TEDx are independently organised events around the world “in the spirit of ideas worth spreading", according to their website.

Speakers from diverse backgrounds will address various topics surrounding the theme of “It’s About Time” from 1pm, while it coincides with the TEDWomen conference in San Francisco which will also be broadcast.

Climate change biologist Professor Sharon Robinson studies Antarctic mosses to better understand past weather patterns and will share details of how she conducts her research and why it matters.

Associate Professor Julia Quilter will explain the implications of highly politicised criminal law-making and why creating new offences is not always effective.

PhD candidate Ika Lestari Damayanti will discuss how storytelling is a powerful tool for students learning English as their second language.

Dr Lyn Phillipson will call for increased support for greater social inclusion dementia sufferers and their carers, and Professor Charles Areni will discuss challenging the status quo to make it more realistic for men to stay at home with young babies and children.

Meanwhile classical guitarist and resettled refugee Sako Dermenjian is one of the performers to entertain in between talks.

The last TEDx conference to be hosted by UOW was in 2013 and focused on how to create more liveable cities and its challenges.

TEDx is a non-profit program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience while more than five million people subscribe to the YouTube channel.

TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages.

The first TED included a demo of the compact disc, the e-book and cutting-edge 3D graphics from Lucasfilm, while mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot demonstrated how to map coastlines using his developing theory of fractal geometry.