Please note: This is subject to change as we finalise the remaining details of our UHR Conference 2026.
9:00 - 9:30 | Conference Registration
Registration - register for the conference using the personalised RingCentral link sent to you in the days ahead of conference.
9:00 - 9:30 | Conference Crafting: Set Yourself Up For Success
Conferences are unique opportunities for learning, connection, and professional growth, but they can also be overwhelming. The Conference Crafting sessions are designed to help attendees maximise their experience by taking a purposeful and proactive approach to the event.
In the Kickstart session, Rob Baker and Charlotte Axon will introduce the concept of Conference Crafting, exploring how participants can set clear goals and intentions to align with their personal and professional priorities. By addressing common challenges such as information overload and conference fatigue, this session equips attendees with practical strategies to personalise their experience, make meaningful connections and stay energised throughout.
9:30 - 9:35 | Conference Welcome
Our conference host, former UHR Chair Kim Frost, will guide us through the start of what promises to be an inspiring and impactful event. Together, we’ll set the tone for three days of learning, connection and exploration, all designed to support and empower you in your vital roles. Let’s get started and kick off #UHR26!
9:35 - 10:20
Ritika Wadhwa for UHR 2025's opening keynote. Further details to be announced.
Speaker: Ritika Wadhwa | CEO & Founder, Prabhaav Global | Board Member l Trustee & Board Director l Leadership Fellow, Windsor Castle
10:20 - 10:30 | Comfort Break
10:30 - 11:15 | Workshops Block A
At a time when the HE sector is undergoing significant change, with institutions rethinking structures and priorities, the University of Kent's recent transformation of its Professional Service offers valuable insight. After a number of years of restructurings and cost savings, in 2025, it was faced again with the need for immediate and substantial cost savings. The University used this challenge as an opportunity to fundamentally re-examine how it delivers its purpose and the capabilities that support it.
This session reflects on how lean methodology was used to reimagine value creation, ensuring new structures aligned with strategic ambitions and day-to-day effectiveness. It will also share how staff and union representatives were engaged throughout, issues faced, and lessons learned.
Speakers: Rachel MacPhee | Assistant Director Strategic Change, University of Kent
Michelle Scott | Head of HR Strategic Projects, University of Kent
Over the past 2 years, Jisc has been collaborating with 24 UK universities and French university, who have been adopting and adapting Jisc’s framework and maturity model for digital transformation. Universities have been self-assessing their digital maturity across academic, professional services, and HR departments to baseline their existing practice, highlighting gaps in previous approaches, and to identify priorities for investment and development.
In this session we will draw on our collaborative work with higher education providers and hear how the Bath Spa University is supporting the digital and AI fluency of their staff as an priority identified from their maturity assessment. This workshop will enable participants to share common themes and barriers in developing digital and AI confidence and capabilities of staff. We will share with participants proven methods for supporting staff with the development of their digital and AI confidence by utilising sector co-created resources, institutional data and implementation approaches.
Speakers: Helen King | Director of Learning Innovation, Development & Skills, Bath University Spa
Sarah Knight | Director of Digital Transformation, Jisc
This workshop will introduce the Inclusive Self-Assessment Tool (ISAT) developed and piloted by Leeds Beckett University, which aims to support faculties and departments to identify and respond to their local EDI challenges and opportunities, informed by their data.
This workshop will provide delegates with a presentation and demonstration of the ISAT Tool, before allowing groups to consider how they could adapt something similar for their own institutions.
Speaker: Eleanor Broadbent | EDI Lead, Leeds Beckett University
As universities, we face pressure to balance accountability, wellbeing, and excellence in staff performance. Yet “performance management” often carries negative connotations of bureaucracy and punitive measures, rather than growth.
This session offers a practical exploration of designing and implementing a project to embed a culture of performance that fosters engagement, clarity, and collaboration across academic and professional services teams.
Speakers: Kirsty Lowe | Organisational Development Manager, University of Nottingham
Joanne Workman | Organisational Development Manager, University of Nottingham
In 2024, following a major Voluntary Exit exercise, the University of Hull undertook its most wide-ranging, high profile and complex change process in many years. With the objective of ‘right-sizing’ academic departments to face the sector challenges of economic and societal pressure, the exercise impacted on all academic staff and resulted in a combination of staff departures, departmental closures, new ways of working and lots and lots of learning for the People & Organisational Development directorate.
This session will look to share some of these lessons learned – stakeholder management, selection criteria, TU engagement, High Court challenges and more.
Speakers: Alex Brierley | Executive Director of People & Organisational Development, University of Hull
Kevin Kerrigan | Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Hull
Opening a campus overseas offers exciting opportunities for global reach and academic collaboration, but it also brings significant people-related challenges. Institutions must navigate complex workforce planning decisions, balancing local hires with expatriate staff while ensuring compliance with diverse labor laws and tax regulations. Cultural integration is critical—differences in workplace norms, communication styles, and institutional identity can impact staff engagement and retention.
