Partner showcases
AWS: Where will you be 3 years from now? A CIO perspective on driving meaningful change through skills and technology
Daniel Perry, CIO, Keele University
in Hall 2B
When it comes to the transformative power of technology, Keele University is a prime example. From their early days as a small university, Keele has evolved into a leading research institution with a world-renowned faculty. In recent years, transforming education, research and professional services would have impossible without a digital innovation commitment enabling them to catch up, scale up and keep pace with the latest trends and technologies.
Dan Perry, CIO at Keele University, will discuss the journey he has undertaken to meet the modern standards and expectations of the digital age. This includes tackling technical debt and legacy systems, building knowledge and skills, introducing resilience and proving that new ways of working are possible with new technology and data infrastructure at the core.
Keele's leadership recognised the need to provide better student experiences, better programs and more research. Their digital journey began with small projects like the website, but soon progressed to larger-scale transformations, like moving the university's IT infrastructure to the cloud.
Dan Perry's keynote presentation will discuss how, as CIO, he aligned IT to meet the greater needs of the university. For others facing a similar task, he will share some of the key milestones on the journey, and will highlight the importance of digital skills and shadow transformation to overall success now and in the future.
Fortinet:
Securing AWS Edge Compute within the Janet Network powered by Fortinet
Simon Farr, Jisc
in Room 11C
Headed up by the Innovation Team, Jisc now have AWS Outposts in a Janet-connected data centre. Jisc are working directly with AWS to create new multi-tenancy functionality on Outposts to allow resources to be shared between multiple higher education, further education, and research institutions across the UK. The aim of this innovation is to bring high speed, low latency, edge-compute to their education members from the very heart of the Janet network.
In an initial proof of concept project, Jisc will validate various use cases around large data set storage and manipulation, virtual desktop provision, a centralised 5G packet core, and network functions such as content filtering and SD-WAN. The first use case to be implemented, in conjunction with Fortinet, will be a FortiGate security wrapper to protect all services on Outposts. Jisc in partnership with Fortinet will present the features and benefits to the sector of this service.
Handshake: Can’t get no (student) satisfaction? The critical role of IT in the quest for positive graduate outcomes and increased NSS scores
Dr Andrew Turner, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Curriculum Development) and Susie Elliott, Lead Consultant, Coventry University and Mike Harbaugh, Director of Education Partnerships, Handshake
in Room 4
It’s a familiar story - budgets are tight and yet university staff are being asked to deliver more than ever. Least of all, the IT department, ladened with requests for new integrations, implementations from across all faculties.
It’s no wonder that IT professionals are stressed, especially when each department's requests are considered ‘the most important thing’. So, how can IT manage the expectations of the university and have a positive impact on graduate outcomes and student satisfaction?
Join Dr Andrew Turner, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Curriculum Development) and Susie Elliott, Lead Consultant, Coventry University, and Mike Harbaugh, Director of Education Partnerships at Handshake as they discuss the power of careers tech on graduate outcomes and the importance of prioritising tech implementations in line with university-wide goals that positively impact graduate outcomes.
HPE: From sustainability to modernisation; UCL and Royal Holloway share their digital transformation top tips
Zoë Faiz, Assistant Director Service Delivery, IT Service, Royal Holloway; Owain Kenway, Head of Research Computing, University College London; and Paula Lender-Swain, UK Public Sector Sales Manager, HPE
in Room 11B
Like many others, you’re looking to fast-forward your digital transformation and modernise in ways that are sustainable, data-first and hybrid by design.
In our panel conversation, hear how two universities are unlocking opportunities across their technology edge, cloud and data centres, whilst simplifying their complex IT estate.
Royal Holloway, University of London, with an array of multi-generational IT, were looking to the public cloud to simplify their ecosystem. However quickly discovered that a ‘lift and shift’ approach wouldn’t achieve their wider goals, including concerns with price volatility and mission-critical systems. Zoë will share how they’ve accelerated their digital strategy with a hybrid cloud operating model across all their workloads and data, and progressed their sustainability initiatives through slashing energy consumption and embracing a circular economy approach.University College London needed to meet the growing needed of their research community. Owain will discuss how they significantly increased their applications performance, creating a National Tier-2 facility, attracting researcher talent and funding, all whilst reducing the demand on IT resources and providing a streamlined user experience through a centralised system.
Regardless of where you are on your hybrid cloud modernisation journey, you’ll come away from this session with insights and tips that you can adopt today.
Salesforce: How the London School of Economics is implementing a data-driven, enterprise journey for staff and students
Mike Page, Head of Enterprise CRM and SRS, London School of Economics, and Political Science; and Jean Pembleton, Director, Industry Marketing, Salesforce
in Room 12
As larger macroeconomic forces shift, the ways in which students, staff, faculty, and alumni engage with institutions is evolving. Leaders are increasingly implementing data-driven approaches to engagement, security, and digital transformation—often amid resource constraints. Join LSE in a discussion around how institutions can leverage technology to drive greater efficiencies and support their students and staff at scale.
