| Professor Robert Allison, Vice-Chancellor, Loughborough UniversityFormer posts include Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Pro-Vice-Chancellor Research at Sussex University, Dean of Social Sciences of Health and Head of Geography at Durham University. He was awarded a PhD in Geography from King's College London and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. His contribution to organisations includes the Natural Environment Research Council, Higher Education Funding Council for England and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills. He sits on the Board of Midlands Innovation, a partnership between the Universities of Aston, Birmingham, Cranfield, Keele, Leicester, Loughborough, Nottingham and Warwick. Honours and awards for research and teaching include: · Cuthbert Peek Award, Royal Geographical Society · Charles Lyell Award, British Association for the Advancement of Science · Jan De Ploey Prize, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
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| Professor Rachel Thomson, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Teaching, Loughborough UniversityRachel read Natural Sciences at Cambridge University followed by a PhD in Materials Engineering. She joined Loughborough in 1995 where she has been Head of Materials, then Dean of Engineering, before becoming Pro Vice-Chancellor (Teaching) in 2016. Rachel's research combines materials modelling and advanced experimental characterisation, working with industry to improve the efficiency, lifetime and environmental performance of metallic components used in power generation. Rachel has initiated many transformational projects, including leading the development of STEMLab, a £17M investment in shared science and engineering teaching laboratories, Loughborough's Digital Strategy, and a skills development programme for students. In 2018 she was selected as East Midlands Inspirational Female Leader of the Year and elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
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| Iain Patton, CEO, EAUC - The Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education
Commended by his Headmaster for being able to spell the word 'environment', it seemed Iain's destiny at an early age that he would develop a passion for sustainability. This destiny was later fulfilled when Iain moved from Ireland to England to became the first dedicated Environmental Officer in a UK college. Iain soon became the EAUC trailblazer leading the writing and realisation of a business plan for the newly formed charity. As the organisation grew and gained momentum, Iain became the EAUC's first Chief Executive and is the face of the EAUC. Today he is leading it through a significant new strategic vision and rebrand to reposition sustainability for university and college leaders as ‘just good business’, the ‘new norm’ in how we all will work in the future.
After a period working with an agricultural community development in Kenya, a love of Africa is in Iain's blood. With his family he runs a small sheep farm in the Teme Valley and supports a community food storage and enterprise scheme in eastern Uganda.
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| Chris Hale, Director of Policy, Universities UKAs Director of Policy, Chris Hale is responsible for the development and management of Universities UK's policy work, produced by a largely in-house team of programme managers, economists and analysts. Before being appointed Director in 2015, Chris was Assistant Director of Policy at Universities UK and led on a number of areas of work including efficiency and effectiveness and the regulation of higher education. Chris has significant expertise in research policy, working as a policy adviser on this issue for Universities UK for a number of years. Prior to working at Universities UK, Chris worked at the General Medical Council and holds a degree from the University of Sussex and MSc from University College London.
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| Manveer Gill, Student, University of WarwickManveer Gill is a 4th year Mathematics student at the University of Warwick, having recently spent a year studying in Italy, at the University of Padua. As a student Commissioner on the Climate Commission for UK Higher and Further Education, Manveer is working alongside fellow commissioners to plan and catalyse a sector-wide response to the climate emergency.
Part-time, he interns at CDP, with the Investor Initiatives team. CDP provides a global disclosure platform for companies, cities, states and regions to measure, disclosure, manage and share information on their environmental performance. Manveer works on a pilot project requesting environmental disclosures from unlisted, private companies, on behalf of their lenders or private equity owners.
Manveer is aspiring towards a career that will position him to be able to support the world's efforts to mitigate climate change and adapt to its impacts.
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| Professor Chris Day, Vice-Chancellor and President, Newcastle University
Professor Chris Day took up the role of Vice-Chancellor and President at Newcastle University on 1 January 2017. A Consultant Hepatologist with an international reputation in medical research, he is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. He has served on the Council of the Medical Research Council and the Executive of the Medical Schools Council. Professor Day was Chair of the Clinical Medicine Sub-Panel for the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) Exercise. Professor Day is currently Chair of the Office for Strategic Co-ordination of Health Research (OSCHR), a member of the Universities UK Board and, for REF 2021, is Chair of the institutional environment pilot panel, dealing with the assessment of the research environment at institution level. Professor Day is a Deputy Lieutenant of Tyne and Wear.