This session explores best practices for global HR strategy, including early involvement in planning, partnerships with local entities, and robust induction and onboarding programs. Attendees will gain insights into creating a model that responds to these challenges and delivers a positive employee experience.
Speakers: Sarah Flynn | Head of HR Business Partnering, University of Southampton
Kate Philp | HR Business Partner, University of Southampton
11:15 - 11:45 | Break & Networking
11:45 - 12:30 | Business Sessions Block A
The University of Manchester is transforming how it listens to and engages its 12,500 colleagues — moving from periodic surveys to a continuous, insight driven approach which places colleague voice and engagement at the heart of delivering the University’s Manchester 2035 strategy. In this session, Rachael McGraw, Head of Colleague Experience, shares how Manchester partnered with People Insight to modernise its listening strategy, launch colleague engagement surveys, build a thriving community of Dashboard Users, and embed transparent results sharing and local action planning.
Delegates will hear how engagement rose to 79%, how insights are now beginning to inform strategic and operational priorities, and how leaders are being equipped to turn feedback into meaningful change. People Insight will also share sector wide trends and practical guidance on listening and responding in the HE sector, supporting leaders and creating a culture where colleagues feel they truly matter.
Speakers: Suzanna Christopher | HE Engagement Lead, People Insight
Rachael McGraw | Head of Colleague Experience, University of Manchester
Jane Tidswell | HEI Director, People Insight
Helping people navigate these career changes - particularly during times of reorganisation and redundancy - is crucial if the employer wishes to remain an employer of choice.
Speakers: Matthew Collier | Business Development Director, INTOO
Owen Morgan | Managing Director, INTOO UK & Ireland
Further details to be announced.
Speakers: Edward Andrew | Isio Group Limited
Sophie Ash | Director and Higher Education Lead, Isio Group Limited
Further details to be announced
The Gilles Report highlights the need for transparency, curiosity, and, most of all, challenge, as an antidote to the cultural malaise brought by rigidly hierarchical leadership and suppressed dissent that can erode institutional resilience. This interactive keynote invites participants to confront the uncomfortable and essential question: What does it take to speak truth to power, and to receive it?
Speaker: Sarah Hubbard | Senior Consultant, Senior Leadership and Strategic Transformation, Advance HE
12:30 - 13:15 | Lunch & Networking Carousel
Grab a sandwich, grab a coffee and join us on the Networking Carousel, where we pair attendees up for short conversations that help you identify future project partners, gain an informed second opinion on your current challenges or maybe help you think through what we've been learning so far today.
13:15 - 14:15 | Legal Sessions Block A
The HE sector is in a state of financial instability due to a number of factors and universities are experiencing a drop in student numbers. Many universities are therefore having to look at reducing staffing levels to ensure they are the size and shape needed to deliver their services whilst remaining financially viable.
This session will identify and explore a number of the common and hidden legal risks in undertaking business reorganisations. In this highly engaging session we will arm attendees with the knowledge they need to avoid common pitfalls. We will discuss what makes a good business case for change (and what to avoid) and how to balance the many competing legal and non-legal risks in delivering change. We will discuss what alternatives there may be to compulsory redundancies and will also explore how to manage industrial relations through choppy waters to ensure your organisation delivers the change it needs.
Speakers: David Browne | Partner, Shakespeare Martineau LLP
Alexandria Davis | Associate, Shakespeare Martineau LLP
The Government’s Immigration White Paper has resulted in added compliance burdens on sponsoring universities with tougher measures and increased scrutiny through Home Office inspections and enforcement action. It has never been more important to protect your Sponsor Licence and stay fully informed on how to use it effectively. The outcome of a UKVI inspection can have a direct impact on your ability to sponsor international workers so it is critical you are fully prepared. Our expert immigration lawyers will talk through what you can expect during a UKVI inspection and how to manage common compliance challenges to avoid operational, financial and reputational damage.
Speakers: Tijen Ahmet | Legal Director, Bevan Brittan LLP
Sheetal Gaur | Senior Associate, Bevan Brittan LLP
This session will provide practical guidance on how to manage conflicting protected beliefs in the workplace and address issues including:
As well as examining how the law has developed to date and what may be in store for the future, case study examples will be used to illustrate how to deal with what can be very difficult and sensitive issues.
Speakers: Jane Byford | Partner & Head of Higher Education, VWV
Bob Fahy | Partner, VWV
Michael Halsey | Partner, VWV
Katie Hurst | Senior Associate, VWV
Join us for our last session of the day, an engaging panel session hosted by Kim Frost, where an expert group of panellists from within and beyond HE and HR will discuss how HE can be more productive, in and through its people. They will share their experience and challenge our thinking, including an expert on people, productivity, technology and transformation from Deloitte.
