FelsTED Talks

In this episode of the Andrew Society podcast, we discuss codebreaking, history, language, mathematics, and what links them all together. This episode stars Arthur M-B, Rayan M, Jasmine W, and Phoebe H, with guest cameo appearances from Mr Pathak and Mr Quinlan.

The Andrew Society have been working on producing a series of podcasts on topics which interest us. We are delighted to share our first-ever episode, focusing on Artificial Intelligence and starring Lois P, Hannah P, Gabriel SF, and Mae P.

Daniel is an aspiring entrepreneur who recently graduated from the ‘Global Project and Change Management’ bachelor programme at the University of Windesheim, a programme that he chose because he wishes to create a better world where people are better connected with each other and with the natural environment that sustains us. Rather than being dissuaded when it comes to the scope of what needs to be achieved within the subject of Environmental Protection, Daniel sees the challenges that we all face as an opportunity for growth and development. As a young person, Daniel believes the younger generation carry a heavy burden to make their future as bright as possible, which is why he works so hard at developing sustainable products through his company. Indeed, Daniel is helping to build a clothing brand that creates durable, environmentally friendly and aesthetically pleasing clothing while also working for an impact consultancy that builds better businesses.

Today’s guest on our global sub-series is Rosanna Guo, Residence Manager at the British Embassy in Beijing. Rosanna started her job as Social Secretary to Her Majesty's Ambassador at the British Embassy in 2003 before taking on the role of Residence Manager with the opening of the ambassador’s residence to the public for government official events. Rosanna has served 5 ambassadors with their families and has been involved with all senior government officials’ visits and arrangements including royal families and a Prime Ministers visit. Rosanna has a passion for international educational programs, she has successfully launched several international student exchange programs and is the proud mother of a 14 year old boy. She has been invited to give several speeches in local public schools across Beijing as well as various international schools.

Today’s guest is Chad Detloff, Director of Professional Learning and Curriculum at the Global Education Benchmark Group. Chad works with educators who want to infuse their curricula, programmes, and schools with education for global competencies. Chad has spent his career seeking to develop self-aware, courageous, empathetic citizens who take on leadership roles to effect positive change in their various, diverse communities. Chad began his journey in this work as a student, studying abroad in Switzerland in high school and in Argentina and Italy in college. He spent ten years as the Director of Global Programs at Chadwick School in Southern California, where he led a group of faculty and administrators in creating unique indicators of global citizenship–based on the school’s mission and vision–and developed in-class curricula and travel programming to target these competencies. Chad has worked extensively with student leadership development and has taught a wide array of student-centered, inquiry-based courses in the Humanities and Global Languages disciplines over fourteen years in the classroom.

Our latest FelsTED Talks Global podcast guest is Yom Fox, Interim Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Director of Community and Global Partnerships and a member of the History Department Faculty at The Dalton School in New York City, where she is finishing her final term before moving to Georgetown Day School in Washington DC as Principal. Yom stepped into her role as Dalton’s interim director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in 2020 and has taken a student-centric approach to her work in order to deliver the best possible outcomes for the school community. She has helped create “Dialogue Labs” for students to discuss a range of topics, including affirmative action and the school’s history. Yom is also due to begin her first term as a member of the Global Education Benchmark Group Board, she is a mother of three children and she is an avid Peloton Bike rider, clocking up 20 miles on her bike every day!

Today’s guest is Lydia Carrington, Trainee Solicitor at Herbert Smith Freehills. Lydia was a student at Felsted School from 2006 to 2014. Her final year coincided with the school’s 450th anniversary celebrations, during which she enjoyed lunch with the late Duke of Edinburgh and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Lydia worked at Felsted International Summer School as Operations Manager from 2016 to 2019. Lydia holds a Master Degree in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh, and following graduation, she moved to London to complete postgraduate studies in Law before commencing a paralegal role at the challenger bank, Revolut, and a training contract with global law firm, Herbert Smith Freehills.

Fajer Rabia Pasha is the Executive Director of the Pakistan Alliance for Girls Education - PAGE. PAGE is a non-profit dedicated to empowering Pakistani girls so that they feel confident in achieving a secure future. PAGE aims to create a society where girls are free to have access to quality education and play a leading role in social transformation. Fajer Rabia Pasha is one of the leading advocates for strengthening education systems within Pakistan. She has been a lifelong champion of girls’ education and female rights. She has 17 years of experience in setting up and leading social enterprises in England and Pakistan and through her philanthropy and advocacy has made remarkable progress towards creating opportunities for girls within the Pakistani education system.

Our fourth episode of FelsTED Talks Global sub-series features Neil Wilcock, Project Officer at United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Vienna. Neil’s work at the UN allows him to work on projects that aim to tackle corruption internationally. His work concentrates on raising the voices of civil society specifically through the UN Convention against Corruption. He is passionate about working with people from a broad range of backgrounds and on projects that help others achieve what they want in life. Neil is a co-author of two books on political economy, the most recent of which is titled ‘Not Paying the Rent - Imagining a Fairer Capitalism’, which was published in 2021 through Palgrave Macmillan. Neil has a Masters Degree in Global Studies, which he studied at the universities of Wroclaw in Poland, Leipzig in Germany and Stellenbosch in South Africa. Neil, thank you very much for being with us today, how are you doing?

