can be a moment of encounter, social experiments and a vehicle for transformation. She points out the ritual qualities of music and how these are interwoven with society. Luise Volkmann is a sound artist living in Cologne, Germany, who mainly stands on stage or composes. Her interest in the mutual influence of society and music led her beyond her musical practice into musicology and cultural studies. Her curiosity took her to live and work not only in Germany, but also in France and Brazil. Since 2021 she is a docent in the Master Expanded Media in Darmstadt. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

”AI Innovation goes hand in hand with change, which requires honest vision and trust“, Marcel Isbert states. In his TEDx-Talk he gives several examples of the interaction between AI applications and the trust they create in an observer. Providing some explanations of relevant AI terms and definitions he points out some current use cases of AI and emphasizes the need to establish trust in this technology. Marcel Isbert works as an Artificial Intelligence Manager at statworx and is a member of the advisory board of AI Frankfurt Rhein-Main e.V., Deputy Head Region South-West at KI-Bundesverband e.V. . As an expert in his field, he is also a member of the Artificial Intelligence Alliance of the European Commission. Having studied Business Psychology (M.Sc.), he draws attention to the influence of trust when dealing with AI and emphasizes this in his work in management consulting, holding lectures on AI and as a keynote speaker. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Paolo, who is also a member of the International Academy of Astronautics and Royal Aeronautical Society, will share with you the unique insights he gained accompanying the long journey through time and space of the Rosetta mission, the first interplanetary probe to rendezvous with a comet. Through almost four decades at the forefront of Europe’s journeys in space, Paolo went from Operations Engineer to Operations Manager on various scientific satellite missions, followed by serving as Flight Director on Rosetta, Venus Express and Goce. His career has been capped off by eight years as Head of Mission Operations for ESA, overseeing all of ESA’s robotic mission operations. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

The speaker Paula Farina Grosser works in development cooperation at Engineers Without Borders Germany. During her presentation, she would like to emphasize the importance of sustainability in development cooperation. She is convinced that the key lies in dialogue, cooperation and learning from one another. Oftentimes, existing structures can be used to create fertile ground for sustainable projects. Having lived and studied in six different countries Paula has experienced various cultures and environments. Soon she came to realize that water related problems often occur where people are especially exposed and vulnerable. Therefore, she engages in paying a contribution towards investigating and implementing projects that address water availability and security. For almost two years, she has been committed to volunteering with Engineers Without Borders. Here she is a technical representative for a project dealing with the construction of cisterns in Kenya. The project works in cooperation with a local association that aims to continue the work in the long term. Besides the work with Engineers without Borders Germany, she also focuses on regional developments in water availability in Germany. As part of a PhD at the TU Darmstadt, she is researching the impacts of climate change on drought and low flow in a regional river basin. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Life on earth should certainly not be taken for granted. The talk will highlight reasons which could force humans to depart from earth to avoid a complete extinction and show opportunities for long term survival of mankind. Would this transition be feasible and how long could such an undertaking last? Wolfgang Wimmer was an ESA staff member for 36 years, mainly in the Mission Control domain. During this period he was actively involved in the preparation and execution of mission control of 34 space projects, for the last 15 of which he was responsible as Flight Director (e.g. HIPARCOS, ERS 1 and 2, EURECA, ITALSAT F2, INTEGRAL) for all critical phases, including complex mission rescue operations for projects suffering from major onboard failures. With his operational experience he was also involved in a number of feasibility studies for future space missions and in a large number of requirements-, design- and flight readiness reviews. He retired as Division Head in Feb. 2004. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx