Events at the ICfS

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Members Events

Leading lights will come to the ICfS to share their latest insights and ideas on some of the most pressing issues facing our planet. This is a forum where every idea is welcome, and we encourage critique.

We also hold community events such as book clubs and movie nights.

Upcoming Talks

Join insightful and engaging talks led by industry experts, politicians and thought leaders on a variety of compelling topics.

The next 10 years will be the age of disruption to the liberal international order that has largely come to dominate all our lives since the Second World War. Trump is the great disruptor to that order, and will lead the west, whether the West wants to be lead or not! Xi is another disruptor who is increasingly challenging the US, and has a “China first” framework, which is competing for global influence. Then we have Modi’s India, an enigmatic emerging power today, which will fully have emerged over the next 10 years to form the third great pole. In this complex, uncertain, multipolar world how does the UK navigate the contest between these great powers? How does the UK wield influence on a belligerent Trump, a threatening Xi and an enigmatic Modi, to ensure that we continue to live in a rule-based international order, which is equitable and sustainable for decades to come?

This event is hybrid. The world today faces a complex series of interdependent and seemingly intractable issues, including a global ecological crisis, political polarisation, weakened democratic accountability and issues with funding and government interference in Higher Education. This panel discussion will explore an innovative approach to resolving this polycrisis, bridging the philosophy of Jiddu Krishnamurti and Rabindranath Tagore with participatory democracy and a focus on both human and more-than-human communities. This solution, developed in a new research paper co-authored by Dr Pavel Cenkl and Dr Pravar Petkar, shapes new methods of Higher Education pedagogy that empower individuals and facilitate greater civic engagement to bring together communities and resolve collective issues.

This event is hybrid. Together, Professor Arya and Dr. Hughes will focus on the challenges of mental health in a post-Covid environment and how to address the needs of particular groups within society, especially the student population. This session will explore the unique pressures the groups encounter, including cultural expectations, systemic inequalities and the mental health impact of navigating multicultural identities. Drawing on Professor Arya’s expertise in cultural theory and Dr. Hughes’ leadership in mental health advocacy, the talk will highlight strategies for creating inclusive, culturally sensitive support systems.

The global food system is the single largest contributor to the ongoing ecological crisis, impacting every one of the six planetary boundary transgressions that the Stockholm Resilience Center identified in 2023. This necessitates its transformation to a compassionate food system that meets the nutritional needs of all human beings while ensuring that these planetary boundary transgressions are mitigated. In this talk, we will examine the architectures of compassionate food systems and how they can be implemented as the foundation of a holistic transformation from the climate heating phase to the climate healing phase of our civilization.

Previous Events

Join us for a thought-provoking online event exploring the intersection of mental health and Indian knowledge systems within South Asian diasporic communities. This talk will delve into the cultural, spiritual, and therapeutic dimensions of holistic healing, focusing on its relevance to mental health and wellbeing. The discussion will examine how Indian spiritual practices, such as Ayurveda, can be integrated with modern approaches to mental health, offering meaningful solutions to challenges faced by individuals and communities today.

On Wednesday, January 22nd, we launched our first K-Lecture talk. As AI becomes increasingly integrated into our lives, critical ethical questions arise: How are choices about AI behaviour made and can they be justified? Provided that justification is no easy task in a highly diverse and globalised world. This talk was be led by: Ansgar Koene, Global AI Ethics and Regulatory Leader at EY and a renowned AI Ethicist, has made significant contributions to the development of policies surrounding the governance and regulation of AI. David Wood, co-founder of Symbian and a leading voice in technology foresight as chair of London Futurists, draws on decades of expertise in mobile innovation and long-term trends shaping technology and society. James Wilson, an AI ethicist and Lead Gen AI Architect at Capgemini, focuses on maximizing AI and data value responsibly, frequently speaking on AI ethics and data privacy while contributing to discussions on privacy protection and responsible AI development.