Speakers:
Andy Dodman | Assistant CE - People, Digital and Change, Leeds City Council (former UHR NE Chair and CPO at Sheffield)
Valerie Todd CBE | Non-Executive Director, Trustee & Committee Chair, Coach
More speakers to be announced
15:30 - 16:00 | UHR Awards for Excellence in HR
Join us for this year's UHR Awards ceremony where we'll learn the winners for 2026, including our Team of the Year and the winner of our HR Star Award - for an individual who really makes a difference. As always there is much to learn from prize-winning projects and teams for the whole UHR community, so do join us to recognise the best in the field this year, and to wrap up day two of the conference.
9:35 - 10:05
Further details to be announced
Speaker: Malcolm Press CBE | Vice-Chancellor at Manchester Metropolitan University and President of Universities UK
10:05 - 11:05 | Legal Sessions Block B
Generative AI is transforming the workplace, including in HE. For HR teams, this shift brings exciting opportunities but also complex legal risks and practical challenges.
In this interactive session, we’ll unpack:
Join us to gain the insights and guidance you need to navigate AI risks confidently and compliantly.
Speakers: Nicola Bennison | Partner, Eversheds Sutherland
Robert Gray | Partner, Eversheds Sutherland
Chris Mordue | Partner, Eversheds Sutherland
This session will be interactive and look beyond the headlines into what the new Employment Rights Act 2025 really means for universities. We recognise that the journey of the Bill to becoming an Act has been accompanied by extensive debate, shifting proposals, and widespread media coverage leaving many HR professionals feeling overwhelmed and confused about what the final changes actually mean in practice. This session will unpack the main reforms, including the qualifying period for unfair dismissal, enhanced protections for flexible and atypical workers, and changes in trade union rights. We will discuss how these changes will affect university HR practices, contracts, and policies, and provide practical steps to enable HR teams to support their universities to prepare for implementation.
Speakers: Natasha Hall | Principal Associate, Mills & Reeve LLP
Sian Jackson | Partner, Mills & Reeve LLP
Alex Russell | Partner, Mills & Reeve LLP
With five generations now working side by side in Higher Education, managing age diversity is both a challenge and an opportunity. This workshop explores the dynamics of a multi-generational workforce, from Baby Boomers to Gen Z, and the impact of differing values, communication styles, and expectations. We will examine common stereotypes, legal risks around age discrimination, and practical steps to foster collaboration and inclusion. Drawing on recent research, we’ll highlight how intergenerationally inclusive practices can boost productivity, reduce conflict, and improve retention. Through interactive polls and discussion, participants will gain actionable strategies to challenge bias, manage wellbeing concerns, and create a culture where every generation feels valued.
Speakers: Trish Embley | Head of Client Training Employment, Pinsent Masons LLP
Laura Starrett | Senior Consultant, Pinsent Masons LLP
On 14.11.25, the Court of Appeal confirmed that it was bound by existing caselaw in relation to individual liability for staff who are decision-makers in internal disciplinary procedures. We examine the ways in which individual liability can arise in the employment law context for decisions made on behalf of the employer, ways to mitigate and manage risk and dealing with the increasing trend to make interim relief applications when the final ET hearings are increasingly delayed by a case congestion.
Speakers: Kate Gallagher | Partner and Head of Higher Education, Browne Jacobson
Nadia Motraghi | Barrister, Browne Jacobson
11:05 - 11:30 | Break & Networking
11:30 - 12:15 | Business Sessions Block B
Whenever a formal grievance is received we often reflect “Why has it got this far? Surely it could have been dealt with by the manager”. In this session B3sixty brings together two experts in the field of informal resolution to consider what it takes for managers to undertake this task - the challenges to overcome, the skills required and how HR can help. In conversation with Clive Bane, Director at B3sixty, Kate Nowicki, former ACAS Director of Dispute Resolution and Professor Bob Thomson, formerly of Warwick University and published author on Coaching and Management, get to grips with this issue with plenty of time to listen to your observations and answer your questions.
Speakers: Clive Bane | Director, b3sixty
Kate Nowicki | Consultant and Non-Executive Director, b3sixty
Bob Thomson | Director, b3sixty
This interactive session will guide participants through 10 diagnostic questions to understand challenges and stall points in their current change initiatives. This flexible framework can be applied to any change programme, large or small, on campus. Each question will be illustrated with real-world examples and case studies from a variety of institutions. Participants will leave with practical tools and specific next steps to get their projects back on track and people on board.
Speaker: Helen Sdvizhkov, Director, Huron
A discussion around recruiting international talent into leadership and academic posts in the UK and to overseas campuses. This will include examples of work undertaken in India the Gulf States, South East Asia and North America.
