General Requirements
Anyone in BES can nominate a speaker, although we encourage research groups to work together to generate suggestions for presenters, particularly those conducting research with an inter- or multi-disciplinary focus that would be relevant to a diverse group of researchers that BES is home to. You may wish to consider the following factors when suggesting speakers:
- That the topic is presented in a way that is accessible to a wide and non-specialist (although academic) audience
- How the seminar relates to the aim and objectives of the seminar series
- If there is potential to reach out to other departments and faculties at Stirling, as well as academics at other institutions, external stakeholders and, on occasion, members of the public.
- The focus will be on UK or European-based presenters who can travel relatively easily and cheaply to Stirling to give in-person seminars. However, we would encourage presenters to visit for a longer research visit where possible to better justify the cost and climate impacts. Speakers from further afield will be considered if coming for a longer research visit or are visiting UK/Europe already. On occasion we will organise online-only presentations where there is a strong justification of the unique benefits of hearing from this speaker in an online-only format.
The organising team will also consider the gender, ethnicity and experience split across the annual seminar series. We will aim for a 50:50 gender split, with at least 30% of speakers coming from BAME groups and 30% in more junior positions (research fellows and lecturers). Please consider this when nominating speakers.
Step 1: Nominate a Speaker
To nominate a speaker (before formally asking them to give a seminar), contact Tony Robertson with the person’s name and general area they will likely present on. Tony will then be able to confirm available dates and deal with any queries before and during contact stages with the proposed speaker. To formally book a speaker in please liaise with Tony when contacting a speaker so he can help with dates, travel arrangements etc.
Step 2: Speaker Form
Once we have arranged a suitable date with a speaker, Tony will share with them a Speaker Form, where we will ask the presenter to provide an abstract, details of who may be interested in the seminar and a short bio. We will also ask permission to promote the seminar via various channels and to record and share it afterwards. Speakers will be asked if they consent to various levels of promotion and sharing of recordings to suit their preferences (e.g. if allowed, we will share talks on this website). Tony will lead on actively promoting the seminars via Teams, email and posters around the department; however, if you are the ‘host’ or nominator of a presenter, we ask that you help us with hosting the speaker while in Stirling and helpvwith promotion too (and that everyone in the department will share too 😊).