The 6th of November, the International Centre for Sustainability held a roundtable led by David Wood on harnessing technology to improve our democracies, with a keynote from Simon Horton. The discussion focused on how digital tools, especially AI, can strengthen democratic processes by fostering public engagement, consensus-building and local-level participation. Speakers highlighted AI's potential to bridge divides and scale deliberative practices, but also warned of risks such as bias, corporate influence and manipulation. There was a call for education on AI, better design of participatory platforms and safeguarding against monopolisation, with an emphasis on fostering trust.

The 16th of October, the ICfS hosted a webinar with Dr Manohar Shinde on the Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS). Dr Shinde was on the clinical teaching faculty at UCLA and is a pioneer of IKS, which applies indigenous knowledge from the Indian subcontinent to contemporary issues. Dr Shinde emphasised the importance of ‘reversing the gaze’, showing the valuable alternative perspective Indic knowledge can provide on the human relationship with nature and how to balance profit with the planet’s needs.

On Saturday, 20 April 2024, ICfS Researcher Nitish Rai Parwani, along with special guests, hosted a panel discussion. The event focused on how Dharmic communities, despite excelling in education, social mobility, and entrepreneurship, continue to be underrepresented in Britain. The panel explored ways in which a Research and Policy Centre could amplify their voices in government.

On Saturday, 20 April 2024, Dina Nathwani and Dr. Raffael Fasel led a round table discussion on animal rights. The event explored how recognizing animals' sentience could pave the way for legal personhood, potentially transforming the UK's £10 billion meat industry, consumption habits, environmental conservation, and re-wilding efforts. This expert panel delved into the possible shifts that such recognition could bring.

On Thursday, 18 April 2024, Charlotte Littlewood, along with special guests Shaurya Doval and David Landsman OBE, hosted an exclusive panel discussion. The event focused on India's complex relationship with Russia, highlighting how India's reliance on Russia, particularly with its military being nearly 60% dependent on this partnership, poses challenges for the UK in global order discussions. The panel also explored India's desire to reduce this dependence while balancing ties between western liberal democracies and Russia. Charlotte Littlewood posed critical questions, sparking an engaging discussion on how to navigate this delicate geopolitical situation.

On Wednesday, 17 April 2024, ICFS Researcher Pravar Petkar, former MP Tom Brake, and de Borda Institute Director Peter Emerson participated in an exclusive panel discussion. The event examined the UK's electoral system, considered one of the least proportionate among major democracies. The panel addressed how votes are often wasted in 'safe' seats or used tactically and explored various reform options that could benefit citizens across all UK territories. The discussion also highlighted the challenges and complexities that policymakers must tackle when considering electoral reforms.

On Wednesday, 17 April 2024, ICfS Associate Charlotte Littlewood and author Steve Gallant hosted an exclusive book launch. The event marked the release of Gallant's book, The Road to London Bridge, which delves into the weaknesses of the prison system and its role in facilitating radicalization rather than rehabilitation. Drawing from his own experiences, Gallant offered unparalleled insights into how prisons should address radicalization. Attendees had the opportunity to engage with the author and ask questions about his findings and proposed solutions.

On Tuesday, 16 April 2024, Harsh Madhusudhan, Shaurya Doval, and Erik Solheim came together for an exclusive panel discussion on India's growing global influence. The event explored economists' projections of India driving 60% of global growth over the next two decades, highlighting the importance of India's market liberalization, investments in the UK, and commitment to democratic values and international norms. However, the panel also addressed critical concerns, such as the fact that 400 million Indians live on less than $5 a day, raising questions about India's readiness and reliability as a global economic leader.

On Monday, 15 April 2024, ICfS Researcher Pravar Petkar, Dr. Ansgar Koene, and Rohit Talwar, CEO of Fast Future, participated in an exclusive panel discussion. The event explored the fears surrounding emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence and social media and their potential impact on democracy, particularly concerns about altering the information landscape on which citizens base decisions. The panel debated whether these fears are justified or if technology could, in fact, revitalize and strengthen modern democratic systems that often feel distant from citizens and vulnerable to exploitation by bad actors. The discussion offered insights into how technology might shape the democracies of the future.