Speaker: Mark Holleran | Managing Director, TalentEdu
We will share ECC’s experience of developing an AI function within ECC Online, our job evaluation platform. Rather than focusing on technical detail, we will explore how we approached defining the right problem, setting a clear scope, and introducing AI in a way that supports human judgement. The session will outline the journey from concept to testing and rollout, highlighting the challenges and decisions that shaped our approach. While the example relates to job evaluation, the insights inform the application of AI across a wide range of HR functions.
Speakers: Suzanne Daley | Member Engagement and Reward Consultant, ECC
Nicholas Johnston | Chief Executive, ECC
In an era of budget cuts, restructures, resource pressure and change fatigue, engagement has become a strategic imperative for Higher Education HR and reward teams. Yet many employees, from academics to professional services feel more committed to their work than to their institution, leaving universities vulnerable to disengagement and attrition. Based on Reward Gateway | Edenred’s latest research and practical experience working with 35 UK universities, this session explores what employees want and how HR leaders can rebuild connection through recognition, reward and wellbeing strategies that deliver measurable impact. Presenting alongside David Eaton, Reward Specialist at the University of Manchester, we’ll show how simple, evidence-based interventions can increase morale, build academic/non-academic relationships, strengthen belonging and improve institutional outcomes, even in financially constrained environments. Participants will walk away with ideas, benchmarks and examples they can apply to boost engagement, wellbeing and resilience with segmented benefits and communications across their workforce.
Speakers: David Eaton | Reward Specialist, Reward Gateway Edenred
Colin Hodgson | Director, Public Sector, Reward Gateway Edenred
UK Higher Education faces a paradox: while human-centred leadership is widely discussed, staff experience reveals cultures focused on control, metrics and efficiency over connection and trust. Recent sector data shows leaders value community and inclusion, yet staff report low inclusivity (13%) and wellbeing (5%). Our polls found transparency (44%) and consistency (60%) most challenging to maintain.
This interactive workshop explores why this values dissonance exists and offers a practical alternative. We'll examine how leaders can shift from directing every activity to creating space where creative energy flourishes. Participants will work through real scenarios, mapping what to protect (purpose, values, systems) versus what to devolve (agency, decisions). You'll leave with actionable experiments to implement in your teams within 90 days, grounded in evidence from psychological safety research and sector insights.
Speaker: Caroline Dunne | Leadership Coach and Change Mentor, Caroline Dunne Consulting Ltd
Further details to be announced
Speaker: Sophie Ash | Director & Higher Education Lead, Isio Group Limited
Industrial relations can make or break organisational stability, especially in the university sector where recognised trade unions play a pivotal role. This session explores practical strategies for managing challenging union relationships while maintaining trust and transparency. We’ll discuss how to identify which issues are worth negotiating and which battles to avoid, ensuring HR leaders focus energy where it matters most. Through real-world examples and proven approaches, we’ll cover techniques for de-escalating conflict, fostering constructive dialogue, and aligning union engagement with institutional priorities. Whether you’re facing strained negotiations or want to strengthen proactive partnership, this discussion will equip you with insights to navigate complexity confidently and protect organisational resilience.
Speakers: David Browne | Partner, Shakespeare Martineau LLP
Paul Greatrix | Director of Higher Education Consultancy, Shakespeare Martineau LLP
Tom Long, | Partner, Shakespeare Martineau LLP
Line managers are facing increasing pressures, including people challenges, wellbeing concerns, performance demands and constant change. They also often have limited time, training or authority. This “squeezed middle” role can be the difference between teams staying engaged or becoming overwhelmed, yet support for these managers is often inconsistent or unclear. Research shows that managers have a major influence on how people experience work, including how engaged and supported they feel, which makes this group critical to organisational health. This session is a shared conversation focused on what genuinely helps managers lead well in complex and demanding environments. Together we will explore what is working, what is not, and what practical approaches feel realistic in higher education. Delegates will be invited to share experiences, challenges and solutions, and to learn from peers facing similar issues. The aim is to leave with helpful ideas, simple actions and confidence-building practices that can be applied back in the workplace.
Speaker: Carley Brown | Organisational Psychologist, Strengthify
To equip HR leaders and university administrators with strategies and resilience focuses approaches to effectively manage catastrophic events, such as climate-induced disasters, pandemics, cyberattacks, security breaches, or large-scale incidents. This is with an eye to safeguarding employee well-being, maintaining compliance, and ensuring operational continuity whilst dealing with the public gaze and news reporter intrusion.
Speaker: Susan Matthews, Partner, Weightmans LLP
Pension schemes have traditionally been one of the most influential elements of the employment offer within UK higher education, but how strong is that influence today? This session takes a focused look at the Teachers’ Pension Scheme, the Universities Superannuation Scheme, and other arrangements relevant to the sector, examining how ongoing reforms and shifting workforce expectations are reshaping their role. Designed specifically for HR teams supporting universities, the session will clarify recent scheme changes, their practical implications for staff, and how pension provision now fits within wider reward and retention strategies. We will explore the differing challenges faced by employees at various career stages, including those navigating breaks in service due to health or parental responsibilities. By highlighting current trends and emerging pressures, we will consider whether pensions still carry the weight they once did, and what this means for effective workforce planning across UK higher education.
