Morten Bech

Morten Bech joined the BIS in 2011. Previously, he worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Danish central bank. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Morten has written about different issues relating to monetary policy implementation, money markets, network topology of financial markets, large-value payment systems and systemic risk.

“The hype around cryptocurrencies is like a gold rush, they even mine it, but in many cases people are chasing fool’s gold.” Anonymous

Favourite TED talk: The Money Tree - Paul Cushman

Alisa Blokhina Alvares

Alisa is a multilingual translator and conference interpreter, and runs her own translation business, Eloquent Words, LLC. She is also a professional musician. Alisa was born in St. Petersburg, Russia but grew up in New York. She has spent the last 15 years living and working in Brazil, Spain, and Switzerland with her husband. Although unsure about where life will take her next, she is certain that wherever she goes, she will bring with her a part of each of the many cultures she has had the privilege of experiencing.

“Music expresses feeling and thought, without language. It was below and before speech, and it is above and beyond all words.” – R. Ingersoll (1891)

Favorite TED talk: Your brain on improv - Charles Limb

Liam Cox

Liam was born and bred in Berwick-upon-Tweed, a town which has changed hands 13 times between England and Scotland. He is a Physical Education and Sports Science teacher and has lived and worked in the UK, USA, Kenya and Switzerland. A former rugby player, he has now taken to running marathons. He is passionate about holistic edu - cation and loves the poetry of Robert Burns.

“The best laid schemes o’ mice an men gang aft agly.” - Robert Burns, interpreted by Mike Tyson as “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

Favourite Ted talk: How to sound smart in your TED talks - Will Stephen

Gabriela Friel

Eleven year old Gabriela Friel has lived in California, South Carolina and now, Basel. She enjoys school and says her favourite subject is Art. Outside school, she likes drawing, sewing, basketball and, her most recent discovery, unicycling. She has been riding the unicycle for over a year.

“Never cry over spilt milk.”

Favorite TED talk: This is what happens when you reply to spam emails - James Veitch

Raphael Gielgen

Raphael is a trendscout and researcher at Vitra in Basel. Architecture, technology, and social change applied to working environments are his passions. Raphael´s work informs Vitra´s approach to improving the quality of offices and public spaces through the power of design. His home, an environmental friendly farm close to Regensburg in Bavaria, is Raphael´s place for inspiration. “In keeping up with the digital times, the industry has failed to realize that the more connected we are virtually, the more we crave real human connection.” Jen Murphy

“In keeping up with the digital times, the industry has failed to realise that the more connected we are virtually, the more we crave real human connection” - Jen Murphy

Jürgen Künkel

Jürgen is founder and director of Vantage Global Event Production GmbH, an innovative event production agency which supports blue chip clients with events across the world. He has worked for over 20 years in the live communication industry wearing many different hats such as stage designer, lighting designer, creative and technical director, show caller, and producer.

Outside of work, he is passionate about kitesurfing, music, philosophy, nutrition, and kitesurfing again.

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

Favourite TED talk: How do we heal medicine - Atual Gawande

Prisca Liberali

Prisca is a scientist and group leader at the FMI in Basel. She is Italian, but born in Brussels where she spent most of her childhood. Prisca got her Masters degree in chemistry in Rome and then moved to biological studies during her PhD in Italy and postdoc at the UZH and ETH in Zurich. Currently, she is an assistant professor at the University of Basel. Her laboratory at the FMI studies the self-organization properties of cellular systems using in-vitro stem cell models named organoids.

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” - Aristotle

Favourite TED talk: The power of vulnerability - Brené Brown

Suzanne Lucas

Suzanne spent 10 years in corporate human resources where she hired, fired, managed the numbers and double checked with the lawyers. Today, she’s a writer and speaker who focuses on explaining the world of work and helping people have better careers, whether it’s through a better CV or managing a relationship with co-workers. You can find her writings all over the internet including Inc. Magazine, CBS News, the New York Times, and at her blog, EvilHRLady.org. Suzanne Lives in Bottmingen with her husband and children. Even though she’s been in Switzerland for 9 years, she still isn’t sure she’s doing her recycling correctly.

“Mediocrity will never do. You are capable of something better.” - Gordon B. Hinckley

Favourite TED talk: Do schools kill creativity? - Ken Robinson

Tom Lyons

Tom was born in New York but has made his home in Zurich since 1994. A thought leadership and communications expert with more than 20 years of experience, first in the banking industry and later as the owner of his own communications agency, Tom has planned and executed sophisticated thought leadership and content marketing campaigns for blue chips and startups, mainly in financial services, Fintech, and emerging technologies.

“Bitcoin: Everything you don’t understand about money, combined with everything you don’t understand about computers.” - John Oliver.

Favourite TED talk: The first 20 hours: how to learn anything - Josh Kaufman

Noisy Pots:
Michal Šupák: kb, synths, voc
Jakub Tengler: buckets drumset, pots

Based in Prague, Noisy Pots came up to the music scene in 2014 with their creative style. Acoustic sound of pots, buckets, cans and other stuff from the kitchen and garage combined with live synths, samples and vocals delivers a unique and unusual sonic timbre. Their live performances are full of spontaneous energy and catchy grooves.

Translated from Czech: “Everything in moderation”