Day 1 Thursday 10 October
Greenwashing or a genuine difference? How to evaluate the environmental claims of IT suppliers
Nick Skelton, Consultant and Dr Jonathan Chenoweth, Senior Lecturer, Director of Learning and Teaching for Environment and Sustainability, University of Surrey
In the face of a global climate crisis, UK universities have set ambitious targets to reduce their carbon impact. Most of a university’s carbon impact is not from direct emissions. 70%-80% comes from the upstream supply chain and other factors outside of the institution’s direct control. To make a significant reduction we need to understand the impact of our suppliers. When procuring we need to choose services from those suppliers with the least impact. But how do we evaluate this?
Jon and Nick will explain what to look for when talking to your IT suppliers, to separate those making a genuine difference from those merely greenwashing.
Beyond the hype: embedding AI
Michael Webb, Director of AI, Jisc
What steps should we be taking to ensure we take advantage of AI in a responsible, effective, and sustainable way? In this session, we’ll explore the opportunities for AI on our campuses and consider the actions needed to meet the needs and concerns of both staff and students while making effective use of the data and tools available. We’ll approach this through the lens of Jisc’s AI Maturity Toolkit – a practical and evolving set of resources designed to help institutions maximise the opportunities AI presents.
Collaboration vs protection: finding the cyber security balance.
Ade Taylor, Head of Security Services, Roc Technology
Collaboration in universities is essential – both amongst colleagues and as part of wider networks across the world. Yet universities are also primary targets for cybercrime, and a new threat to data has emerged in the form of GenAI which – if not closely monitored – can compromise the sovereignty of your data. So how can universities evolve their smart campus networks to protect their IP without stifling research, partnerships and teamwork?
Imperial College London's Digital Campus - Towards a Great Environment
Rob Sherwood, Head of Digital Campus, ICT and Andrew Bottomley, Technology Delivery Manager, Digital Campus, Imperial College London
This session is about a digital product team's journey over the past year to begin executing a Digital Campus strategy. It will cover how a strategic vision was created, and how priorities have been set, trade-offs made and innovations delivered. The session will be interspersed with show and tell style demonstrations of how investments in next generation wifi and mobile app development have enabled a variety of innovative solutions to be developed from the ground up from 3d campus maps, AI chatbots, wifi enabled attendance monitoring and sustainability dashboards that allows us to slice scope 1-3 emissions by our buildings, departments and faculty. We will also touch on our challenges and plans around security and building management and where they exist on our roadmap.
Pioneering the Smart Campus Revolution: Harnessing IoT for Efficiency and Sustainability
Matt Hawkins, Higher Education Account Director, Switchshop,
Jon Holgate , Smart Spaces & IoT Expert, HPE Aruba Networking and Mohammed Aufogul, Head of Infrastructure, UCL
As Higher education institutions face increasing pressure to optimise resources, enhance operational efficiency, and minimise their environmental impact, the concept of the smart campus has emerged as a compelling solution. By leveraging the power of the Internet of Things (IoT) and advanced technologies, universities and colleges can transform their campuses into intelligent, sustainable, and highly efficient ecosystems.
In this fireside chat, we will explore the transformative potential of IoT in pioneering the smart campus revolution. Our expert panellists will delve into the latest trends, best practices, and real-world case use cases that demonstrate how IoT solutions can be implemented to drive efficiency and sustainability across various aspects of campus life.
Join us for this engaging fireside chat as we explore the future of smart campuses and discover how IoT is revolutionising efficiency.
Parallel Sessions - Facilitated Discussions
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Sustainability and the Smart Campus - Can we do both?
Henrik Brogger, Director of Digital Operations and Service Delivery, University of Reading and Stella Poole, Head of Core Systems Optimisation Team, University of BirminghamSustainability has been growing in the public conscience for a while, this year's wildfires and flash floods are no exception. There is growing consensus that we need action to tackle climate change and the effect this will have, and already has, on our lives, our economies and in our societies.
Defining a Smart campus we're generally talking about improving the student and staff experience, enhancing the education we offer and improving operational efficiencies - through the intelligent application of digital technologies. Employing more technology comes at a cost. For every smart service there's a price to pay for the equipment, installation, maintenance, replacement, and the extra carbon emissions.
How do we balance the requirement for more smart digital solutions with our concern for sustainability; the environment, our society (local and global), and our finances?
Join us for a facilitated discussion about the Sustainable Smart Campus.
Be prepared to question yourself and others on how we enable a Smart campus that is also a sustainable one
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What does the future look like for our data centres?
How many data centres do you need? Is co-lo sensible or not? Containerised data centres versus fancy buildings? Scale up or scale down? Sustainability?
Dr. Emma Barnes, Head of Research and Faculty IT and Richard Fuller, Assistant Director of IT Services, University of York
UCL's Integrated Workspace Management System (IWMS) story
Mohammed Aufogul, Head of Technical and Design,University College London
An Integrated Workspace Management System (IWMS) is a software platform that helps organisations to manage and optimize their physical workspace and related assets and resource. The benefited of an IWSM tool are much more future reaching and if implemented correctly can transform an organisation helping them deliver better outcomes, efficiencies and sustainability. Mohammed tells the story of the journey UCL have been on with the development of their IWMS. Detailing the strategy, the key player, the challenges , and how these have been overcome as well as the successes and what the future looks like, with a road map that includes an Occupancy interface, IoT and the development and rollout of UCL’s SMART buildings program. Detailing how an IWSM system is fundamental and at the heart for these strategical objectives.