Speaker: Fred Patten | Specialist Financial Advisor, Wesleyan Financial Services
In today’s rapidly evolving and challenging higher education sector, digital skills are no longer optional—they are essential for institutional resilience and workforce agility. This interactive panel brings together sector HR colleagues from a variety of different HE institutions to explore why digital capabilities matter more than ever for a workforce navigating ongoing change, from technological disruption to shifting staff and student expectations. Panelists will share practical strategies using the Jisc Discovery Tool and Framework for embedding digital skills into recruitment, professional development, and organisational culture, drawing on real-world examples and sector research. Attendees will gain insights into closing the digital skills gap, supporting staff through transformation, and leveraging digital tools for better decision-making and engagement. The session will include an open Q&A, inviting participants to share challenges, ensuring a lively, collaborative discussion tailored to the realities of HR in higher education today.
Speaker: Becki Vickerstaff | Higher Education Senior Consultant, Jisc
13:30 - 14:15 | Lunch & Networking Carousel
Grab a sandwich, grab a coffee, and join us on the Networking Carousel, where we pair delegates up for short conversations that help you identify future project partners, gain an informed second opinion on your current challenges, or maybe help you think through what we've been learning so far today.
14:15 - 15:00 | Workshops Block B
The past year has brought significant change and uncertainty to higher education and higher education leaders. We face budget cuts, layoffs, and leadership shifts, all while supporting employees who are overwhelmed and concerned about the future. Our challenge is to create an environment where employees and institutions can work through the uncertainty, thrive and grow. During this presentation, we will discuss specific actions you can take to adapt to change and create and sustain a resilient, psychologically safe environment for yourself and your team.
Speaker: Dr. Joshua Mackey, Vice President for Human Resources and Chief Human Resources Officer, Indiana University
This talk will delve into our journey through the design and launch of an automated Redeployment Register to improve user experience, reduce the administrative burden, and enhance reporting capabilities. Our redeployment process supports colleagues at risk of redundancy or where health or disability requires a change. While we use Oracle Cloud for recruitment, our legacy redeployment processes were managed outside this core system. The resulting automation has been a major success for HR, resolving many of the criticisms that had long challenged the Register. For example, the new automated register saw CV requests triple compared to the same quarter last year, significantly increasing redeployment opportunities for colleagues.
The session explores the practicalities and strategic decisions that guided this transformation, utilising the Microsoft Power Platform. We will include a discussion on participants' own experiences with automation. Whether starting automation or refining existing activities, the guidance and inspiration provided will prove invaluable.
Speakers: Michael Chadband | Assistant HR Partner - HR Systems, University of Edinburgh
Tom Everett | HR Helpline & HR Systems Partner, University of Edinburgh
In this session we will share the process we undertook at the University of Sussex to research, consult, develop and launch a new Disability Leave Procedure and our reflections and learning from this. Areas covered:
Speakers: Sarah Jane Cox | Head of Employee Relations and Policy, University of Sussex
Isobel Pearce | Assistant Director: Culture, Equality and Inclusion, University of Sussex
Colin Shipp | Executive Director HR, University of Sussex
This session is aimed at anyone who needs to work with data in their role, but doesn't know where to begin. It introduces the core principles of working with data in an interactive and light-hearted way, to start to build confidence towards being data drive. It is a perfect pre-curser to the UHR programme - Building Confident Data Partners.
Speakers: Sophie Crouchman | Strategic Projects & Research, UHR
Laura Jackson | Principal Consultant, Strive Higher
How can lived experience become a driver of organisational learning and culture change?
Learning Together, a session inspired by the University of Oxford’s Motherhood at Work initiative, explores how peer-learning circles can turn personal experience into organisational insight.
Participants will experience elements of this approach first-hand and reflect on how similar models could strengthen engagement, wellbeing and leadership across higher education. Drawing on lessons from Motherhood at Work -which explores links between care, leadership and belonging - the session offers a replicable, human-centred model for translating employee voice into organisational learning, enhancing leadership capability and supporting positive employee experience.
Speaker: Elisha Ward | EDI Officer and Project Manager, University of Oxford
In times of institutional change, HR professionals are at the heart of workforce planning, consultation, and internal communications and engagement. But what happens when students - a core stakeholder group - are left out of the loop or not engaged in change planning?
