UCISA25 Leadership Conference

...
Booking Open

Date

18 March 2025

19 March 2025

20 March 2025

Book Before

7 February 2025

Brighton Centre

Kings Road, Brighton, BN1 2GR

About the Event

 

The illustrious city of Brighton and Hove will be the destination of our flagship event the UCISA25 Leadership Conference.

With it's majestic Regency squares and crescents, iconic Royal Pavilion and famous piers, Brighton is welcoming and diverse city with a passion for culture, creativity and sustainability as it is for its historic landmarks.

Not only is Brighton the home of the world's oldest Aquarium, dating from 1869, it can boast to having one of the oldest purpose built cinemas in the world; the Duke of of York's Picturehouse opened it's doors in 1910. Brighton also lay claim to being the place where the first ever recorded commercial cargo flight took place from Shoreham to Hove Lawns in 1911. The first casino in British history opened at the Metropole Hotel; not only was it Brighton's first casino when it debuted with great fanfare in 1962, but it was also the country's first land-based casino. Brighton hast he immense honour of being the backdrop to ABBA's Eurovision victory in 1974, where not only did the iconic Swedish supergroup win with Waterloo at the Bridgton Dome but the wonderful Dame Olivia Newton-John came fourth.

We can not wait to get there and are very much looking forward to seeing you all in Brighton!

Be sure to save the dates and bookmark this page for updates over the next few months!

Want to know why you should attend then watch this video

 

 

 

 

Speakers

decorative image

Geoff Ramm

Creator and Author

person smiling at the camera

Tricia Moscati

Head of Digital Transformation

Heriot Watt University

decorative image

Kristiane Kronsbein

Project Director

University of Sussex

person smiling at the camera

Jo Corbett

Assistant Director Student Systems and Projects

University of Sussex

person smiling at the camera

Joe Talbot

User Interface Team Leader

University of Oxford

woman with blonde hair smiling

Emma Jane Woodcock

CIO

York St John University

man wearing glasses smiling

John Butterworth

Director, Office of the CIO

King's College London

More Info

John has led King’s approach to operating models and frameworks to professionalise IT. This has been key to our transformation and journey towards service excellence. Now BTS and HERM are here, King’s no longer “build our own” but we adopt frameworks supporting collaboration and accelerated service excellence within King’s and across the HE sector.

colour head shot of a woman smiling

Deborah Green

CEO

UCISA

More Info

Deborah joined UCISA as CEO in May of 2019, bringing with her a wealth of marketing and Higher Education experience, most recently as Director of Student Recruitment at the University of Hull following five years as Chief Executive of Marketing Leeds and 5 years at Leeds Beckett University, where she was a member of the Executive Board. She is no stranger to leading member organisations, having led the Law Society’s regional team earlier in her career, supporting 14,500 solicitors in Yorkshire and the North East and introducing a wealth of new initiatives and services, resulting in her receiving the Yorkshire Enterprise Award and being recognised as Yorkshire Lawyer of the year in 2007 for her services to the profession.

person smiling at the camera

Fraser Muir

Global Director of Information Services

Heriot-Watt University

More Info

Fraser Muir is Global Director of Information Services at Heriot-Watt University and leads the provision of a converged information service provision to the University's 5 campuses. This includes library, technology support, infrastructure, network, security, research support and technology enhanced learning. Fraser also leads the University digital strategy and digital transformation initiatives.

person smiling at the camera

Emma Horrell

User Experience Manager

University of Edinburgh

More Info

Emma co-chairs the UCISA UX Group and heads up the UX Service within Learning, Teaching and Web Services at the University of Edinburgh. She’s interested in helping colleagues understand the positive impact UX can have and encouraging the holistic adoption of user-centred practices and approaches within Higher Education.

person looking at the camera

Neil McChrystal

Director of Technology Strategy

University of Glasgow

More Info

After spending almost a decade in technology consulting, continually bridging the gap between technology and business, I became a solution architect, application architect and eventually enterprise architect for organisations like ACCA, Heineken and Edrington Distillers, where I led their global architecture team. I took the leap to Higher Education at University of Glasgow in June 2022, tasked with establishing an Enterprise Architecture function. It’s a very different world to luxury spirits, but everywhere is unique, and I believe Enterprise Architecture can be incredibly powerful and effective in an HE context.

person looking at the camera

Alison Harding

Executive Head of Library and Learning Resources

University of Wales Trinity St David

More Info

As Executive Head of Library and Learning Resources at UWTSD my primary role is to provide overall leadership, development, strategic and operational management across the full range of activities relating to the provision of library services for the University. I have been at the institution since 2007, and have worked in a variety of roles during this time. I have over 30 years of experience of working the HE sector, and have particular interest in public sector organisational structures and hierarchies in the context of succession planning and leadership development.

I am a member of the WHELF (Welsh Higher Education Libraries Forum) Board, and the CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and information Professionals) Cymru Wales Committee. I am also a regular mentor for the Advance HE Aurora programme, and the Equality seat on the UCU Wales Council.

Event Schedule

Tuesday

Chair: Emma Woodcock, CIO York St John University

09:00

Exhibitor briefing

10:00

Exhibition opens

10:00

Pre-conference sessions

10:00

Registration opens

11:15

Newcomers session

If this is your first UCISA conference, or your first for awhile, please join us for an informative session to discover how to make the most of your experience at the conference and meet other first-time attendees.
11:45

Lunch

in the Exhibition
12:45

Welcome and introductions

Emma Woodcock, CIO York St John University and UCISA Chair and Deborah Green, CEO, UCISA
12:55

Opening keynote

13:40

Primary sponsor welcome

13:45

Primary sponsor session

14:30

Refreshments

in the Exhibition
15:15

Institutional showcases

15:45

Travel time

15:55

Partner showcases

16:25

Travel time

16:30

Plenary session

17:15

Close of Day 1

17:15

Networking drink reception

in the Exhibition
19:00

Drinks reception

19:30

Informal dinner

at the Corn Exchange

Wednesday

09:00

Welcome to Day 2

09:05

Plenary session

09:35

Lessons from a University Merger in Australia: Putting curriculum management first

10:15

Refreshments

in the Exhibition
11:00

Partner showcases

11:30

Travel time

11:35

Embedding an empowered values focused culture in order to support team workplace health and wellbeing

Alison Harding, Executive Head of Library and Learning Resources, University of Wales Trinity Saint David
12:15

Lunch

in the Exhibition
13:30

Technology sponsor

14:10

Plenary session

14:40

Travel time

14:45

Institutional showcases

15:15

Refreshments

in the Exhibition
16:00

Plenary session

16:30

Day 2 closing keynote

17:15

Close of Day 2

19:00

Conference dinner drinks reception

19:30

Conference dinner followed by the UCISA25 Awards Ceremony

Thursday

09:00

Welcome of Day 3

09:10

Plenary session

09:35

Plenary session

10:20

Refreshments

10:50

Plenary session

11:30

Plenary session

12:30

Plenary session

13:00

Closing session

13:40

Closing remarks

13:45

Conference close followed by lunch and networking