Jagriti experienced a broad range of diplomatic activities; including leading meetings with diverse stakeholders, chairing discussions and attending several events during the day. She met the Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture Meenakshi Lekhi, the Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin, and the Executive Chairman of Wipro Rishad Premji. Other highlights included interacting with project leads working on the Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI) project at the British Council and beneficiaries of the Chevening-funded SheLeads project – a women leadership programme that helps aspiring female political leaders.

Alongside Professor Ajay Kumar Sood, the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, she also launched a book honouring 75 Indian Women in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics). This year’s competition was made possible through the gracious support of partners Cosmopolitan India, Taj Hotels, and Vistara.

Jagriti Yadav, High Commissioner for the Day, said:

It was an intellectually inspiring experience to serve as the British High Commissioner for a day. My day was full of opportunities – discussions with established business leaders, a meeting with the Mayor of West Yorkshire and interacting with a leading female politician of India about significant obstacles to women’s professional advancement and the value of women as leaders.

Meeting the SheLeads project beneficiaries and female STEAM role models was motivating, and I learned about STEAM engagement between the UK and India and the UK’s efforts to advance gender equality. The day gave me the opportunity to learn from a diverse perspective and, as a young woman, it gave me the confidence to be more determined and considerate towards the role of women in society.

Alex Ellis, Deputy High Commissioner for the Day (on other days, High Commissioner to India), said:

The High Commissioner for a Day is an event I look forward to every year. Jagriti is articulate and focused and shows the talent across India. As women rise, we all rise.

The UK and India do a lot together to promote gender equality, including on research and education. I’m delighted that 50% of the Chevening scholarships for India this year were awarded to women. The UK is a world leader at incorporating gender equality in universities and India is a top country for girls studying STEM-subjects. I wish Jagriti the best for the future and hope she enjoyed being High Commissioner for the day.

The British High Commission in New Delhi has organised the ‘High Commissioner for a Day’ competition annually since 2017 to celebrate the International Day of the Girl Child (October 11). More than 270 young girls from all around India applied for this year’s competition.

Further information

Free-to-use high resolution images of Jagriti’s day as High Commissioner are available here.

The International Day of the Girl is also being celebrated in UK’s other diplomatic missions across India, where one young girl will have the opportunity to be the ‘British Deputy High Commissioner for a Day’: Bengaluru, Chandigarh, and Chennai.

Jagriti Yadav was High Commissioner for a Day on Wednesday, 21 September. Applicants for this year’s competition were invited to submit a one-minute video answering ‘which woman in public life inspires you the most and why?’ Jagriti’s winning entry can be found here.

About the winner: Jagriti hails from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh and is a recent graduate with a BSc in Physical Science with Computer Science from Delhi University. She is an avid reader and prefers to read self-help books that provide insights and perspective on life.

Joint work on Gender: The UK and India are working together to help ensure women and girls can reach their full potential. In India, the UK is working with various Government and private stakeholders to promote gender equality. Examples include:

• The British Council has partnered with India’s Department of Science and Technology (DST) on the Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI) project, to introduce a gender equality framework, drawing upon successful models in the UK, namely Athena Swan. This pilot project is customised to the requirements of the Indian context, with a focus on bringing about transformational change.

• The UK in India Pledge for Progress campaign launched in November 2020, which brings together over 130 partners to exchange expertise, including on gender diversity in STEMM, financial and professional services. The pledge is a joint commitment to promote gender equality and take practical steps to tackle gender challenges.

High Commissioner for a Day 2022 partners:

• Cosmopolitan is the largest-read women’s magazine in the world. Cosmopolitan encourages young women to be brave, bold, and live their best lives – a philosophy that runs through print pages, and digital media assets.

• The iconic Taj Hotels are part of Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), India’s largest hospitality company. The group recently launched ‘She Remains the Taj’, a holistic framework of women-centric initiatives for all stakeholders including guests, employees, partners and the community. IHCL has also announced a goal to raise women participation in its workforce to 25% by 2025, and support women-led businesses and partners. Wider IHCL initiatives include the opening of South Asia’s first all-women managed luxury residences, Taj Wellington Mews in Chennai, and the all-women engineers’ team to build Ginger’s flagship hotel in Mumbai.

• Vistara has a diverse workforce and prides itself on getting superlative talent regardless of race, gender or any other factor. Women employees form almost 43% of Vistara’s workforce, and 12% of its leadership members are women. Almost 12% of Vistara’s pilots are women, which is more than double the global average, and the airline is constantly working towards taking this number higher. The airline is also a signatory to the UK in India Pledge for Progress to promote gender diversity at the workplace and in society at large.

