Keynotes
Leyla has given over 220 keynotes globally and is admired for her energetic, humorous and inspirational keynote talks. She employs dynamic interactive methods to engage any audience on sustainability, design, innovation, the circular economy, systems thinking, regeneration and creative change-making.
Following her mainstage TED talk in 2013, she has developed a wealth of experience in public speaking and audience engagement to be a highly sought-after addition to any program.
Speaking Engagements
“Human Caffeine”
Leyla is frequently invited to share her knowledge and enthusiasm for designing a more sustainable, circular and regenerative future at conferences and events all over the world. She has presented both at prestigious conferences such as the UNEA4, COP26 and the 30th Anniversary of the Montreal Protocol, and for major corporations and organisations such as the BMW Foundation, Garnter and TED. Leyla also donates her time to educational initiatives, government agencies and not-for-profits to support widespread positive impact.
Using a mix of humour, knowledge, insights, storytelling and transformation, she knows how to read the room and entices the audience with the right mix of fun, facts and future-positive thinking. Coupled with bold, impactful visual collateral, her talks delightfully illustrate the counterintuitive science of sustainability and offer opportunities for transformation, personally and professionally.
Leyla ensures that every talk is tailored to the audience’s knowledge and needs. Talks can also be customised to your industry or product/service.
Watch Leyla at The Conference in Malmö
Leyla’s Areas of Expertise
- Sustainability
- Systems Thinking
- Future Positive Design
- Reframing Sustainability
- Transformative Leadership
- Circular Systems Design
- Regenerative Design & Leadership
- The Disruptive Design Method
- Nature-Positive Solutions
- Education for Impact
- The Hidden Impacts of Tech and AI
- The Circular Economy
Keynotes & Talks
See below a short selection of Leyla’s keynote talks. To view the full playlist, click on the button below.
Paper Beats Plastic? How to Rethink Environmental Folklore at TED Longbeach
Most of us want to do the right thing when it comes to the environment. But things aren’t as simple as opting for the paper bag, says sustainability strategist Leyla Acaroglu. A bold call for us to let go of tightly-held green myths and think bigger in order to create systems and products that ease strain on the planet, Leyla’s mainstage TED Talk has been viewed over 1.5 million times.
Circular Design Forum Finland
Circular Systems Design: With the increasing understanding and excitement around the circular economy, there is a strong need for accessible tools and approaches that cater to the diverse needs of creatives tasked with activating circular systems. Leyla outlines the systems thinking and circular design approaches that can help transform creative communities into champions of circular change.
Disrupting the Status Quo, by Design at Google Talks
Outstanding
“Leyla Acaroglu's keynote set the tone for the rest of the day on how packaging can be regenerative and have a central role in the fight against food waste, in educating the consumer and in changing behavior to a more environmentally conscious one. She was an outstanding speaker and brought great energy and content to open the day.”
Barbara FowlerSustPack 2016 Conference Organizer
Jumping out of Seats
“If you want people jumping out of their seats or (in one case at least) and coming close to tears, then you call Leyla. With Innovation & Sustainability 2017 we wanted engagement and inspiration – which is what we got. Our audience was primarily Korean and this proved no barrier to Leyla delivering her inspiration and insights. I look forward to the next time we are able to work together.”
Lewis PattersonCEO, Latitude Inc, Innovation & Sustainability Conference 2017, South Korea
High Energy
“Leyla’s keynote at the Service Design Global Conference 2022 was such a huge success! On the Copenhagen stage, she opened our first day with high energy and her valuable presentation was well‑received by the whole community. She was definitely on fire to inspire everyone to constructively affect change through our individual agencies and how as Service Designers we can actively have the ‘Courage to Design for Good’!”
Judee BendiolaHead of Marketing & Communications, Service Design Network Global Conference
Featured Keynotes & Events
Leyla is a master at delivering high-energy, dynamic live keynotes and trainings, both in person and online. Her expertise spans a broad range of topics centered around sustainability, circular business, design, policy, leadership and systems thinking. Leyla Acaroglu offers a fresh perspective on the relationships between design, business, the economy and the impacts each of these has on the bigger systems at play in the world around us. She has a unique way of taking complex topics and creating rich and playful narratives that engage, ignite and inspire any audience.