This session explores the reputational and relational risks of excluding students from communications and engagement during restructures, course closures, and other change programmes. Drawing on sector experience and recent case studies, Emma Smith and Ben Rogers will share how delayed or opaque messaging can fuel anxiety, erode trust, and undermine staff morale - especially when students turn to staff for answers they aren’t equipped to give.
They will offer practical strategies to embed student-focused messaging and engagement into change programmes and provide an overview of the Academic Registrars Council’s Compassionate Communication principles, with advice on how to embed them successfully.
Speakers: Ben Rogers | Higher Education Consultant, AHEP and BRiCS
Emma Smith | Strategic Communications Consultant, Emma Smith Communications and AHEP Lead Consultant
‘It’s not the events that happen to us that define our happiness and success, but how we interpret them.’
In this session we look at how our brains work to determine how we see life. The opportunity we have to choose how we think. And the impact that has on how we feel and behave.
We explore why an optimistic mindset could make such a game changing difference right now and even more crucially, how to do it.
Optimism teaches us to accept ‘it is what it is’, and stop worrying about the things we can’t control. We can then shift our thinking, to focus on what we want, rather than dwelling on the problem.
You can expect the keynote to be fun, highly interactive and seriously practical.
Speaker: Stuart Baldwin | Founder, Live BIG
9:30 - 10:15 | Workshops Block C
This session introduces an innovative Equality Analysis Framework (EAF), developed through sector-wide research and co-production which was funded by the Advance HE Collaborative Development Fund (CDF). The EAF provides a proportionate and practical approach to embedding Equality Impact Assessments (EqIAs) across university policies and processes.
Delivered as a live demo and discussion, participants will see how the EAF can be applied in real-world HR and organisational contexts, including recruitment, policy change and cultural initiatives. Using interactive polls and scenario-based reflection, delegates will explore key principles such as proportionality, co-production, and intersectionality.
The session will offer HR professionals pragmatic insights into revitalising equality analysis in large, complex institutions, ensuring it is meaningful, inclusive, and integral to decision-making.
Speakers: Melanie Crofts | Head of EDI, University of Hertfordshire
Chantal Davies | Professor of Law, Equality and Diversity, University of Chester
At BNU attraction and retention was challenging. We weren’t getting the right candidates, we didn’t have a workforce that reflected our student body (and are still working on this). We knew we needed to change. We went back to the start and considered how hiring processes have been tweaked, but have largely remained unchanged for decades. We started with a simple change – all candidates receive questions in advance. The impact is evidenced in our workforce diversity and quality of hires.
The most common assessment method remains the formal interview, often peppered with quirky questions or tasks. We considered how we can support candidates to give their best but how do we attract and then assess talented senior leaders. We dispensed with the formal panel interview and asked candidates to design their own job description. We have been featured as a UCEA case study and the CIPD have highlighted our work.
Speaker: Rachael Cornwall | Chief People Officer, Buckinghamshire New University
The University of Hull recently became the first UK Higher Education Institution to implement Workday as a modern ERP solution. Replacing legacy systems in Finance, HR, Payroll and Procurement, Workday has also seen the University’s People & Organisational Development undergo a seismic change in ways of working. In this session, Sarah Wilson (Chief Operating Officer) and Dana Field (ERP Implementation Lead) will share experiences and insights into the implementation of Workday as well as some of the huge advantages and major challenges faced along the way as part of the University’s wider digital transformation.
Speakers: Dana Field | Associate Director - People Services & ERP Implementation, University of Hull
Sarah Wilson | Chief Operating Officer, University of Hull
Discover the transformative success of Lead@ULaw, an eight-month internal leadership programme that is reshaping how our academic and business professional leaders grow, collaborate and influence. Centred on a clear competency framework, delegates track their progress from start to finish—creating a personalised, measurable development journey.
This workshop explores the programme’s impressive outcomes: strengthened core leadership skills, enhanced wellbeing and resilience, increased collaboration, stronger workplace relationships, and a reduction in organisational silos. Delegates also report shifts in mindset, greater confidence, and a deeper sense of engagement—benefits that extend well beyond the individual to positively impact the teams they lead.
You’ll gain insight into the blended design that drives this success—mixing workshops, self-led learning, action learning sets, skills practice and organisational development activity—to ensure meaningful and sustained behaviour change. Join us to uncover what makes Lead@ULaw so effective and how its principles can inspire powerful leadership development within any organisation.
Speaker: Kate Bowden | Head of Organisational Development, The University of Law
Discover how Ulster University’s award-winning Work Well Programme is transforming workplace wellbeing through evidence-based, collaborative action. This interactive session will showcase how diagnostic tools and facilitated dialogue empower local schools and departments within this large multi-campus university to co-create sustainable solutions to reduce stress and improve the team wellbeing culture.
Learn how the programme integrates sector best practice, builds trust, and drives cultural change beyond tick-box compliance. Delegates will gain practical insights into implementing similar approaches within their own institutions, ensuring wellbeing becomes a lived reality rather than an aspiration.
