30 April 2026 
Emma Walton-Pond, Communications Officer
On the sunny spring morning of 23 April, 40 delegates from universities across Scotland came together at the University of Edinburgh for the UHR AI Workshop: Scotland. As someone who studied at a Scottish university and now lives in Scotland, I was especially excited to be a part of the event.
The day began with a keynote address from VP Gavin McLachlan, CIO at University of Edinburgh. He spoke about the technical aspects of AI, governance and risks associated with AI, as well as the university’s own AI innovation platform, which was particularly interesting. Emma Brookes and Tom Everett did a brilliant job in picking up the key themes of AI in HR in HE and the challenges and enablers of AI adoption.
In between these presentations, delegates took part in interactive sessions that sparked some great discussions and brought to light diverse opinions and valuable insights. And of course, I must mention the delicious selection of sweet treats which kept the energy high as we moved towards the second half of the day.
By bringing people together, the event created a safe space for open discussion about the challenges institutions face when trying to adopt or scale AI. Whether those challenges are technical, cultural, ethical, or structural, hearing how others are navigating them can be incredibly helpful and reassuring. The workshop was a good reminder that none of us are alone in this race to understand and make the most out of AI.
Across institutions of all sizes, teams are grappling with similar questions: how do we use AI responsibly, meaningfully, and in ways that add value to our work? UHR’s aim with our series of AI workshops is to help teams explore these big questions together by sharing experiences and having honest conversations about what is working, what isn’t, where the barriers really lie and identifying practical solutions to these challenges.
I really enjoyed hearing about the different ways institutions are exploring creative approaches, tools and technologies to make the best use of AI. The conversations also highlighted how even small improvements to existing processes can make a big difference. While AI wasn’t always the solution to making processes better, it played a part in sparking conversations and helping people recognise where meaningful changes could be made.
We have now completed AI workshops in three regions – Bristol (South West), Edinburgh (Scotland) and Nottingham (Midlands). The workshops showed that progress with AI doesn’t have to happen in isolation. It can happen through sharing pain points, having open dialogue, and a willingness to learn from one another. The next AI workshop is taking place on 18 June in Bolton for the North West region and the ones after have been scheduled after the summer for 8 September in York for the North East region and for 15 & 16 September in London for M25 & South regions.
Garima Somani, Projects and Research Officer, UHR