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| Tracy Lumb, Senior Project Manager - Alcohol Impact, Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS)
Tracy Lumb is the Senior Alcohol Impact Manager for SOS, working alongside NUS (National Union of Students). Alcohol Impact is our whole-university programme designed to foster responsible drinking cultures for students. It is a strategic framework for partnership working between students' unions and institutions. The programme adopts social change theory; aiming to reduce harm and improve welfare, well-being and academic achievement – whilst creating more inclusive spaces and enhancing the student experience. Before working for SOS, Tracy worked for 6 years in community drug and alcohol services coordinating the care for adults affected by drugs or alcohol.
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| Andrew Brown, Senior Programme Manager, Alcohol Team, Public Health England
Andrew is a Senior Programme Manager at Public Health England (PHE) and is responsible for the management of the organisation's work to support place based efforts to reduce the harms that individuals and communities experience from alcohol.
Prior to working for PHE Andrew worked with the Making Every Adult Matter coalition, which advocates for better policy and practice for adults with multiple disadvantage. He was the Director of Policy at DrugScope, and before that Director of Programmes with a drug and alcohol prevention charity.
He spent 9 years as a councillor in South East London, and has extensive experience in a range of voluntary positions in his local community.
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| Dr Jason Michael Thomas, Lecturer in Psychology and Programme Director (Psychology BSc), Aston UniversityDr Jason Thomas is an Experimental Psychologist and Programme Director for Undergraduate Psychology at Aston University. Jason's work involves enhancing student engagement, particularly during sandwich years/years abroad. Jason firmly believes in following and developing pedagogical evidence to guide this process and is a keen adopter of digital technologies as a tool to enhance and sustain student engagement. He is also committed to identifying practical ways of breaking down barriers to make academia more accessible and inclusive for all students.
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| Dr Leonie Shanks, Policy Researcher, Universities UKLeonie is a policy researcher for Universities UK, working across the research and innovation and skills teams. She currently focuses on projects relating to research integrity and open access, and is also conducting research into the future of degree apprenticeships.
Prior to joining Universities UK, Leonie worked as Project Lead at the Innovation Unit, a social enterprise specialising in radical social innovation and service design, where she led and developed the organisation's qualitative research methodologies across health, education and local government projects.
Leonie holds a PhD in English Literature from the University of London.
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| Naomi Wilkinson, Senior Commissioning Editor, Oxford University Press
Naomi Wilkinson is Senior Commissioning Editor at Epigeum, part of Oxford University Press. Collaborating with institutions around the world, Naomi is responsible for the strategic development of a portfolio of courses aimed at students in higher education, and is currently working on the Being Well, Living Well toolkit, to be published in May 2020. Naomi also oversees projects through their development process, including creating and testing potential course outlines and pedagogical approaches.
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| Luke Merchant, Widening Participation Officer, Cardiff UniversityLuke Merchant is a Widening Participation Officer at Cardiff University, running programmes and events for young people from backgrounds that are traditionally under-represented in higher education. Part of his role involves running the Discovery Project, a programme for young people with Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC) between the ages of 14 and 19, which aims to give an insight into higher education and help equip participants with the skills needed to thrive at university; this is done through a combination of workshops, academic taster sessions and social events. The project includes fortnightly sessions between October and March, a bespoke open day and a residential summer school, all for young people with ASC.
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| Melissa Blees, ASC Project Officer, Cardiff UniversityMelissa is the ASC Project Officer within Cardiff University's Disability and Dyslexia Service. As part of Cardiff's Autism project, Melissa provides 1:1 support and has reviewed how the university supports students with Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC), including introducing the university to the assistive technology app Brain in Hand, development of a transition event and collaboration with other teams such as Careers, Discovery Project and the Students' Union with the aim of making higher education more accessible. Melissa's previous roles include University Mentor for the National Autistic Society. ABA Therapist working with children through natural environment teaching and Barnardo's community support.
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| Julie Allen, Director of Policy and Services, UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA)Julie is responsible for international student policy and support services for members including the annual conference in July. She leads the Policy and Services team who work on the website, publications, communications, and membership, training and events. She also leads on the UKCISA Grants Scheme which funds innovative research and projects to support the international student experience in the UK. She has worked at UKCISA for 6 years. She previously worked at LSE, Queen Mary, University of London and University of the Arts, London. She has also taught English overseas, including a post at the British Council in Kyoto, Japan.
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| Dr Michele Milner, Director of Learning and Wellbeing, Royal Veterinary College, University of London
Michele W. Milner, Ph.D., PFHEA, is the Director of Learning
and Wellbeing at the Royal Veterinary College, University of London, where she
leads a department providing academic enhancement and student support service
that aims to create
opportunities, spaces and learning experiences that are inclusive and
accessible. The department
seeks to develop teaching approaches that promote intellectual and emotional flexibility,
and to help students develop self-management skills in order to thrive during
their studies. Prior to joining RVC, Michele established the Centre for
Excellence in Learning and Teaching at the University of East London and led on
strategic projects on competency-based learning and one-device Mobile Learning.