The session will also cover how this Primary Preventative Intervention fits with wider prevention work, and helps to inform important secondary support interventions as well as tertiary interventions – all with the aim of developing a culture of wellbeing at Ulster University that enables colleagues to thrive.
Speakers: Tailte Breffni | Employee Wellbeing Section Lead, Ulster University
Claire Kelly | Employee Wellbeing Partner, Ulster University
This workshop explores the findings of a sector-wide investigation into how UK universities support research-active staff returning from maternity leave. Drawing on Freedom of Information data from 130 institutions, the session reveals significant disparities in provision— ranging from protected time and funding to no support at all—and challenges assumptions about research intensity and institutional responsibility.
Participants will engage with the ‘Matrix of Support’ framework and a collated best practice model, designed to help HR professionals critically assess and enhance their own institutional policies. The workshop invites reflection on both cost-neutral and strategic interventions, emphasising the role of institutional awareness and leadership in fostering equitable research environments.
Speakers: Elizabeth Faulkner | Lecturer in Law, Keele University
Cathal Rogers | Research Culture and Assessment Manager, University of Manchester
10:15 - 10:45 | Break & Networking
10:45 - 11:30 | Business Sessions Block C
University HR teams face unique challenges, managing diverse employee groups, seasonal hiring cycles, and strict compliance requirements. This session explores how SAP SuccessFactors Enterprise Service Management (ESM) can streamline HR service delivery, improve faculty and staff experience, and enhance operational efficiency. Learn how integrated case management, self-service portals, and automated workflows can help your institution modernize HR processes and deliver faster, more consistent support. Real-world use cases and best practices tailored for higher education will be shared.
Speaker: Kirsty Adamson | Senior Account Executive, NTT DATA Business Solutions
Periods of organisational disruption - such as restructures, conflict, complaints or cultural breakdown - can leave teams exhausted, disconnected and unsure how to move forward. Standard responses often focus on analysing what went wrong, but this rarely rebuilds engagement, energy or performance. Teams need a way to reconnect with purpose and confidence so they can move forward together. This session shares a practical, strengths-based and restorative approach for re-energising teams after difficult events. Drawing on real examples from higher education and insights from behavioural science, we will explore simple steps HR can take to support recovery, rebuild trust and regain momentum. We will share a clear framework, conversation prompts, and small actions that create early wins without minimising what has happened. Delegates will leave with practical language and tools to support healing, hope and high performance, even in complex, sensitive or uncertain contexts.
Speaker: Carley Brown, Organisational Psychologist, Strengthify
The Challenge
Universities are facing unprecedented financial pressures. Redundancies are rising, yet critical specialist roles remain unfilled because institutions can’t compete on salary. This creates a paradox: talented, committed people are leaving the sector while gaps in essential skills widen.
The Opportunity
Instead of losing valuable institutional knowledge, we can transform the workforce. Many of those at risk of redundancy have deep sector understanding, strong networks, and a passion for higher education. They simply lack the future-facing skills needed for emerging roles.
The Solution
• Re-skill: Equip existing staff with the capabilities required for critical roles—digital transformation, data analytics, student experience, compliance, and more.
• Retain: Keep committed professionals in the sector, preserving culture and reducing disruption.
• Reinvent: Build a workforce that is agile, future-ready, and cost-effective.
Speakers: Erinna Dixie | Client Engagement Director, HAYS
Sallyann Fothergill | Solutions Director – Public Services, HAYS
Deborah Green | CEO, UCISA
Matthew Lewis | UK Public Services Director, HAYS
Pensions remain one of the strongest differentiators within UK higher education. Despite ongoing financial pressures, schemes such as USS and TPS continue to form a significant part of the total reward package. This session explores how HR teams can leverage improved pension awareness to strengthen their employer value proposition, compete more effectively against private-sector roles offering higher salaries, and clearly communicate long-term value to both prospective and current staff. We will examine how better understanding of pension benefits can support recruitment in hard-to-fill areas and enhance retention by reducing misconceptions that contribute to staff turnover. With a strong emphasis on equity, diversity and inclusion, the session will highlight how career breaks, part-time work and caring responsibilities influence pension outcomes, and how HR can tailor communications to different staff groups. Ultimately, the session reframes pensions as a strategic tool for workforce planning across UK universities and helps HR reposition pensions as part of a modern reward strategy.
Speaker: Fred Patten | Specialist Financial Advisor, Wesleyan Financial Services
UK universities are operating in a period of profound change, with their missions, operating models and leadership expectations evolving rapidly. Financial constraint, portfolio rationalisation, digital transformation, and increased regulatory and reputational risk are reshaping institutions — and, with them, the leadership capability required to succeed.