Our Cyber Security Journey
Guilherme De Sousa, Head of Infrastructure, Heriot-Watt University
Hear about how Heriot-Watt University has developed its cyber security strategy, people and technology over the last five years. The talk will cover our move away from CE+ to the Public Sector Cyber Security Framework, the use of a Managed Security Operations Centre, establishing a cyber security team and our move to modern cyber security systems and tooling. We will also cover the challenges we've experienced with changing the cyber culture and awareness within the organisation.
Soprano: Sounding out the Environment
Simon Chapple. Head of Data Technology, University of Edinburgh
Soprano is a 3-year NERC funded project to produce a fully operational, highly effective and sustainable audio-based EdgeAI device and cloud-based platform providing automated continuous real-time remote biodiversity and related natural environment monitoring.
This talk will focus on various aspects of Soprano's sustainable implementation of EdgeAI, including physical hardware design, energy harvesting, and efficient adaptive operation. Soprano will also be deployed across University of Edinburgh sites and estate to help monitor the effectiveness of our Wild Campus initiatives and also our multi-million-pound project to restore peatland and expand forests in Scotland, which will remove carbon from the atmosphere, increase biodiversity, connect woodlands, improve recreation and scenery for local communities, and preserve cultural heritage sites.
Day 2 Friday 11 October
Breakfast Roundtable - Collaboration vs protection: cyber security in practice
Matt Franklin, Chief Strategy Officer and Ade Taylor, Head of Security Services, Roc Technologies
How can universities evolve their campus networks to protect their IP without stifling research, partnerships and teamwork? Building on Roc's keynote speech, this intimate breakfast roundtable invites IT leads from universities across the country to share their challenges and experiences as they seek to balance protection and collaboration across all a smart campus network.
Prebook your place at this session via the registration link.
Surviving then Thriving: The Human Side of a Major Cyber Incident
Mat Flower, (Interim) Deputy Director & Head of Digital Infrastructure/Information Security, University of Wolverhampton
Earlier this year the University of Wolverhampton suffered an unprecedented cyber incident, impacting all aspects of university operations, and presenting UoW Digital Services with a seemingly impossible challenge. A story of huge ups, and even bigger downs, Mat’s session will share with delegates the human side of responding to, and recovering from a major cyber incident. He will talk about some of the lessons learned, and despite it being some of the darkest days of his IT career, he has seen his department survive and ultimately thrive for having gone through the harshest of trials.
The University of Birmingham’s Smart Campus Journey: IT & Estates Collaboration
Mark Perrett, Higher Education Lead, PTS Global and Tim Packwood, IT Innovation Manager, University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham aims to deliver a Smart Campus that offers an enriched, personalised experience for students, staff, academics and visitors, and brings together its people, processes and services to become a fully connected, global campus. This session will run through the partnership between PTS and the University in helping to develop their Smart Campus Strategy, highlighting many of the challenges and lessons learnt in ushering in thinking around Smart Campus to multiple stakeholders, and ultimately driving value and returns on investment. We will then look at what’s on the horizon for the University’s Smart Campus journey, tying in with its recently published 2045 Campus Vision, and will showcase the latest best practice developed across a series of Smart Campus Roundtables held within the last year, whose purpose has been to build bridges between IT and Estates, as well as other examples from the Universities.
Leveraging Technology for Sustainability and Student Experience in Higher Education
Matt Horne, Digital Transformation Consultant, Axians UK
Ed Brooke-Taylor, Higher Education Consultant, Juniper Networks
Rob Sherwood, Head of Digital Campus, and Andrew Bottomley, Technology Delivery Manager, Digital Campus, Imperial College London
In an era of rapid technological advancement, the integration of digital infrastructure in university campuses presents both challenges and opportunities. This fireside chat will delve into the critical aspects of creating a smart campus that not only enhances security and sustainability but also significantly improves the student experience.
Drawing on insights from a leading university known for its pioneering work in sustainability, we will explore practical strategies and innovative solutions that institutions can adopt to transform their campuses into secure, sustainable, and engaging environments.
The discussion will cover energy efficiency through data-driven approaches, and the seamless integration of digital tools to enrich the student journey from enrolment to graduation.
Higher Education Storage and Backup Strategies in the New Digital Age
Mark Wade, Head of Platforms and Hosting, University of Sheffield, Samantha Jenkins, Storage & Systems Engineer, University of Nottingham, David Griffith, Head of Infrastructure, Durham University and Jack Thomasson, Account Director, Proact IT
The audience will learn more about real world concerns and trends seen in the Higher Education space around Backup, Storage, Disaster Recovery and how this is affecting budgets and Net Zero goals, these will be highlighted through a fireside chat and Q&A session with Durham, Nottingham and Sheffield Universities with Jack Thomasson from Proact hosting and moderating.
How secure is your “smart” campus?
Sarah Lawson, Chief Information Security Officer and Portfolio Lead for Campus Experience, UCL
An interactive assessment of what could possibly go wrong if no one is looking after the security of your IoT/OT around your campus. Using real examples, we will explore the art of the criminal possible with IoT and consider the risks we should be mitigating. The talk will finish with some take away examples of good practice and ideas on the practicality of implementation.
Team of teams; collaborating to create a Smart Campus
Rob Collins, Head of Smart Technology and Oliver Ramsey, Campus Data Manager, University of Bristol
A “Smart Campus” cannot be created by one team, or even one department. This session aims to explore how we can work across teams to deliver a shared goal. We’ll discuss the opportunities and challenges facing teams in Universities and the HE sector when developing such teams, and how best to work together.
