TEDxUlica Mińska

Speakers

Speakers may not be confirmed. Check the event website for the latest lineup.

• Aleksandr Smirnov

  Surgeon, PhD in biochemistry, CTO of CleverPoint

  CTO at CleverPoint, candidate of medical sciences by training. Works at the intersection of occupational psychophysiology, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence. Translates scientific models and human measurements into clear, verifiable solutions for organisations and medical projects. Over 25 years of leading scientific and technical development in technology teams, designing digital systems, and bringing ideas to working tools. Outside of work: adventure organiser, extreme tourism, mountaineering, musical creativity (fingerstyle guitar), breeding leafcutter ants.

• Anastasia Zaiceva

  Communications and personal brand strategist, mentor

  C-level leader in the game development industry, communications and personal brand strategist, and startup mentor in emigration. Works at the intersection of business, marketing, and AI — helping leaders communicate with the world in human terms rather than template language.

• Arkadiy Dobkin

  Entrepreneur, founder of EPAM

  Arkadiy Dobkin was born in Minsk a long time ago. He started coding at school in 1976 by accident. Trained as an electrical engineer, but became a programmer right after university. By accident again. Emigrated to the United States in 1991, aged 31. Started washing dishes to make a living. By accident, too. Founded EPAM, a small software startup, two years later, to connect worlds that felt very far apart. Not by accident that time. Over thirty years, it grew quietly into a company with $5+ billion in revenue and 60,000 people across 55 countries. Learned a lot along the way — and somehow feel like knowing less than ever. Have been fortunate to work with extraordinary people — colleagues, clients, and communities across the globe. Still learning. Still curious. Still trying to figure out how to build the right future, the right way.

• Lev Lvovskiy

  PhD in economics, academic director of BEROC

  Doctor of Economics and Academic Director of BEROC. Holds a PhD in economics from the University of Iowa, specialising in demographic economics and labour economics. Outside his profession: Nothing inspires him, since everything interesting can be analysed through economics.

• Natalla Kharytaniuk

  Language teacher

  Natalka Kharytaniuk is an English language teacher with over twenty years of experience. She believes that learning a language is not only about words and rules, but also about attention, sensitivity, and the ability to truly meet another person in conversation.

• Nataly Khadziakova

  Computational design architect, artist, researcher, founder of NK Studio

  Trained as an architect, Nataly is currently a Senior Computational Designer at Giles Miller Studio, focusing on sensory art. She is also the founder of NK Studio, where she investigates the intersection of nature and technology. She participates in exhibitions, performative practices, and international competitions and artistic residencies, including the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 and the S+T+ARTS art residency. Drawing inspiration from yoga and natural processes, Nataly integrates parametric tools, digital fabrication, and ecological research to develop new artistic solutions. Conscious thinking and behaviour are core approaches in her life and practice; her projects explore adaptive responses to climate change.

• Rammi Dgham

  Product manager focused on AI and robotics

  Rammi sees what the world is missing — and builds it. Over the past ten years, his products and startups at the intersection of AI and the physical world have reached millions of users and brought in millions of dollars. But numbers interest him less than the questions behind them: why do smart people build mad systems? How can an imperfect person build a perfect future? Why does the little toe always find the corner of a table? Two-time Belarusian debate champion, Rammi has spent years honing the art of thought. Now in Warsaw, he seeks answers through game theory, the philosophy of consciousness, and the belief that the best questions are the ones that do not yet have answers.

• Ryhor Astapenia

  PhD in political science, founder of the Maldzis initiative

  Co-founder of the Maldzis initiative. Director of the Belarus Initiative at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) and founder of the Centre for New Ideas. Holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Warsaw.

• Siarhei Besarab

  Chemist, CBRN expert, and global risk researcher (GCRI)

  Interdisciplinary researcher, inventor, and science journalist. With a background in radiation and colloid chemistry (10+ years R&D), he now brings science out of the laboratory and into the realm of civilian safety. As an invited expert at the Global Catastrophic Risk Institute (GCRI, USA) and founder of the LAB-66 community, Siarhei works on CBRN threats and adaptation scenarios. His superpower: connecting cold global-risk statistics with practical techie ingenuity. He turns an abstract "end of the world" into a solvable engineering problem, adapting complex protection protocols for individuals. Skeptic and transhumanist who believes knowledge is the best armour.

• Sviatlana Volchak

  Physicist, science communicator, co-founder of popular science Pamyłka magazine

  Studied at BSU, Faculty of Radiophysics and Computer Technologies (2006–2012), worked there 2014–2020 in general physics labs (mechanics, molecular physics, optics, electricity, atomic physics). Became a science communicator in 2019, giving public lectures and posting videos on YouTube. From 2009 to 2020 was involved in civic activities, volunteering with the communities "Zabei" and "Falanster." Since 2023, has been co-creating the Belarusian-language popular science zine Pamylka with friends, and works as a Physics Lab Technician at Akademeia High School in Warsaw (British curriculum lyceum), creating 3D models for the natural sciences department.

• Tatyana Zamirovskaya

  Writer, former music journalist, researcher of liminality

  Writer, journalist, editor. Born in 1980 in Barysaw (Borisov), studied journalism at Belarusian State University, worked as a music critic for Belarusian independent media, and for many years was a cultural correspondent, and wrote about independent Belarusian culture. In 2015 moved to New York, where she completed an MFA at Bard College (Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts). Until 2025 worked as an editor at Voice of America (Washington/New York). Author of the philosophical novel about AI resurrection, memory, and digital dictatorships Смерти.нет (Death.Doesn't.Exist, 2021), short story collections "Воробьиная река" (Sparrow River, 2015) and "Земля случайных чисел" (Land of Random Numbers, 2019), and an essay collection about emigration and music "Эвридика, проверь, выключила ли ты газ" (Eurydice, Check if You Turned Off the Gas, 2024). Ran the cult blog Candles of the Apocalypse about working in luxury retail in New York — it became a bestselling book of the same name.

• Valery Astrynski

  Entrepreneur, investor, founder of STATIVA

  Entrepreneur, investor, and founder of STATIVA (stativa.eu) — a manufacturer of mobile wooden tiny homes in Poland. Over 20 years in business, co-founder of the business angel network Angels Band. Has visited around 80 countries, participated in Burning Man, and created of the Belarusian camp MARA. Having survived the loss of his business, restriction of freedom, and emigration from Belarus, he found new meaning in creating small living spaces — tiny homes on wheels, where minimalism and slow living became a philosophy of freedom. Father of four sons. Lives in Gdańsk.