Sima Kotecha – Keynote Speaker

Sima Kotecha is the UK Editor on the BBC’s television flagship current affairs programme, Newsnight, as well as presenter on the programme. She specialises in original journalism and exposing the truth through winning the trust of her contributors and holding those in power to account.

She is a versatile presenter able to turn her hand to different types of presentation, chairing discussions and tackling a range of issues from the most serious to lighter topics. She often presents the BBC’s Newscast podcast and has presented Breakfast News on BBC One, the BBC News channel, PM on Radio 4, 5Live as well as the news on BBC1.

Sima’s career as a reporter spans almost twenty years. Her work has taken her around the world, and she has spent much of her professional life living in the US and reporting from dangerous countries at times of conflict and volatility such as during the war in Afghanistan, Haiti and Lebanon. She was one of the first reporters to broadcast from Italy at the start of the covid pandemic, before the virus had reached the British shores.

Sima Kotecha has interviewed a wide range of people in the public eye from the former US President Barack Obama to the current UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Her interviewing style is versatile from the probing to the sympathetic and she is noted for encouraging people to tell their stories.

She has a reputation for breaking original journalism and for specialising in multiple story areas such as defence, policing, politics, and social affairs.

But she has another side too. A sense of humour and empathy as demonstrated by her recent appearance on Celebrity Antiques Road Trip on BBC Two and Expert Witness on BBC One. She is a first class public speaker and event host who is sure to enliven any gathering.