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| Tom Simpson, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Public Policy, University of OxfordTom Simpson is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, and an Associate Fellow at Policy Exchange. Between degrees, he served as an officer with the Royal Marines Commandos, with tours in Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan. His research focuses on a variety of issues in moral and political philosophy, especially on trust, issues at the intersection of technology and security, and on the nature of freedom.
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| Professor Eric Kaufmann, Professor and Assistant Dean of Politics, Birkbeck, University of LondonEric Kaufmann is Professor and Assistant Dean of Politics at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is the author of Whiteshift: Immigration, Populism and the Future of White Majorities (Penguin/Abrams, 2018/19); Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth (Profile Books 2010), The Rise and Fall of Anglo-America: the decline of dominant ethnicity in the United States (Harvard 2004) and The Orange Order (Oxford 2007), among others. He wrote a report for the think tank Demos entitled Changing Places: mapping the white British response to ethnic change (Demos 2014). He is co-editor, among others, of Political Demography (Oxford 2012) and editor of Rethinking Ethnicity: Majority Groups and Dominant Minorities (Routledge 2004). An editor of the journal Nations & Nationalism, he has written for the New York Times, Newsweek International, Foreign Affairs, New Statesman, National Review and Prospect and his work has been covered in major newspapers and magazines in the UK and US since 2007.
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| Professor Dr Alison Scott-Baumann, Associate Director Research (Impact and Public Engagement), SOAS, University of London
Professor Dr Alison Scott-Baumann is Associate Director Research (Impact and Public Engagement) and Professor of Society and Belief at SOAS, University of London. She has worked with British Muslim communities for twenty years and her recent AHRC project about Islam on campus (2015-18) collected the largest data sets to date. Alison speaks on BBC radio and contributes to various blogs. In 2019 the ministry for Housing, Communities and local Government commissioned her to develop a government funded project she completed in 2010, to create accreditation pathways for Muslim seminaries at UK universities. She is also working with London based universities to enhance Jewish Studies provision.
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| Dr Maryyum Mehmood, Postdoctoral Researcher (Corridors of Power project), SOAS
Dr Maryyum Mehmood completed an ESRC-funded PhD studentship in the Department of War Studies, King's College London. Her thesis explores Antisemitism and Islamophobia through the target's lens. Prior to her PhD study, Maryyum received an MA in South Asia & Global Security (King's College London). Currently, she contributes to a range of research subjects in academic journals as well as international media outlets. Maryyum is also an advocate and youth mentor for interfaith. She tweets @marymood.
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| Róisín McCallion, VP Welfare and Equal Opportunities, Oxford SU
Having completed an undergraduate degree in French and German, Róisín McCallion is the current Vice President for Welfare and Equal Opportunities at Oxford SU. She is an avid mental health campaigner, having frequently written and spoken on the topic of eating disorders, and also involved in LGBTQ+ and disabilities activism. A firm believer that lived experience should inform policy, Róisín wishes to continue her career fighting for social justice, taking particular interest in access to treatment for mental ill health.
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| Kaushika Patel, Interim PVC for Equality Diversity and Inclusion and Project Director: Decolonising DMU, De Montfort University
Kaushika is the Interim Pro Vice Chancellor for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Dean for the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at De Montfort University (DMU), and has been in academia since 2007. Kaushika also formally mentors and coaches BME staff at DMU. As an academic Kaushika is keen to support BME staff to have a voice within their university – and the wider HE sector – and to have the opportunity to present their thoughts, ideas and solutions to effect change to make HE a more welcoming and inclusive environment to work in, where your identity is welcomed, valued and supported.
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| Charmaine Marufu, Decolonising DMU: Student Advisor, De Montfort UniversityKudakwashe Charmaine Marufu is a 3rd year student studying Education and Psychology. Her role within Decolonising DMU is to engage students across the University to share their thoughts and insights into the needs of BAME students and consider how we can ensure that BAME students can identify themselves in their curriculum and the environment within which they learn. These views are then relayed to lecturers and wider University staff to support changes in learning, teaching and assessment and to make the learning environment more welcoming for all students. Kudakwashe leads on student events which encourage students to bring conversations about race onto campus. They give students the opportunity to share their experiences, concerns and ideas on how to make DMU an anti-racist university.
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