SSG25: Getting Better All the Time: Sharing Journeys to Excellence in IT Support

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Booking Open

Date

3 July 2025

4 July 2025

Book Before

30 May 2025

Hilton Liverpool City Centre

3 Thomas Steers Way. Liverpool, L1 8LW

About the Event

In the ever-evolving landscape of higher education IT support, excellence is not a destination but a continuous journey. The UCISA SSG25 Conference invites you to join us in Liverpool on a Magical Mystery Tour exploring the myriad ways our community is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in IT support.

This year’s theme, Getting Better All the Time, celebrates both the incremental and transformative steps that lead to excellence. From overcoming the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic to adapting to remote work and navigating sector shrinkage, our sector has shown remarkable resilience. Now, it’s time to move beyond survival and strive for the highest standards in our work.

Join us at SSG25 and give your work Day in the Life a remix! Let your peers’ insights Help! you on your Long and Winding Road to excellence. With A Little Help from UCISA, you’ll find All You Need Is Love (and great IT solutions). The path to excellence? If we Come Together, We Can Work it Out!

What to Expect
First and foremost, you can expect to have the best opportunity of the year to meet with your colleagues from across the sector, share experiences, and tackle the challenges we all face together. It's not just about learning – it's about discovering how others solve the same problems you encounter every day.

Our sessions are designed by people who do what you do, ensuring they’re directly relevant to your work. While we’re still finalising the schedule, here’s a sneak peek at the topics we’re covering:

  • Best Practices: Proven methods and strategies that can help you to achieve and maintain excellence.
  • Service Management: How you can coordinate and optimise your service delivery to ensure consistent, high-quality experiences for all.
  • Staff Development: Insights from leaders and team members who’ve been part of successful staff development initiatives.
  • End-user Computing Lifecycle Management: Exploring the shift to a managed approach in response to growing demand.
  • Looking after ourselves: Prioritising self-care and well-being has never been more challenging yet never more important, find out how other institutions do it.
  • Diversity and Inclusion: How to foster an inclusive culture that values diverse perspectives and backgrounds.
  • Educational Technology: A real-world case study on implementing an AV monitoring system that streamlined room support and improved the student experience.
  • Service Culture: Embedding a resilient, customer-focused culture while keeping teams motivated.
  • Delivering services in challenging times: Real-life stories of overcoming hurdles like legacy tech, financial pressures, and staffing shortages.

Don’t Miss The Great AI Debate

Join the conversation as we explore what AI means for the future of support, higher education, and the world. Is it the dawn of a thousand-year utopia or a path to chaos? Have your say!

After a day of thought-provoking discussions, enjoy evenings packed with fun activities themed around our fantastic host city, Liverpool. It’s the perfect chance to unwind, network, and soak in the local culture.

Book now to avoid disappointment – we can't wait to see you there!

 

 

Speakers

Henry Stewart

Founder and Chief Happiness Officer

Happy Ltd

Fola Braimoh She/Her

Associate Director of IT Operations and Support

Goldsmiths, University of London

Vickie WIlkie

Victoria Wilkie

IT Services Operational Assurance Officer

University of York

person looking at the camera

Antonia Jones She/Her

Customer Success Manager

University of Leeds

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Tilly Beech

Head of IT Partnering (Professional Services)

University of Bristol

More Info

Tilly Beech has worked in IT for over 25 years in a variety of roles, and has a particular interest in digital inclusion, and empowering women.

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Bex Cattran She/They

Associate Operations Manager

University of Leeds

More Info

Having worked in most teams across IT since 2016 Bex made the move into leadership in 2022 and has built a number of development programs for IT staff focusing on their empowerment and mindset (IT Busters and Level Up). Completing CMI level 5 coaching & mentoring qualification in 2022 pushed Bex to pursue People focused role and was appointed Associate Operations Manager 2024. Throughout their career Bex has been using coaching to help IT staff encourage confidence, bringing creative enthusiasm to any project and now wants to share their techniques with you.

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Mark Temple

Assistant Director, Service Management

University of Glasgow

More Info

Mark Temple is Assistant Director for Service Management at the University of Glasgow, having worked there in a number of areas and roles for over 30 years. Main responsibilities include Enterprise Service Management platform and adoption, IT Service Desk(s) and IT Training.

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Iain McCracken

Director of Service Delivery

London School of Economics and Political Science

Simon Bower He/Him

IT Service Desk Manager

University of York

More Info

Simon’s IT Career began in 1997 having always worked in HE. Simon started in IT Support, then Infrastructure and have since led teams as IT Support Manager and now as IT Service Desk Manager at York. Simon is passionate about supporting people from all backgrounds to succeed. In Simon’s spare time he enjoys playing the piano.

