UCISA25 Leadership Conference

Emma started working in the Higher Education sector 14 years ago at Sheffield Hallam University, she moved to York St John University in 2019 to take up the role of CIO where she has responsibility for IT Operations, Technology Enhanced Learning and for the delivery of an ambitious Digital Strategy. Emma is a Trustee and current Chair of UCISA, the professional body for IT professionals working in education. In the last four years, she has supported UCISA with the development of its Strategy and has been involved in supporting its communities of practice to grow, evolve and share their valuable expertise. She has represented the UCISA membership on several high-profile pieces of representation work with key digital suppliers and she is a member of the UUK/Jisc software negotiation strategy group.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Andrew joined Amazon Web Services as Executive Lead for UK Education in January 2022 with a focus on helping leaders achieve their strategic aims through technology, innovation, and culture. He has over 15 years of digital leadership and transformation experience across the UK public sector including five years as a Pro Vice-Chancellor for the University of Staffordshire

Andrew Gill is an experienced people and technology leader and deputy director of IT & Digital Services at Teesside University. With a background in business technology consulting, manufacturing and M&A; Andrew’s motivation is the pursuit of improved student and staff experiences through innovation, technology adoption and collaboration in Higher Education.

Professor Chrisina Jayne is the Dean of the School of Computing & Digital Technologies at Teesside University (TU) and TU London. Her research is in artificial neural networks. Chrisina is a Fellow of the British Computer Society (BCS) CITP. She is deeply passionate about gender equality, social inclusion, and diversity.

Michelle has over 17 years' of experience in the EdTech industry, working with companies that impact student engagement, retention, internationalisation, employability, and skills. Now Director of Marketing for AppsAnywhere, Michelle and her passion for how technology enhances learning, provides equal access to education, and impacts student success to bring market insights to the event.

Clare Forde has 15 years’ experience in Australian Higher Education managing and supporting the design, approval and quality assurance of curriculum and related policies. After obtaining her Master of Education (Educational Technologies) she has for the last 5 years overseen the University of South Australia’s program and course management system, a product built in-house which at the time of its release in 2011 was industry leading. She is currently Senior Project Manager for the implementation of a curriculum management system for the new Adelaide University that will open its doors in January 2026.

Carol has worked with Australian/New Zealand universities facilitating the design and implementation of future-focused digital curriculum environments to improve the student experience as well as streamlining university processes. Leading the project implementing a new digitised curriculum management solution for the new Adelaide University, she has experience with a variety of digitised curriculum management solutions. Previously Director of the University of Newcastle, Australia's Centre for Teaching and Learning and Associate Vice-President Academic (Teaching and Learning) at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, Carol’s research interests include quality improvement in university curricula and constructive alignment in assessment strategies.

Tracey Jessup joined De Montfort University in the new role of Chief Transformation Officer in June 2022. She is leading, developing and managing comprehensive changes to how the university operates its business, including delivery of a critical multi-year transformation journey to align DMU’s technology, people and ways of working.

Prior to joining DMU Tracey had a twenty plus year career in central Government, most recently as Chief Digital and Information Officer of the UK Parliament.

Twitter: @traceyjessup
LinkedIn: www.linked-in.com/tracey-jessup