On Friday, 12 April 2024, Nitish Rai Parwani, Swami Sarvasthananda, and The Revd Canon Dr. Peter Groves held an exclusive panel discussion. The event focused on the role of faiths in prescribing ethical frameworks and whether these frameworks, often rooted in the theology of specific religions, can extend beyond their believers. The discussion addressed how many ethical systems tied to faith are not universally adopted, particularly by those who do not share the underlying theology. In the modern age, where logic often takes precedence over faith-based beliefs, the panel explored whether faiths can continue to serve as credible sources of ethics in a broader, more inclusive context.

On Friday, 12 April 2024, Professor Shalini Shankar and ICFS Associate Shruti Kapil led a roundtable discussion on the evolving status of women in India. The event highlighted India's rapid economic and social evolution, while also addressing the ongoing gender disparities in employment, wages, and opportunities faced by Indian women. Despite legal advancements towards gender equality, significant challenges remain. Professor Shankar explored the critical progress needed for India to fully realize its economic and political potential, emphasizing the role of gender equality in this transformation.

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On Thursday, 11 April 2024, an exclusive panel discussion was held with David Wood, Dr. Ansgar Koene, Dr. Dheeraj Paramesha Chaya, and Shruti Kapil. In an era where digital platforms had the power to both unite and polarize, the spread of false information emerged as a significant security threat with far-reaching consequences. Threat actors exploited digital platforms to amplify false narratives, posing risks to society and national security. With advancements like deepfake technology on the horizon, the stakes were higher than ever, particularly with the upcoming elections. The discussion delved into the complex web of misinformation, disinformation, and digital threats shaping our world.

On Thursday, 11 April 2024, a roundtable was held with Dr. Pavel Cenkl, Lord Tony Sewell, and Professor Shalini Shankar to explore the future of education. Few would have disagreed that a robust and effective education system was at the heart of any flourishing society, but the aims and methods to be employed were much less clear. Should education have solely aimed to increase employability, or should it have nurtured the characteristics that better equipped societies to face the challenges of the future? And how could we ensure these benefits reached all groups in our diverse societies?

Join a Book club

Free for members, a small contribution from non-members.

Staff and well-wishers at the ICfS facilitate book club sessions, where books and papers are read together and discussed.

Book Club Meetings

Join our book club for conversations about a diverse selection of intriguing books.

Coming Soon...

Combining Indian myths, epic history, and the story of three college kids in search of America, a narrative includes the monkey's story of an Indian poet and warrior and an American road novel of college students driving cross-country.

The Overstory is a sweeping, impassioned work of activism and resistance that is also a stunning evocation of - and paean to - the natural world. From the roots to the crown and back to the seeds, Richard Powers’s twelfth novel unfolds in concentric rings of interlocking fables that range from antebellum New York to the late twentieth-century Timber Wars of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. There is a world alongside ours—vast, slow, interconnected, resourceful, magnificently inventive, and almost invisible to us. This is the story of a handful of people who learn how to see that world and who are drawn up into its unfolding catastrophe.

Set in 1975, when prime minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency due to civil unrest, this fine novel is the story of four strangers – a widow, a young student who has been uprooted from his idyllic hill station home and two tailors who have fled the caste violence of their native village. The quartet are thrust together, sharing a cramped apartment and facing an uncertain future in the middle of India’s political turmoil. Shortlisted for the 1996 Booker Prize, Mistry’s beautifully written novel is a literary tour de force.

Published in 1993, this huge tome – one of the longest novels published in a single volume in the English language – is a much-loved classic. Set in newly independent, post-partition India, it follows the stories of four families, focusing on Rupa Mehra’s efforts to arrange the marriage of her spirited student daughter Lata to “a suitable boy”. The first screen version of this epic story is currently being filmed in India and will be shown on BBC1 in late 2020. “It’s a charming, almost Austenesque story, with a delightfully relatable heroine, set against the turbulent background of India in the years following partition,” says TV screenwriter Andrew Davies.

