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External speaker request procedure

If you are a member of staff or a University of Sussex student and are intending on having an external speaker at a University event, you must complete an external speaker procedure.

• For events being organised by a student, student group, staff member of department within the Students’ Union, please follow the Students’ Union External Speaker Procedure.
• For events that fall outside of the Students’ Union remit, please complete the online External Speaker Request Form below using the University of Sussex External Speaker Procedure [DOCX 105.06KB] as guidance. 

Please complete the online External Speaker Request Form below.

It is anticipated that the vast majority of events organised will not need to proceed beyond Stage 1.

• Stage 1 – Self-Assessment
• Stage 2 – Local Assessment
• Stage 3 – University Assessment

If you answer YES to EITHER self-assessment questions, you must proceed to Stage 2 (Local Assessment) and contact your Head of School or Professional Services Director. Please retain details of action taken within Stage 2, for audit purposes and progression to Stage 3 (where required).

You only need to move on to Stage 3 (University Assessment) if the local assessment cannot approve the event with or without mitigation.

To proceed to Stage 3, please contact l.spenceley@sussex.ac.uk providing full details of all the action taken within Stage 2.

Please complete one form per event and in accordance with the External Speaker Procedure [DOC, 102KB] and Freedom of Speech Code of Practice [PDF 129KB]. Where there are multiple speakers attending the same event, please provide details of each speaker in the space provided. Please ensure that you consider the self-assessment questions in stage 1 for each speaker. 

*Please note that if the political/reputational etc climate around a topic has changed since the risk assessment is conducted, it is the organiser's responsibility to review ahead of the event.* 

If you have trouble accessing any information on this page please contact l.spenceley@sussex.ac.uk