Academic Programme
The Academic Programme consists of two separate weeks of seminars, lectures, and visits on topics relevant to the Fellows. The first week takes place in Edinburgh in June, with the second week taking place in London later on in the Programme. Fellows are able to meet and question practitioners as well as visiting relevant institutions e.g. the law courts.
During the 2010 Fellowship Programme, the 2010 Fellows were welcomed to the Scottish Parliament by the Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson MSP for a dinner and reception, also attended by the Rt Hon Lord Steel and the Rt Hon George Reid – all three Presiding Officers of the Scottish Parliament. The Fellows mingled with 200 leading figures from Scottish public life and met the Chairman of the Trust the Rt Hon Lord Falconer. In addition, the Fellows were welcomed to Bute House by Stewart Stevenson MSP the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change in the Scottish government, who has visited many of our Fellowship countries in the course of his career. On his return from a meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron MP, the Scottish First Minister the Rt Hon Alex Salmond MSP joined the Fellows at Bute House. He invited the Fellows to join him at the cabinet table where a lively seminar took place on Scottish government with the First Minister explaining the roles of different members of the Cabinet, the workings of Scottish government and the state of relations with the new government in London.
The Edinburgh week continued with a reception and seminar at the Faculty of Advocates, and workshops with the leading Scottish political thinker, Gerry Hassan, the former Minister and now Professor of Social Change, Professor Susan Deacon, the Head of Oxfam in Scotland, Judith Robertson, and the Chair of Scottish Enterprise, Crawford Gilles.
The Fellows held lively discussions on the nature of leadership with the Rt Hon George Reid, the Chair of Sport Scotland and architect of the successful bid by Glasgow to host the Commonwealth Games, Louise Martin CBE, and the former UK Ambassador to Georgia and Chief of the Clan MacLaren, Donald MacLaren.
In London, the 2010 Fellows attended seminars delivered by Dr James Ker Lindsay and Jonathan Cohen (Conciliation Resources) on conflict resolution, actors Peter Guinness and Roberta Taylor on effective communication, Iain Dale on blogging and internet campaigning, General Sir Mike Jackson on leadership and policy delivery, and Baroness Stern and Lord Falconer on legal policy delivery.
Please note that previously held events, visits and seminars are subject to change and do not always take place each year.