This ambitious debut novel took the literary world by storm when it was published in 1997. Roy had previously been working as a screenwriter, actor and aerobics instructor but within months her book had sold all round the world and scooped the Booker Prize. Set in the southern state of Kerala, it relates the childhood experiences of twins Estha and Rahel, who see their world shaken irrevocably by the accidental death by drowning of their visiting English cousin. Lyrical, magical and beautifully written, it’s the compelling story of intertwining family lives, birth and death and love and loss.

Salman Rushdie’s classic novel has been feted by Booker judges an astonishing three times. It won the Booker in 1981, was judged to be the Booker of Bookers for the award’s 25th anniversary in 1993 and in 2008 was voted the greatest Booker Prize winner of all time. Born at the stroke of midnight, at the precise moment of India’s independence, Saleem Sinai, the novel’s protagonist, is one of 1,001 “midnight’s children” – all of whom have special gifts and are telepathically linked. Rushdie says in the introduction to the novel that in the west people tend to read the novel “as a fantasy” while in India readers think of it as “pretty realistic, almost a history book”.

When Kiran Desai’s second novel won the Booker Prize in 2006 head judge Hermione Lee described it as “a magnificent novel of humane breadth and wisdom, comic tenderness and powerful political acuteness”. Set in 1986, it’s the powerful and very accessible story of a bitter old judge who lives in a dilapidated mansion high in the Himalayas, his orphaned granddaughter Sai, who has fallen in love with her tutor, and his cook, whose son Biju is working in New York and trying to stay one step ahead of the US immigration services.

Gregory David Roberts’s rollercoaster life reads like a thriller. An ex-armed robber and reformed heroin addict, he escaped from an Australian prison to India, where he lived in a Mumbai slum, launched a free health clinic, joined the mafia and worked in the Bollywood movie industry. This page-turning debut novel is based on his own experiences in the Mumbai underworld and runs to a hefty 900 pages.

The enthralling story of Balram Halwai’s journey from “sweet, innocent village fool” to ruthless entrepreneur scooped the Booker Prize in 2008. This brilliant debut novel tells the searing tale of two Indias – one of them Balram’s home village, where sewage seeps down the road and children are “too lean and short for their age,” the other the city of Delhi, with its noisy shopping malls, traffic jams and slums. Look out for the film too – a Netflix adaptation is underway, with Rajkummar Rao and Priyanka Chopra in the lead roles.

Sunjeev Sahota’s second novel follows the lives of three migrant workers, Tochi, Avtar and Randeep, who flee India to look for work in England. The first half of the book features sections about their lives in India, relating their disparate reasons for moving to the other side of the world. Randeep marries to secure a visa, Avtar poses as a student and Tochi arrives in the UK on a fake passport in the back of a lorry. The book was shortlisted for the 2015 Booker Prize.

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Costa Novel Award in 2014, Neel Mukherjee’s second novel is set in 1960s Kolkata and opens with the shocking account of a desperate man, who is unable to feed his starving wife and children and murders them before killing himself. This shocking scene is juxtaposed with the story of the wealthy Ghosh family, one of whom has become involved in extremist political activism. A powerful generational story of the chasm between the haves and have-nots.

First published in 1989, this book has a big title but Shashi Tharoor makes it clear from the start that it’s in deference to “its primary source of inspiration” – The Mahabharata, one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. In Sanskrit Maha means great and Bharata means India. Tharoor uses The Mahabharata as a framework for this satirical novel about the major Indian political events of the 20th century, from British colonial rule through to “the struggle for freedom and the triumphs and disappointments of Independence”.

