Our first virtual conference for Chevening Officers

Welcome remarks & discussion with DG Vijay Rangarajan

Vijay Rangarajan, Director General, Americas and Overseas Territories
Naomi Rayner, Head of the Scholarships Unit, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Miranda Thomas, Director, Chevening Secretariat

Chevening Fellowships: an overview and update

Verity Wilkes, Senior Fellowships Officer, Chevening Secretariat

Chevening Officers will receive an overview of the fellowships framework, deep-dive into two of our current fellowships, and learn more about how we measure the impact of fellowships. This session will be followed by a live Q&A.

Engaging your audience online*

Communications Team, Chevening Secretariat
Ekaterina Provornaya, CO for Russia
Adriana Masetti, Communications Manager for Brazil
Daniel Medina, CO for Brazil
Parviz Jamalov, CO for Tajikistan

Global challenges such as Covid-19 and climate change have made digital communications more important than ever before. This session will explore how you can make the most of your digital platforms to attract Chevening applicants, and how Chevening will be supporting you this year.

South Asia and Afghanistan networking session

Babita Sharma, Chevening Officer, New Delhi

This informal session is an opportunity to meet your Chevening Champion for the region, to meet other Chevening Officers and to share experiences.

MENA networking session

May Marie, Chevening Officer, Jerusalem

This informal session is an opportunity to meet your Chevening Champion for the region, to meet other Chevening Officers and to share experiences.

Interview Skills Training*

Louise Menzies, Menzies Consulting Group

This interactive session will cover a range of areas to ensure your Chevening interviews are a success. This session will include tips for effective preparation; insight into unconscious bias; managing online interviews and techniques for getting the most out of candidates.

Eastern Europe and Central Asia networking session

Nigar Mammadova, Chevening Officer, Baku

This informal session is an opportunity to meet your Chevening Champion for the region, to meet other Chevening Officers and to share experiences.

Storytelling workshop

Alumni & Communications Teams, Chevening Secretariat

This interactive workshop will use case studies and examples from across the Chevening network to inspire you to bring your own Chevening impact stories to life.

Sub-Saharan Africa networking session

Loice Alusala, Chevening Officer, Pretoria

This informal session is an opportunity to meet your Chevening Champion for the region, to meet other Chevening Officers and to share experiences.

Marketing for diversity

Equality and diversity working group, Chevening Secretariat
Deni Sanxhaku, CO for Albania
Anongly Phimmasone, CO for Laos

How can we attract people from underrepresented groups to the Chevening programme? Hear more about Chevening’s commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.

Partnerships in bitesize

Catherine Rooney, Senior Partnerships Officer, Chevening Secretariat
Jess Gregson, Senior Partnership Officer, Chevening Secretariat

Short, live session covering the partnership touch points throughout the year.

Alumni engagement hacks*

Chevening Officers
Moderated by Alumni Team, Chevening Secretariat

Hear from fellow officers with their top tips on how to manage specific areas of engagement.

Featuring:

• Gilly Metzgen, CO for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean on ‘Doing more with less’ – how to maximise engagement with limited capacity
• Ivonne Lopez, CO for Costa Rica and Nicaragua on ‘Effectively engaging senior alumni’ – how to get build strong engagement relationships with VIP/senior alumni
• Marijose Vila, CO for Guatemala and Honduras on ‘Writing a great CAPF bid’ – how to construct a successful CAPF bid

ASEAN networking session

Sylvia Vu, Chevening Officer, Kuala Lumpur
Mai Thu Ha, Chevening Officer, Hanoi

This informal session is an opportunity to meet your Chevening Champion for the region, to meet other Chevening Officers and to share experiences.

Partnerships in bitesize

Catherine Rooney, Senior Partnerships Officer, Chevening Secretariat
Jess Gregson, Senior Partnership Officer, Chevening Secretariat

Short, live session covering difficult conversations with partners who do not want to renew.

Getting to grips with alumni engagement*

Alumni Team, Chevening Secretariat

Discussion on CAPF, AGF and more with a chance for Q&A and a problem solving activity (group work)

Chevening journey: Applicant to Scholar

Programme Team International & UK, Chevening Secretariat

A particularly useful session for new Chevening Officers to learn more about the Chevening cycle.

Making the most of partnerships*

Catherine Rooney, Senior Partnerships Officer, Chevening Secretariat
Jess Gregson, Senior Partnership Officer, Chevening Secretariat

Interactive session including Chevening Officer led breakout rooms. This session will feature support on pitching and creating tailored partnership objectives.

Practical guidance for Chevening interviews

Programme Team- International, Chevening Secretariat

Information session to update Chevening Officers on this year’s interview guidance and procedures.

Interview skills training*

Louise Menzies, Menzies Consulting Group

This interactive session will cover a range of areas to ensure your Chevening interviews are a success. This session will include tips for effective preparation; insight into unconscious.bias; managing online interviews and techniques for getting the most out of candidates.

Engaging your audience online*

Communications Team, Chevening Secretariat
Ekaterina Provornaya, CO for Russia
Adriana Masetti, Communications Manager for Brazil
Daniel Medina, CO for Brazil
Parviz Jamalov, CO for Tajikistan

Global challenges such as Covid-19 and climate change have made digital communications more important than ever before. This session will explore how you can make the most of your digital platforms to attract Chevening applicants, and how Chevening will be supporting you this year.

Alumni engagement hacks*

Chevening Officers
Moderated by Alumni Team, Chevening Secretariat

Hear from fellow officers with their top tips on how to successfully manage specific areas of engagement.

Featuring:

• Chris Boobier, Head of Chevening in China on ‘Integrating alumni into post’ – how to get alumni engagement on everyone’s agenda
• Mireille Djob, CO for Cameroon on ‘Alumni association’ – how to build a strong and sustainable alumni association

Marketing for diversity*

Equality and diversity working group, Chevening Secretariat
Deni Sanxhaku, CO for Albania
Anongly Phimmasone, CO for Laos

How can we attract people from underrepresented groups to the Chevening programme? Hear more about Chevening’s commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.

Scholars: their UK experience

Programme Team UK, Chevening Secretariat

Learn more about the university, welfare and engagement experience of this year’s scholars.

Partnerships in bitesize

Catherine Rooney, Senior Partnerships Officer, Chevening Secretariat
Jess Gregson, Senior Partnership Officer, Chevening Secretariat

Short, live session covering fundraising during a global pandemic.

Chevening’s insight and evaluation

Olivia Petie, Senior Evaluation Officer

In this session you will hear an overview of how we monitor and evaluate Chevening to better understand the programme, how it works and what the impact is. We will also be sharing findings from some of our recent evaluation activities – including our scholar surveys across the 2019 and 2020 cohorts, looking at their experiences as Cheveners during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Making the most of partnerships*

Catherine Rooney, Senior Partnerships Officer, Chevening Secretariat
Jess Gregson, Senior Partnership Officer, Chevening Secretariat

Interactive session including Chevening Officer led breakout rooms. This session will feature support on pitching and creating tailored partnership objectives.

Getting to grips with alumni engagement*

Alumni Team, Chevening Secretariat

A session focussed on CAPF and more; problem solving activity (group work).