Revd. Motlhakane joined the College as a chaplain on secondment from St Stephens Anglican church, where he served as assistant priest. Before St Peter's he served as Chaplain at Johns College Houghton and Before that, he served as a youth pastor for 10 years within the Diocese of Johannesburg. Revd. Motlhakane is passionate about Africa and is a thought leader in Afro-centric theology. The core of his work is around youth and community advancement and social justice consciousness. His theology is undergirded by African consciousness, a non-polarizing idea of God, and living an inclusive gospel. When starting his work at St Peters, Revd. Kabelo said that he would allow learners to ask uncomfortable questions about God, religion and race. Revd. Motlhakane who holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in theology and Bachelor of Theology honour’s degree in ethics and systematic theology. He has recently completed his master’s degree in ethics and systematic theology. His thesis was on the story of God and Black inferiority in the thought of Steve Biko.

Episode 2 of our Felsted Global subseries features Ana Romero, the Head of Sustainability & Global Education Coordinator at Wellington College. In her work at Wellington, Ana inspires a vast number of students and faculty in her work concerning global education and sustainability across school life. She is responsible for collaborating with third party organisations, planning and delivering events, developing initiatives for professional development and for instigating new opportunities within the field of environmental protection. Ana is a passionate advocate for developing global competencies in her students beyond the school framework while bringing her international climate negotiation expertise from her work with the Mexican government. Today we are going to be talking about that through the lens of cross-cultural learning at school and what we can be doing better as educators in the field.

Thomas Sparrow is our first guest in this Felsted Global subseries. Thomas is Political and Security Correspondent at Deutsche Welle, Germany's international broadcaster, where he covers European news live on television in English, German and Spanish. He has covered various state and official visits, the global Covid-19 pandemic, the refugee crisis, terror threats and attacks in Europe, Brexit and, most recently, the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He is a frequent guest on news outlets around the world, including in Estonia, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Nigeria, Ghana, United States, United Kingdom, Colombia, India, Vietnam and South Korea. He previously worked as a correspondent for the BBC in Washington during the presidency of Barack Obama. He is also the co-author of three books on European politics and has featured as a guest speaker at Felsted and in other partner schools around the world.

Daniel Emmerson is the Director of Global Education at Felsted School in England. Join him on this sub-series of FelsTED Talks podcasts as he talks to a series of guests from a range of sectors and industries about what global education means to them and how important it is for young people who are currently at school. The world is changing at such a rapid pace, and these episodes are an opportunity to reflect on those changes from a broad range of perspectives.

Toby Oxnam is an Old Felstedian and co-founder of the King's Cross community radio station 'Voices Radio'. Toby’s vision to create a platform that gives voice to different social issues in the creative industries has resulted in Voices Radio being named by MixCloud as one of London’s most popular stations. After leaving Felsted, Toby studied Anthropology and Linguistics at Manchester University before working on a variety of Radio and Events projects throughout London, following his passion for music which started during his time as a boarder at Felsted.

Charlotte Gray is an Old Felstedian and is the current Venue Operations Manager at Alexander Stadium for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. After Leaving Felsted, Charlotte went on to study International Business Management with French at Newcastle University and then completed a Masters in International Sport Event Management at KEDGE Business School. Prior to working at Alexander Stadium, Charlotte joined the Football Association in 2017 and worked in various roles leading to UEFA Euro 2020 & UEFA Women's EURO 2022.

Alexander Guslisty is an Old Felstedian, Chemical Engineer and Founder & CEO of Big Atom, a clean-tech recycling company with a vision to end polymer waste. After Felsted, Alexander graduated from Imperial College London with a Masters in Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, before starting a career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs. Shortly after leaving GS, Alexander got drawn back to his engineering routes and started Big Atom in 2017. The overall aim for Big Atom is to bring an end to polymer waste entirely and in March 2021 Big Atom recycled their one millionth tyre.

Toby Walsh is an Old Felstedian and a leading researcher in Artificial Intelligence. Toby is a Laureate Fellow and Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence in the School of Computer Science and Engineering at UNSW Sydney, and he also leads the Algorithmic Decision Theory group at CSIRO Data61. Toby was named by the Australian newspaper as a "rock star" of Australia's digital revolution and regularly appears in the media talking about the impact of AI and robotics on society. He has been a leading voice in the discussion about lethal autonomous weapons (aka killer robots) speaking at the UN in New York and Geneva on the topic. Toby’s twitter account has been voted one of the top ten to follow to keep abreast of developments in Artificial Intelligence. Toby’s latest book Machines Behaving Badly is due to be published in May 2022 and we look forward to hearing more about that today.

In this episode, Head of Felsted Prep, Simon James talks to Felsted parent and fashion designer Sharon Wauchob. In 1999 Sharon launched her own eponymous label in Paris, which has since succeeded in becoming a highly acclaimed prêt-à-porter label. She has been showing on the official Paris Fashion Week calendar since 2003 and is one of the few British or Irish designers to have achieved such an accolade.

Alecky Blythe, an Old Felstedian, is a British playwright and screenwriter. Alecky is best known for her pioneering work in verbatim theatre and her first play ‘Come Out Eli' won a Time Out Award. Alecky’s most recent work ‘Our Generation’ is described as ‘An epic coming-of-age drama that's too extraordinary to be fiction​’ and is currently on at the National Theatre until April 2022.

In this episode Felsted Head Chris Townsend talks to the three Heads of School for the 2021-22 Academic Year; Alex, Esma and Kit. Alex is an Academic Scholar and first team netball player studying Maths, Chemistry, Biology and French at A Level. She is planning on reading Psychology at university next year. Kit is a boarder in Windsor's House and All Round Academic and Sports Scholar studying Latin, TEP, History and Psychology at A Level. He is a very keen sportsman, particularly cricket and hockey and will be reading history at university next year. Esma is Felsted's first ever Head of School from Bosnia. An HMC scholar studying the IB Diploma, Esma is looking at reading economics at university.