Events at the ICfS

ex oriente lux

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.

Coming Soon...

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18th September 2024, 6pm - 8pm

Previous Events

Join Director, Sachin Nandha, as he invites Fellows, Associates, Researchers and special guests of the ICFS on its official launch night.

An exclusive opportunity to see the ICfS in person on the first night of its official launch. Drinks and canapes will be provided and there will be ample opportunity to speak to everybody involved with the centre, including Associates and Researchers. The evening will begin with a welcome from Trustee and Director, Sachin Nandha, followed by special guest speakers.

Wednesday, 10 April 2024

Join this roundtable with Dr Pavel Cenkl, Lord Tony Sewell and Professor Shalini Shankar to explore the future of education.

Few would disagree that a robust and effective education system is at the heart of any flourishing society, but the aims and methods to be employed are much less clear. Should education solely aim to increase employability, or ought it to nurture the characteristics that better equip our societies to face the challenges of the future? And how do we ensure these benefits reach all groups in our diverse societies?

Thursday, 11 April 2024

Join this exclusive panel discussion with David Wood, Dr. Ansgar Koene, Dr. Dheeraj Paramesha Chaya and Shruti Kapil.

In an era where digital platforms have the power to unite and polarize, the spread of false information presents a significant security threat with far-reaching consequences. Threat actors exploit digital platforms to amplify false narratives, posing risks to society and national security. With advancements like deepfake technology looming, the stakes are higher than ever, particularly with upcoming elections. Join our pivotal discussion on the complex web of misinformation, disinformation, and digital threats shaping our world.

Thursday, 11 April 2024

Join this roundtable with Prof. Shalini Shankar and ICFS Associate, Shruti Kapil.

With nearly one-fifth of the global population, India is rapidly evolving economically and socially. Despite legal strides toward gender equality, Indian women continue to face disparities in employment, wages, and opportunities compared to men. Professor Shalini Shankar delves into the evolving status of women and the crucial advancements India needs for its full economic and political actualisation.

Friday, 12 April 2024

Join this exclusive panel discussion with Nitish Rai Parwani, Swami Sarvasthananda and The Revd Canon Dr Peter Groves. Most faiths prescribe ethical frameworks. Since many of these frameworks are often rooted in the theology of that religion/faith, the prescribed ethics are applicable to the believers of that faith, and either excludes the non-believers, or the non-believers themselves are not inclined to adopt ethics prescribed by a faith in whose theology they don't believe. Due to this phenomenon, the ethical frameworks rooted in faiths are often not universal and hence unsustainable beyond particular cases. In the light of logic appealing to the modern mind than mere faith in a theology, will faiths be able to sustain the identity of the 'sources of ethics'?
Friday, 12 April 2024

Join this exclusive panel discussion with ICfS Researcher, Pravar Petkar, Dr Ansgar Koene and CEO of Fast Future, Rohit Talwar.

Many fear that emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Social Media will be the ruin of Democracy, altering irreparably the information landscape on which citizens make decisions. Are these fears justified? Can Technology instead revitalise and strengthen modern Democratic systems that are distant from citizens and open to abuse by bad actors? This panel with Dr Ansgar Koene and Rohit Talwar delves into how technology might shape the democracies of the future.

Monday, 15 April 2024

Join this exclusive panel discussion with Harsh Madhusudhan, Shaurya Doval and Erik Solheim.

Economists envision India driving 60% of global growth in two decades, necessitating our reliance on its Market Liberalisation, investment in the UK, and adherence to democratic values and international norms. Yet, with 400 million Indians living on under $5 daily, questions arise about India's readiness and reliability.

Join our expert discussion on India's rising influence.

Tuesday, 16 April 2024

Join this exclusive book launch with ICfS Associate, Charlotte Littlewood and Author, Steve Gallant.

Steve has investigated the weaknesses within the prison system that lead it to act more as a facilitator of radicalisation than rehabilitation. His thoughts on how prison’s should manage radicalisation are experientially based and provide un-equivalated insight. Join us to launch his book: The Road to London Bridge and get an opportunity to ask him your questions.

Wednesday, 17 April 2024

Join this exclusive panel with ICFS Researcher Pravar Petkar, Former MP Tom Brake and de Borda Institute Director, Peter Emerson.

The electoral system for the UK Parliament is one of the least proportionate amongst major democracies today, with citizens’ votes often wasted in ‘safe’ seats or deployed ‘tactically’. What are the options for reform, and which ones will benefit citizens across all of the UK’s territories? What are the challenges and complexities that policy-makers must consider? Join this panel discussion to find out more.

Wednesday, 17 April 2024

Join this exclusive panel discussion with Charlotte Littlewood and special guests, Shaurya Doval and David Landsman.

India's dependence and an open tilt towards Russia is problematic for the UK, especially when it comes to discussions around restructuring the global order.. India in turn has shown its desire to become less dependent on Russia, but with its military almost 60% dependent on the Indo-Russ relationship, India is caught between western liberal democracies on the one-hand, and an enduring, useful partner on the other. Charlotte Littlewood will be asking the hard questions of David Landsman OBE seasoned diplomat and Shaurya Doval, and together they will discuss how to move forward.
Thursday, 18 April 2024

Join this Discussion with Dina Nathwani & Dr Raffael Fasel.

Recognising animals’ sentience could lead to legal personhood, potentially transforming the UK’s meat industry and consumption patterns, impacting the £10 billion sector, environmental conservation, and re-wilding initiatives. Explore these shifts with our expert round table discussion on animal rights.

Saturday, 20 April 2024

Join ICfS Researcher, Nitish Rai Parwani and special guests for this panel discussion.

Join us to discuss how Dharmic communities, excelling in Education, Social Mobility, and Entrepreneurship, remain underrepresented in Britain. We’ll explore ways a Research and Policy Centre can amplify their voice in government.

Saturday, 20 April 2024

Join a Book club

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

Staff, and well-wishers at the ICfS facilitate weekly 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, and 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 pre and post 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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Coming Soon...

Previous Events

Join a Book club

Book Club Meetings

Coming Soon...

Movie nights

Up-coming Movie Nights

Coming Soon...

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