About Alexander
I am a…
Activist, Athlete, Educator/Teacher
Bio
Alexander Betts is Professor of Forced Migration and International Affairs, and Director of the Refugee Studies Centre at the university of Oxford. He is author of 10 books, including (with Paul Collier) 'Refuge: Transforming a Broken Refugee System'. He was named by Foreign Policy magazine as a top 100 global thinker of 2016, is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and has been named by Thinkers50 as a top emerging business influencer.
I'm passionate about
Refugees, human rights, running, teaching, and research.
An idea worth spreading
Refugees have skills, talents, and aspirations. They can contribute - if we let them.
Areas of expertise
Africa, Humanitarianism, Refugees
The TED story
I had not seen a live TED talk until late 2015, when I was invited to speak at TEDxVienna. I was delighted when 10,000 watched my talk. Then two months later, I got a last minute invite to speak at TED2016 on refugees. This led me to be at the TED Summit just days after Brexit. Enraged, I suggested to experiment with giving a Brexit TED talk with only 2 days to prepare. It has now been seen over 2 million times. And I'm now a speaker mentor at TED2017!
Things you might not know
Running - I'm currently attempting to run all six world marathon majors...in a single year...faster than anyone has done them in a single series.