The Oxford Seminar & Fellows Colloquium take place annually in Oxford, usually during a week in late summer or early Autumn, when countries begin preparing in earnest for the annual Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC.

The Fellows Colloquium takes place during the first half of the week, when senior developing country negotiators (ecbi Fellows) discuss controversial issues in the ongoing UNFCCC negotiations among themselves. This "South-South" exchange of views is aimed at fostering greater understanding and trust between developing countries, and provides a chance for developing common positions on issues of divergence. The discussions are often informed by ecbi publications, sometimes written by the Fellows themselves in collaboration with experts. Key negotiation groups from the developing world are represented in these discussions by their Chairs and/or member countries, including for instance BASIC, the LDC Group, the Africa Group, AOSIS and AILAC. 

For the second half of the week, the Fellows are joined by their European counterparts for the Oxford Seminar. The Seminar provides an opportunity for trust-building between negotiators from developing countries and from Europe, by fostering an exchange of views on key negotiation topics in an informal, friendly and non-confrontational setting. It also provides European negotiators the opportunity to better understand the situation of their developing country colleagues. The ecbi is therefore not just a capacity-building initiative by Europeans, but also for Europeans. 

The Fellows Colloquium & Seminar are hosted in Oxford University's historic buildings. Participation in the event is exclusively by invitation.