2025
- Oracle
- UK Design Council
- Veolia
- Irish Manufacturing Research
- Estonia Design Center
2024
- Design Centre of the Philippines, International Design Conference
- World Usability Day, Estonia
- World Design Capital, San Diego
- Teton Leadership Centre, USA
- Sustainable Brands Aotearoa
- Vitra, London
- NEMHO Sustainability Awards
- ENVI Summit, Slovakia
- International Labour Organisation, Turin, Italy
- University of Manitoba
- European Investment Bank
- Gartner Supply Chain Symposium
2023
- RSA: Royal Society of the Arts, London
- Home Economics Institute, Brisbane
- ALCAS Life Cycle Assessment Conference, Gold Coast
- Australian Circular Economy Conference, Sydney
- World Circular Economy Forum, Helsinki
- Munich Creative Business Week, Munich
- World Design Capital Valencia, Design Policy Conference, Spain
- Service Design Global Conference, Copenhagen
2022
- Brain Bar, Budapest
- New European Bauhaus Festival, Brussels
- UX-LX, Lisbon
- From Business to Buttons, Stockholm
- IIDA NY Leaders Breakfast, New York
- Jakobstad, Finland, Online
- IDEC, Online
2021
- Business Council for Sustainable Development, Portugal
- Shared Services Forum UK, Online
- Design Council, Design for Planet Festival, Dundee
- COP26, Glasgow
- TechBBQ, Copenhagen
- Mind the Product, Barbican, London
- Digodium Talks, Online
- Adobe Summit, Online
- DataFest, DATA Lab Scotland, Online
- Y-Oslo, Oslo, Norway, Online
- Sustainable Communities, Sarasota, USA, Online
2020
- EIMID, Castelo Branco, Portugal, Online
- Design Talks Business Summit, Poland, Online
- Industrial Designers Association America (IDSA), Online
- Carbon Footprint Summit, Poland, Online
2019
- Conference on World Affairs, Bolder, Colorado
- USGBC Greenbuild, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- House of Beautiful Business, Lisbon, Portugal, November
- Change the Change Conference, San Sebastian, Spain
- CECE Summit, Brussels, Belgium
- United Nations Environment Assembly: UNEA-4, Nairobi, Kenya, March
- AMEXCAP, Mexico City, Mexico
- Cidade Mais, Porto, Portugal
2018
- Swiss Energy & Climate Summit, Bern, Switzerland
- Waste Management Sustainability Forum, Arizona, USA
- TOCCertified, Brussels, Belgium
- Amuse UX Conference, Budapest, Hungry
- Zero Waste Conference, Vancouver, Canada
- Interaction 18, Lyon, France
- Sustpack, Chicago. USA
- Global Outlook Conference, Oslo, Norway
- Planning Institute of Australia Annual Conference, Perth, Australia
- Circular Economy Hotspot, Scotland
- Circular Design Forum, Berlin, Germany
2017
- Space 10: Made in Space, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Cradle to Cradle Congress, Germany
- The Conference, Malmo, Sweden
- United Nations, PAGE Ministerial Conference, Berlin, Germany
- FixFest, London, United Kingdom
- SIKT, Kristiansand, Norway
- Solutions to Climate Change, Spain
- Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy Congress, Stuttgart, Germany
2016
- One Young World Summit, Arizona, USA
- Big Ideas, Hosted by Amcor at Interpack
- Light City, Baltimore, USA
- Summit @Powder Mountain, Utah, USA
- Greenup, Dominican Republic
- Giflex Congress, Italy
- TEDactive, Whistler, Canada
2015
- SIVA Conference, Norway
2014
- AIGA National Conference, USA
- Recycling Council of British Columbia (RCBC), Vancouver, Canada
- Epicentro Festival of Social Innovation, Guadalajara, Mexico
- Australian Packaging Covenant Think Tank, Sydney, Australia
2013
- Innovation and Sustainability for Consumer Packaging Conference, Seoul, South Korea
- TED Conference, California, USA
- Bonier GRID, Stockholm, Sweden
- Green Leaders Summit, Australia
Watch Leyla Keynote at the UK Design Council’s Design for Planet Festival
Corporate & Organisational Clients
With her PhD having explored the transdisciplinary nature of effecting change, Leyla’s academic career involves product design, social science, technical sustainability (such as life cycle assessment), systems thinking and industrial design. She applies this to all client work for effective and tangible outcomes.
Some of the 150+ Clients Include:
European Investment Bank, Brussels
HP, USA
Decathlon, France
Reckitt, Europe
American Express, Europe
OLX Group, Global
SONAE, Portugal
LinkedIn, UK
Avery Dennison, US
Sanofi, USA
BNP, Portugal
NOVA, Portugal
GFT Design, Spain
Sundberg-Ferar, USA
Adobe, USA
BMW Foundation, Germany
Arcelik, Turkey
LinkedIn, United Kingdom
Klarna, Sweden
Tommy Hilfiger, Netherlands
Unily, United Kingdom
EDP, Portugal
Siemens Industrial, Europe
FJORD, London
IKEA, Sweden
Unily, UK
Heineken, Vietnam
World Sustainable Business Development Council (WSBDC)
SEAC, Thailand
OXFAM, Thailand
IDEO, UK
ING Direct, Australia
AUTODESK, USA
CSIRO, Australia
PRE Consultants, Netherlands
Environment Victoria, Australia
Ellen MacArthur Foundation, UK
ProChile, Chile
Citywire, UK
Google, UK
Gates Foundation, USA
AIGA, USA
BMW Designworks, USA
NN Group, Netherlands
Dantia, Hunter Region, 2023
What Design Can Do, Selection Committee for f World Circual Design Competition, 2023
Carcavelos CEO Council, Nova Business School, Portugal, 2021
The Royal Court, Norway
United Nations Headquarters New York
National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Australia
Centre for Sustainability Leadership, Australia
Leadership Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Craft Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Design Forum Finland
Conclave Art for Change 21, UN, Paris, 2018
Watch Leyla speak about her design work at the RSA Student Design Awards
Selected Academic Clients
Leyla Acaroglu offers a fresh perspective on the relationships between design, business, the economy and the impacts each of these has on the bigger systems at play in the world around us. Workshops and talks for academic institutions offer students grounding for the next stage of their development.
Minneapolis School of Art and Design, USA
Iowa State University, USA
NOVA, Portugal
Swinburne University, Australia
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Australia
University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia
Canberra University, Australia
TU Delft University, Netherlands
Savannah School of Art and Design (SCAD), USA
New York University, NYC
Polytechnic University Milan, Italy
KOC University, Istanbul, Turkey
School of Visual Arts, (SVA) NYC
Edinburgh University, Scotland
“People like Leyla Acaroglu are so important to driving this change. Leyla is a 2016 UN Environment Champion of the Earth for science and innovation. Leyla inspires and helps people to equip themselves with agency, tools, and knowledge they need to shape the world and transform our lifestyles.”
– Erik Solheim, Former Executive Director UNEP
Explore More of Leyla’s Keynote Talks
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