BDAS-From Evolution to Activism: Representation from Nature to Pride

This event dives into how ideas of what is “natural” have been constructed, challenged, reclaimed, and transformed into fuel for social change. Through science, storytelling, activism, and lived experience, our panel explores Pride as a living movement of resistance, visibility, and community.

Join us this LGBT+ History month for a panel hosted by Louise Ndibwirende featuring Daryn Carter and Antonia Forster, as we rethink what “natural” really means — and how we can mobilise that understanding to build a more liberated future.

About Louise

Louise Ndibwirende (pronouns she/her) is a TEDx and keynote speaker, aspiring CEO, multi-award winning equality specialist, and documentary director. She has spent over a decade driving culture transformation across sectors with courage, compassion and conviction. Her work spanning from boardrooms to global film stages champions inclusion through storytelling, strategy and lived experience. As a trustee at Watershed and an advocate for race, LGBT+ equality, and mental health, Louise continues to redefine leadership through an intersectional lens.

About Daryn

Daryn has worked in equality and diversity for nearly 20 years and helped to found Bristol Pride, delivering the first modern Pride festival in Bristol in 2010 and he has grown and developed Bristol Pride to become one of the largest Pride events in the UK, and one of Bristol’s biggest annual events with 40,000 people attending Pride Day and 25,000 people marching in the parade through the city.
Daryn’s passion for diversity and inclusion started from a young age and was kickstarted while working in recruitment at the BBC where he supported underrepresented groups to access jobs and implemented inclusive recruitment processes within the organisation. Daryn has worked tirelessly to create a safe space for the LGBT+ community, to be an advocate and raise the voice of the community and to tackle inequality and social injustice. In 2020 he received an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, he has been awarded Freedom of the City of Bristol and last year was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration from UWE Bristol in recognition of his services to the LGBT+ community of Bristol.

About Antonia

Antonia Forster is an award-winning speaker, a creative technologist, and a senior software engineer using VR, AR, and robotics for digital activism. Originally an animal behaviour researcher, Antonia's TEDx talk on Queerness in Nature marked a turning point in her career from science into tech. After teaching herself to code, Antonia now combines research, storytelling, and engineering to deliver wide-reaching social impact projects. Her inaugural work, the LGBTQ+ VR Museum, was awarded Tribeca Film Festival’s New Voices award. Antonia has partnered with Meta, Deloitte, Qualcomm and more to create XR projects that sit at the intersection of emerging technology and social justice.

LGBT+ History Month (UK) is celebrated every February to honour the lives, culture and achievements of LGBT+ people. Launched by Schools OUT UK in 2004, it promotes visibility, education and inclusion across schools, workplaces and communities. The 2026 theme is Science & Innovation.

18:00 Arrival & registration in Lantern Hall.

18:30 Event starts in Lantern Hall / livestream begins.

19:30 Q&A.

19:45 Event ends/livestream ends.

19:45-21:00 Networking and drinks

The Bristol Distinguished Address Series (BDAS) is brought to you by UWE Bristol, and provides an opportunity to hear unique perspectives and insights from change makers, activists, entrepreneurs, and people who have achieved amazing things in Bristol and beyond.

You can attend this event in person or watch online via live-stream.

Attending in-person: Bristol Beacon, Bristol. Further information on how to find us will be emailed to you a few days before the event.

Attending online: The livestream link will be emailed to you a few days before the event.

UWE Bristol welcomes all abilities/disabilities, ages, ethnicities, and genders to our events. If you have any questions, concerns or additional requirements then please let us know, by contacting [email protected], so that we can make your time at this event as comfortable as possible.

Disabled parking: No

Step-free access: Yes

Accessible toilets: Yes

Assisted Listening: Yes

Guide/assistance dog-friendly: Yes

Quiet spaces available: Yes

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Event Venue

Bristol Beacon, Trenchard Street, Bristol, United Kingdom

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