This session explores how senior recruitment in higher education must evolve as universities transition into new operating realities. Drawing on current market insight, we will examine why many legacy role profiles no longer reflect the demands of contemporary leadership; where misalignment persists between academic excellence and leadership capability; and why traditional approaches to selection are increasingly ineffective.
We will identify 3–4 critical pressures likely to shape universities over the next two years and discuss the leadership behaviours, skills and experiences now needed to navigate them. The session will also consider how assessment methods and recruitment strategies must adapt — from how potential is evaluated, to how panels test for adaptability, resilience and strategic leadership.
The session positions senior recruitment as part of a broader, end-to-end talent and leadership strategy, spanning permanent and interim appointments, assessment and development, in a challenging and highly competitive market.
Speakers: Stephen Hoban | Director of Public, Veredus
Nataliya Starik-Bludova | Co-Head of Executive Search and Practice Lead, Education, Veredus Executive Limited
11:30 - 12:00 | Break & Networking
12:00 - 13:00 | Legal Sessions Block C
AI is no longer a future concept – it is transforming HR today. Employees use it to strengthen grievances or bolster Employment Tribunal claims. Trade unions rely on it to support members, target recruits and develop negotiation strategies. HR teams leverage it to streamline recruitment, transcribe meetings, or summarise complaints. For higher education-sector HR, understanding AI’s impact—and its legal risks—is essential to safeguarding organisational integrity and team wellbeing. We will examine how AI is reshaping HR through our experience advising higher education-sector clients. We will explore the growing complexity of grievance and disciplinary processes driven by employee access to AI tools, alongside the empowerment of trade unions harnessing AI, and the impact this is having on HR teams. Finally, we will address the legal and ethical challenges of employer reliance on AI without adequate human oversight and share practical strategies for integrating AI responsibly ensuring fairness and compliance.
Speakers: Kate Dodsworth, Partner, Shoosmiths
Jonathan Naylor | Partner, Shoosmiths
Jo Tunnicliffe | Senior Associate, Shoosmiths
With news headlines about millions of people off work due to ill health, and increasing numbers of adults seeking support for neurodivergent conditions such as autism and ADHD, it is perhaps no surprise that we have observed an uptick in Employment Tribunal litigation involving disability discrimination and also in HR employee relations case work with neurodivergence as a key factor. In this session, we will equip HR professionals to support managers to mitigate risks in this area. We will cover the importance of managers understanding the impact of their words and actions – particularly towards neurodivergent employees – in fostering an inclusive workplace and preventing discrimination and harassment. We will also provide practical advice on considering reasonable adjustments, including balancing the demands of other team members and the wider university.
Speaker: Kathleen Heycock | Partner, Farrer & Co
Given an increasingly difficult context in all respects for HEIs, we will consider challenges faced by HR professionals in balancing the interests and needs of your institution, your diverse staff and students, the wider community and your legal obligations. In this interactive session we will highlight recent and future legal developments which should impact on good decision making. Critically, is the line of least resistance the right one to take? Should you listen to the loudest voices? Challenges we will consider will include:
Speaker: Melanie Steed, Lead Employer Lawyer – Higher Education , Weightmans LLP
Further details to be announced
Speaker: Parveen Yaqoob OBE | Deputy Vice Chancellor at University of Reading
14:20 - 14:45 | Break & Networking
14:45 - 15:50 | Plenary 6 Introduction
14:50 - 15:50
Driven to Inspire is a powerful and uplifting keynote will take the audience on an extraordinary journey of resilience, belief, and determination.
Born with Cerebral Palsy and told by doctors he may never walk, Nicolas defied expectations to carve out his own place in elite motorsport, making history as the first and only disabled athlete to compete in the British Touring Car Championship. In this session, Nicolas shares the highs, the setbacks, and the unseen challenges behind that achievement, offering an honest insight into what it truly takes to overcome adversity.
Delivered in his down-to-earth, relatable style, this keynote is as inspiring as it is real, leaving audiences motivated to rethink limitations, embrace difference, and pursue their goals with renewed confidence and purpose.
Speaker: Nicolas Hamilton | Athlete | British Racing Driver | Motivational Speaker
15:50 - 16:00 | Conference Close
Join our conference host, former UHR Chair Kim Frost as we bring #UHR26 to a close and reflect on the past few days.
16:00 - 16:30 | Conference Crafting: Reflect, Recharge, and Realign
Conferences are unique opportunities for learning, connection, and professional growth, but they can also be overwhelming. The Conference Crafting sessions are designed to help attendees maximise their experience by taking a purposeful and proactive approach to the event.
The Crafting Close session provides a structured opportunity to reflect on achievements, insights, and key takeaways from the conference. Participants will learn techniques to consolidate their learning, nurture new connections, and apply their insights in ways that enhance their long-term growth and well-being. Together, these sessions ensure attendees leave the conference not just inspired but equipped to turn their experience into tangible outcomes.
