on january 25. 2008, schaefer was invited to present a lecture entitled 'the big bang, stephen hawking and god' at the indian institute of technology bombay, during techfest, asia's largest technology festival. this evoked a response from a group of six atheist students in the form of handbills. schaefer was, however, invited to return to iit bombay to present an institute lecture in february 2014. in 2016, schaefer was again invited to present a plenary lecture at techfest. his lecture on december 17, "the life of a scientist," was presented to a large audience without incident. on december 14, 2018, schaefer gave another plenary lecture at techfest.