Experts and speakers needed for GREAT Talks in India

UK Higher Education Institutions are invited to share Expressions of Interest to suggest subject experts, academics and speakers for the British Council’s GREAT Talks Series/Workshops 2024-25 in India.

The GREAT Campaign is the UK government’s initiative to promote the UK internationally as a GREAT place to visit, study and do business. The British Council is a partner in the GREAT campaign and through it we are raising awareness and promoting the UK’s strengths in education, in India.

GREAT talks/workshops are a lecture series of celebrated UK professionals from diverse areas such as STEMM, Performing Arts, Music, Drama, Business/ Entrepreneurship, Sports Education/Management and it is curated and organised by the British Council across several cities in India (online and face to face). The speaker engages in conversation with local experts, academics professionals and students to bring a rounded perspective in partnerships across academia, research & innovation and mobility.

Who do the GREAT talks/workshops engage?

• The Talks/Workshops reach and engage students, young people, teachers, faculties, and researchers.
• The Talks/Workshops also seek participation from faculty and senior leadership at Indian higher education institutions to engage in discussions and conversations with UK experts and academics, bringing in the Indian context.
• The Talks/Workshops are designed to inspire and reach large communities of students and young people through digital media, live streaming and broadcasting.

The GREAT talks/workshops this year are designed in online & face-to-face format as per themes below. Please note we will work out dates as per convenience but would like to stick to the months suggested.

*Mode of delivery*: Virtual and F2F both. We would prefer a selected speaker to deliver one talk online as the reach will be across India followed by F2F sessions in Schools and Indian HEIs (approx. 5 days, 2 sessions per day) while in India. Therefore, sessions are to be adjusted as per the audiences i.e. Undergraduate or Post Graduate. It would be helpful if some sessions could be delivered as workshops in the F2F engagements, though we understand if this is not always possible.

Why participate?

This is an excellent opportunity for UK HEIs to influence and build the UK’s brand and network across large audiences in India in tier 1,2 and 3 cities. In the past GREAT lectures have engaged audiences 200 to 1200, depending on the topic and the capacity of the venue. We engage audiences of 100-300 in each institution, depending on the topic and school or college we visit for the talk.

Kindly note that these sessions are designed to promote the UK as a whole, the UK’s education offer and to inspire young minds in India on the UK’s world-class education, research and innovation, and not for individual universities to promote their courses and institutions.

The lectures are designed to inspire students and professionals on UK’s world-class education system and research. The sessions will reach out to students across socio-economic sections of society and will engage them to think about and discuss global challenges. They will learn about the UK’s contribution in research and academia in these themes.

For year 2023-24, we hosted 6 speakers from UK and organised 26 GREAT Talks lectures across 8 cities, partnering with 26 Indian Institutes and engaging with over 4500 students and 140 faculties/deans. The Talks were organised across various themes and topics like Climate Change, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, Medical hub and health care, Culture and Tourism.

Call to Action

• UK HEIs can suggest speaker names for a maximum of 2 themes and the British Council will be choosing speakers with a proven track record of delivering engaging sessions across a wide range of audiences (students, academics, public). The British Council’s decision will be final on the speaker selection and will factor in the themes proposed as well.
• We will expect the Speaker to consent to being recorded, for further dissemination of the lectures across appropriate digital channels. Web links for previous similar talks/sessions will be helpful to evaluate.
• For F2F sessions, costs towards local hospitality in India and International and domestic airfare (economy class), local transport, and accommodation will be arranged and paid by the British Council.
• The deadline for applications is 15 June 2024 Interested institutions are to submit expressions of interest by filling MS Form

To allow maximum UK HEIs to participate in this and thereby showcase the variety across UK’s higher education sector, each UK HEI may sign up for only two themes.

If you have any queries about this event, please contact Vishu Sharma at Vishu.sharma@britishcouncil.org