Faith Thomas She/Her

Lead IT Service Management Practitioner

University of Birmingham

More Info

Faith is Lead IT Service Management Practitioner for University of Birmingham. As an ITIL4 strategic leader and practitioner, she brings deep expertise and a strong commitment to the ITSM community through active engagement and leadership. As a neurodiverse woman in HE and tech, she advocates for diversity and inclusion.

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Casey Tolaini

Head of Service Design & Experience

University College London

More Info

Casey works with their teams to create the IT services their staff and students need to thrive at UCL and help teams to gather critical user feedback to keep improving those services.

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Jake Dovey He/Him

Incident Response Team Manager

University of Southampton

More Info

Jake has worked for the University of Southampton for over fifteen years and has been leading teams both small and large for most of that time. He has a strong track record for turning team performance around and building positive and inclusive team cultures. Jake is a popular speaker at UCISA known for his highly engaging talks that always give you practical takeaways.

Paula Kirby She/Her

Director of Service Management

University College London

More Info

21 years in IT Service Management, including 14 years at PepsiCo,  Paula have held various roles such as Service Desk Analyst, Europe Service Management Lead, and Global Product Owner (ServiceNow). Currently, Paula lead the UCL Service Management team, providing processes to support effective and sustainable services for research and learning.

Event Schedule

Wednesday

18:30

Pre-event social meet up

19:30

Informal pub grub

Thursday

09:00

Registration and Exhibition opens

09:30

Newcomer's session

Led by Antonia Jones, Customer Success Manager, University of Leeds

If this is your first UCISA conference, or your first for a while, please join us for a session describing how to make the most of the Conference.

10:00

Welcome and introductions

Jake Dovey, Incident Response Team Manager, University of Southampton
10:10

Empowering Neurodiverse Individuals Through Agile Service Management Practices

Faith Thomas, Lead IT Service Management Practitioner, University of Birmingham
10:40

Networking Extravaganza

Antonia Jones, Customer Success Manager, University of Leeds
11:20

Meet the exhibitors

11:25

Refreshment break

in the Exhibition
11:55

Primary sponsor session

12:35

Travel time

12:40

Breakout sessions 1

  • Mentoring Matters: Building Connections and Careers in IT
    Tilly Beech, Head of IT Partnering, University of Bristol
  • Knowledge on Tap: Delivering Answers When It Counts
    Adrian Moore, Head of IT Customer Support and Emma Lutkin, Service Management Specialist, University of the West of England Bristol
13:15

Lunch

in the Exhibition
14:15

Partner showcase session

14:45

Travel time

14:50

Breakout sessions 2

  • Transforming Our Web Presence and Creating a Service Catalogue
    Simon Bower, IT Service Desk Manager, Harriet Sutcliffe, Web Content Developer and Lily Day, IT Communications and Content Developer, University of York
  • Why Wait? Automate!
    TBC
15:25

Refreshments

in the Exhibition
15:55

The Great AI Debate

16:25

How to Create a Happy Workplace

Henry Stewart, Founder and Chief Happiness Officer, Happy Ltd
17:25

Close of Day 1

19:00

Pre-dinner drinks reception

19:30

Dinner

Friday

09:00

Welcome to day 2

Adrian Moore, Head of IT Customer Support, University of the West of England Bristol
09:05

Surprise, Surprise! Enhancing Customer Service and Team Culture: From Complaints to Collaboration

Antonia Jones, Customer Success Manager and Bex Cattran, Associate Operations Manager, University of Leeds.
09:35

Session TBC

10:05

Disaster Recovery Planning: Because disasters find a way

Vicky Wilkie, IT Services Operational Assurance Officer, University of York
11:05

Service Experience Management at UCL

Paula Kirby, Director Service Management and Casey Tolaini, Head of Service Design & Experience, University College London
11:35

Travel time

11:40

Breakout sessions

  • Transforming IT Support through an Innovative Audio-Visual Room Check Application
    Liam Randall, Application and Infrastructure Specialist, Leigh Fodden, IT Field Team Lead, James Pickford, IT Field Team Analyst, Costas Kapsalis, IT Field Team Analyst, Durham University
  • Accessibility for Students, Staff, Everyone
    Speakers TBC
12:10

Lunch

in the Exhibition
13:10

Partner Showcase Session

13:40

An Essential Quality for Thriving in Customer Service, Teamwork and Professional Development

Fola Braimoh, Associate Director of IT Operations & Support and Mindy Bour, Deputy Head of IT Operations & Support, Goldsmiths, University of London
14:10

Refreshments

14:40

Session TBC

15:10

Closing remarks

Jake Dovey, Incident Response Team Manager, University of Southampton
16:00

Conference Close