The 2015 Global Scholars' Symposium (GSS) took place 21-24 May in Cambridge, with the theme Building Impact: Listen, Learn, Act. Delegates participated in panel sessions, thematic group discussions with facilitators, fireside chats with the speakers, and even a workshop on beatbox and poetry!
Now in its eighth consecutive year, the GSS first occurred in 2008 at the University of Cambridge, and has swapped between Cambridge and Oxford every few years. Its founding mission was to connect Churchill, Clarendon, Commonwealth, Fulbright, Gates Cambridge, Marshall, and Rhodes scholars in an environment that challenged them to draw upon their wide variety of interests and expertise. In 2011, GSS expanded to include the Chevening and Weidenfeld Scholarships. This year, the conference was expanded to all students pursuing postgraduate studies in the United Kingdom. From the beginning, GSS has been jointly organized by the scholars themselves from a range of fields and scholarship programmes.
Rhodes House hosted scholars and speakers for the Global Scholars Symposium in 2014, when the theme for the event was 'Dare to Differ',with a focus this year on individuals and communities who have dared to differ from conventional wisdom, dominant paradigms, and mainstream thinking. The mission of GSS is to generate dialogue between prominent world leaders and international scholars studying in the United Kingdom. The GSS is organised by the scholars themselves, and there is a strong inter-disciplinary focus.