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Almost three hundred young people started their nuclear career with Sellafield Ltd this month as the company welcomed the new cohorts of 200 apprentices and 88 graduates.

The latest intake means that the company has more than 600 apprentices currently completing their training with the company and our training provider, GEN2 in West Cumbria and Wigan and with Leigh in Risley.

Donna Connor, head of education and skills at Sellafield Ltd, said:

The sheer numbers of apprentices and graduates we continue to train and employ every year clearly demonstrates our commitment to investing in the next generation of nuclear workers.

Beyond the volume of recruits, we are particularly proud of the variety of training opportunities we are able to provide, with 18 different apprenticeship schemes. Our graduate scheme is also diverse with people starting their careers in science, engineering, technology, project management, business, and safety roles.

Sellafield Ltd was recently voted in the top 100 apprentice employers in the country for 2022.

Copeland MP Trudy Harrison said:

I’m delighted that once again Sellafield Ltd is recruiting an impressive number of apprentices and graduates across a range of courses who now have the chance of an exciting career at the most complex nuclear site in Europe.

Georgia Nevins is on the nuclear operator apprentice scheme. She said:

I’d heard a lot about Sellafield Ltd from family and friends that work here. It excited me as it offers lots of opportunities for personal development, I chose the nuclear operator route as it sounded interesting and worthwhile.

I wanted to be part of the biggest employer in the area and contribute towards its goal. I feel really privileged to be employed by Sellafield Ltd.

The apprentices will complete their training across multiple disciplines, from Level 2 (GCSE equivalent) to Level 6 (degree level) schemes.

Those who have joined the graduate schemes will embark on a two-year programme designed to develop their behavioural, business, and technical skills.

Marc Skillen, Sellafield Ltd’s graduate development manager, said:

It is amazing to welcome 88 graduates – one of our biggest ever single intakes – from all corners of the country.

The breadth and depth of knowledge and skill that they carry will undoubtedly bring innovation and creativity to help us achieve our purpose of creating a clean and safe environment for future generations.

As part of their formal welcome to Sellafield Ltd the graduates have already been involved in activities such as behavioural development, understanding what it means to be a nuclear professional, attending the Nuclear Vision Conference and working on a local community project.

There has been a large increase in the number of digital mental health tools on the market in recent years. However, these products present regulatory challenges such as clarity around whether they are medical devices and, if so, which risk classification they would fall under.

Wellcome has therefore provided £1.8m of funding to help improve regulatory certainty and safety in this high growth, high impact area, focussing on producing guidance for appropriate, risk-proportionate regulation of digital mental health products.

The project will review key aspects of medical device regulations to produce guidance that will support digital mental health in several significant areas. These include determining what qualifies as a medical device, the risk classification they would fall under, as well as a review of the current evidence base for these devices.

To do this, we will engage with and learn from people with lived experience, subject experts and patients to inform their conclusions, as well as working with international partners to help drive shared learning and consensus in digital mental health regulations globally.

In this way, it is hoped that certain mental health software will be proportionately regulated as a medical device, meaning the public has access to effective and safe products that can significantly help protect or improve their mental health.

Minister for Mental Health, Dr Caroline Johnson, said:

Digital mental health tools can be incredibly useful to help build resilience and prevent problems worsening, but it’s crucial these are regulated properly.

This funding will help us to better understand these products and give us the tools to make sure everyone who uses them has access to safe, effective support.

Johan Ordish, Head of Software and AI at the MHRA said:

Digital mental health tools offer millions of people vital support and guidance to explore and help manage their mental health issues every day.

However, there are a number of regulatory complexities in establishing when these products should be regulated and what evidence they must have to demonstrate safety and effectiveness.

We need to make sure that we are able to answer these questions, to ensure that patients can be confident in the choices they make to support their mental health.

Mark Salmon, programme director for Information Services at NICE, said:

This work is one way both organisations can simplify and streamline the process of getting wide-scale adoption of safe, clinical and cost-effective digital mental health products into the hands of the people who need them and help ease the pressure on the NHS.

Dr Miranda Wolpert, Director of Mental Health at Wellcome, said:

As an increasing number of people turn to digital tools for support with mental health problems, we believe that getting the right level of regulation is vital.

At Wellcome, we support the development of new and improved interventions for mental health, which includes digital interventions. One of the ways that we can encourage the development of tools that genuinely help and support as many people as possible will be through risk-appropriate guidance and regulation.

The MHRA will be engaging with and learning from people with lived experience of mental health conditions, helping to ensure that that the regulation is at the right level, relevant and robust.