Paul Simpson will be one of the keynote speakers at the British Universities and Colleges Sport event ©Getty Images

British Universities and Colleges Sport have announced Paul Simpson and Sarah Hunter as the keynote speakers for their inaugural development event on the theme "performance sport".

The event will be hosted at Nottingham Conference Centre on April 19 and will focus on the "increasing profile of performance sport in the higher education sector".

Fifty-one-year-old former player Simpson was appointed as manager of England's men's under-20 football team last year and guided them to the 2017 World Cup title in South Korea.

This was England's biggest football success since 1966 when the senior men's team won the World Cup title on home soil.

Sarah Hunter is a Women's Rugby World Cup winner with England ©Getty Images
Sarah Hunter is a Women's Rugby World Cup winner with England ©Getty Images

Hunter, meanwhile, has more than 100 caps for the England women's rugby team and won the World Cup with them in 2014.

The 32-year-old loose forward was named as World Rugby's women's player of the year in 2016.

Other confirmed speakers include British Judo's performance and pathway manager Tim Ellis and Zak Saucede, a senior players performance analyst at the Lawn Tennis Association.