When a traumatised young girl is found barely alive in a house where 13 people have been murdered, the local police assume she is the killer. But a feisty gin-swilling social worker brought in to review the case is convinced the girl has been framed and sets out to prove her innocence. Kishwar Desai wrote her stunning debut novel in just four weeks, driven by anger at the hidden scandal of killing baby girls that still exists in parts of India. It went on to win the Costa first novel award in 2010.

If you’re looking for a lighter read, try Mahesh Rao’s beautifully observed and witty second novel, a contemporary version of Jane Austen’s Emma. Ania Khurana is a spoilt, rich 25-year-old living in a luxurious Delhi mansion. She knows everyone who is anyone in the city but she’s bored and in need of entertainment. Following in Emma Woodhouse’s matchmaking steps, Ania first finds a husband for her spinster aunt, then sets her sights on doing the same for her friend Dimple, only to find that the path of true love doesn’t always run smooth.

Movie nights

Free for members, a small contribution from non-members.

Select movies are shown which help us better understand the things that really matter in life – love, family, environment, money, power, justice, and well-being.

These nights include networking over drinks and snacks.

Up-coming Movie Nights

Join us for a movie night at the Centre, featuring culturally important films, captivating arthouse productions and a touch of Bollywood magic! Popcorn included.

Coming Soon...

Balram comes from a poor Indian village and was forced to drop out of school, even before he had started learning. However, he had a dream, to break free from poverty, to unlearn servitude and how to get sucked into feudalism. He uses his wit and cunning to escape from poverty and rise to the top.

With a plan to find themselves and bond with one another, three estranged brothers set off on a soul-searching train voyage across India. Their spiritual and familial journey veers rapidly and hilariously off-course.

A university student in India writes letters to her estranged lover while he is away. Through these letters, we get a glimpse into the drastic changes taking place around her. Merging reality with fiction, dreams, memories, fantasies and anxieties, an amorphous narrative unfolds.

To make the most of their meager retirement savings, a group of British seniors relocates to India to live out their golden years at the Marigold Hotel. But upon arrival, they discover that the once-lavish resort has wilted considerably.

A five-year-old Indian boy gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia; 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family.

A harrowing adventure tale of a young Indian boy who survives a dangerous shipwreck and befriends a Bengal tiger. Based on the bestselling 2001 novel by Yann Martel.

Documentary centers on women journalists in India as they form their own newspaper, breaking traditions both in print and in their own homes and carving our their own space in a male-dominated industry.

The Elephant Whisperers follows an indigenous couple as they fall in love with Raghu, an orphaned elephant given into their care, and tirelessly work to ensure his recovery & survival. The film highlights the beauty of the wild spaces in South India and the people and animals who share this space.

In New Delhi, legions of birds fall from the skies as the city smolders with social unrest. Brothers Nadeem and Saud race to save a casualty of the turbulent times: the black kite, a majestic bird of prey essential to their city’s ecosystem, struggling to survive in Delhi’s contaminated environment.

A Mumbai teen who grew up in the slums becomes a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? He is arrested under suspicion of cheating, and while being interrogated, events from his life history are shown which explain why he knows the answers.

The primetime Indian TV journalist, Ravish Kumar, is famous for his takedowns of the ruling establishment during his long-running primetime news hour. He has become a regular fixture beaming from TV sets, but his nerves have begun to fray from carrying the torch of good journalism for too long.

Two friends, both Indigenous fishermen, are driven to desperation by a dying sea. Their friendship begins to fracture as they take very different paths to provide for their struggling families.

Amidst the lush Eastern Himalayan forests, moths convey a mysterious message. Under the cover of night, two inquisitive observers illuminate this clandestine universe, unraveling the secrets whispered by these enigmatic creatures.

Outside Kolkata a few jute mills crank on, virtually unchanged since the industrial revolution. The Golden Thread follows the weft and warp of jute work alongside the creative labour of the film’s own making.

Events at the ICfS

ex oriente lux

Members Events

Upcoming Talks

Previous Events

Join a Book club

Book Club Meetings

Coming Soon...

Movie nights

Up-coming Movie Nights

Coming Soon...

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