When looking for a new way forward, TEDxVictoria turned to University of Victoria (UVic) scholars.
TEDxVictoria will bring environmental innovators, academic leaders, artists and boundary-pushers to the Farquhar stage on Oct. 7 for its 2026 event, with the theme "Uncharted."
"Climate instability. Technological disruption. Social transformation. The maps we inherited, economic, environmental, professional, no longer show us the way forward," said Marco Pimentel, TEDxVictoria Licensee. "Uncharted invites us to challenge that fear, turning our anxiety about the unknown into curiosity about what we can build together."
Twelve speakers for the popular event were announced Wednesday, and five are from UVic:
- Trefor Bazett (Faculty of Science) is an associate professor at UVic who believes math can and should be for everyone. He has won nine teaching awards, earned a PhD in algebraic topology and shares the coolest stories in math with over 600,000 YouTube subscribers.
- Faraz Forghan-Parast (Faculty of Education) is an Iranian-Canadian poet, educator and doctoral researcher at UVic, affiliated with the Electronic Textual Cultures Lab. He studies how generative AI reshapes knowledge and creativity, asking what stays human in an algorithmic world bringing a poet's ear and a researcher's rigour.
- Jade Fischer (Faculty of Science) is a PhD candidate in medical physics at UVic, studying FLASH and minibeam radiation therapy to treat cancer with fewer side effects. She has run experiments at CERN's CLEAR facility, co-chairs the Canadian Organization of Medical Physicists Student Council and loves making science accessible.
- Tamara Krawchenko (Faculty of Social Sciences) is an internationally recognized scholar and policy expert with over 20 years of comparative research across a dozen countries. A former senior OECD analyst in Paris, she now leads energy governance work at ACET, championing rural, remote and Indigenous communities through change.
- Jon Willis (Faculty of Science) is a professor of astronomy at UVic whose work spans cosmology and astrobiology. He has used telescopes across the planet and above it, deployed robot submersibles in alien ocean analogues, searched for ancient life on Mars and authored two books on life beyond Earth.
The five UVic speakers are part of a lineup that spans wildly different worlds from crisis leadership, Indigenous innovation, ocean advocacy, law, the arts and community-building. Meet all 12 TEDxVictoria 2026 speakers and discover the ideas they'll bring to the Uncharted stage.
TEDxVictoria is an independently organized TEDx event dedicated to sharing ideas worth spreading in Victoria, BC. Operating under licence from TED, TEDxVictoria brings together thought leaders, innovators and community members to explore ideas that challenge, inspire and move us forward.
Tickets are available for purchase online. Early bird pricing is still in effect; general tickets go on sale July 21.
UVic is here for what matters including ideas that are worth spreading. Explore how UVic is making a difference in the South Island community.
