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Weidenfeld Scholars London Visit

Weidenfeld Scholarships & Leadership Programme

27 - 28 June 2011
London

2011's end-of-year trip saw 30 Scholars take a tour of some of London’s most important cultural  and political sights. As well as visits to Westminster Abbey, the Queen’s Gallery, the Cabinet War Rooms and a performance of Tom Stoppard’s play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, the Scholars were also invited to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The visit to the FCO included briefing sessions on the Western Balkans region and the Arab Spring, both relating to locations home to a number of Weidenfeld Scholars and Alumni. This was followed by a tour of the historic buildings in which the FCO is housed.

Scholars also had the opportunity to visit the ISD’s Charles Street office, where they were given briefings on the various programme areas of the Institute. The briefings included question-and-answer sessions and led to lively discussions afterwards.

The London Visit ended with a formal dinner at Brooks’s, held in honour of the Weidenfeld Scholarships and Leadership Programme. Lord Weidenfeld, ISD Trustees and Donors, Advisory Board members, Alumni and friends of the Programme were all present. A selection of Scholars gave short talks about recent political developments in their respective countries and regions of origin, stimulating lengthy discussion over dinner.  This made for a thought-provoking end to the academic year, underlining the rich heritage of the Scholars as well as the Programme’s success in supporting exceptional individuals. 

Journalist and blogger Sunny Hundal, delivering a presentation at ISD's Social Media and Intolerance workshop, April 2012
HE Karel Schwarzenberg, Czech Foreign Minister, addresses an invited audience at an ISD policy breakfast, October 2011
Vanessa Redgrave, Humanitas Visiting Professor in Drama 2012, speaking at the University of Oxford, February 2012.
Leading activists from pro-democracy movements in the Middle East, speaking at a Weidenfeld Debate, February 2012
Lord Weidenfeld and Sir Ronald Grierson, co-founders of the Weidenfeld Scholarships and Leadership Programme, April 2010
CEDAR Chair Ahmed Larouz, addressing the Social Innovation and Social Action Conference, Lambeth Palace, November 2011
Historian Saul Friedlander, Inaugural Humanitas Visiting Professor in Historiography at the University of Oxford, May 2012
Peter Kellner, President of YouGov and Dr David Muir, Faith in Britain, at the launch conference of the Phoenix Initiative, October 2010
Jonathan Powell, former Chief of Staff to Tony Blair, addresses the inaugural Turkey Workshop, London, September 2011