Wonkhe presents

The Secret Life of Students 2022

Name: The Secret Life of Students 2022
Start: 2022-02-15UTC12:00:00
End: 2022-02-15 17:00:00
Location: Business Design Centre

Doing diversity differently

This event is more than 3 years old

15 February 2022, London

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Business Design Centre

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The Secret Life of Students is the essential event for anyone working on policy and delivery for students in higher education.

Now in its third year, the Secret Life of Students is all about how we rethink the student experience – bringing together experts, sector leaders and professionals, as well as student leaders and students’ union managers, to tackle difficult challenges and work together to transform higher education to better meet the needs of the next generation of students.

This year we’re doing diversity differently, rethinking the outdated model of designing learning environments based on an imagined “normal” student and then applying sticking plaster interventions based on diverse student characteristics. A new approach is needed to stay in step with how students think about diversity, experience higher education in diverse ways, and what a genuinely diverse student body might need from professionals, and each other to feel that they belong in higher education.

We’ll reflect on the findings of the UPP Foundation’s Student Futures Commission on tackling the challenges for students post-Covid, and we’ll consider developments in regulatory regimes for access, diversity and equality. We’ll think through how engaging with students’ lived experience can transform strategy, policy and delivery, and we’ll consider what students are experiencing and saying about harassment and discrimination, and the boundaries between security and freedom. We’ll have a wealth of new insight to share from our own research with students and higher education professionals and leaders.

View the full programme

Default title

Wonkhe presents

The Secret Life of Students 2022

Doing diversity differently

This event is more than 3 years old

15 February 2022, London

Book tickets

Business Design Centre

Get Directions

The Secret Life of Students is the essential event for anyone working on policy and delivery for students in higher education.

View the full programme

Default title

Tickets

Want to bring your whole team to this event? Contact us for group discount information.

The event will take place in person at the Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, Islington, London N1 0QH.

On Monday 14 February we are hosting Making sense of higher education – click here for more information. If you’d like to attend both events, claim a discount by using this combined registration form.

If the registration form does load correctly, please use this alternative version.

For details of our various subscriptions, find out more here.

For any problems or questions about tickets, please email events@wonkhe.com.

Speakers

Nicola Dandridge

Chief executive, Office for Students

Nicola Dandridge is responsible for delivering the OfS strategy set by the board, and ensuring that the OfS operates efficiently and effectively. She is an executive member of the OfS board.
Hillary Gyebi-Ababio

Vice President (HE), NUS

Hillary Gyebi-Ababio is Vice President (Higher Education) at NUS.
Mary Curnock Cook

Chair, UPP Foundation Student Futures Commission

Mary Curnock Cook CBE is an independent education expert serving in a non-executive capacity on a number of Boards. From 2010-2017, Mary was Chief Executive of UCAS. Earlier in her career she held executive and non-executive positions in the education, hospitality, food and biotech sectors. Mary Chairs the governing body of the Dyson Institute, and … Continued
$Bobby Duffy is Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Policy Institute, King\'s College London. He has worked across most public policy areas in his career of nearly 30 years in policy research and evaluation, including being seconded to the Prime Minister\'s Strategy Unit. Bobby also sits on several advisory boards including Chairing the Campaign for Social Science and the CLOSER Advisory Board, is a member of the Executive of the Academy of Social Sciences, and is a trustee of British Future and the Centre for Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education. His first book, The Perils of Perception – Why we’re wrong about nearly everything (https://perils.ipsos.com), was published by Atlantic books in several countries, drawing on a set of global studies on how people misperceive key social realities. His latest book is Generations - Does when you’re born shape who you are? (https://generations-book.org)$

Bobby Duffy

Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Policy Institute, King's College London

Bobby Duffy is Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Policy Institute, King’s College London. He has worked across most public policy areas in his career of nearly 30 years in policy research and evaluation, including being seconded to the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit. Bobby also sits on several advisory boards including Chairing the … Continued
Omar Khan

Director, Centre for Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in HE (TASO)

Omar Khan is Director of the Centre for Transforming Access and Students Outcomes in Higher Education (TASO). Omar joined TASO from race equality think tank the Runnymede Trust, where he had been Director since 2014. Prior to this, Omar was Head of Policy at the Runnymede Trust and led its financial inclusion programme. Omar holds … Continued
$Michelle is a HE student transition and experience specialist and practitioner. She develops initiatives based on pragmatic and practical research to improve the experience of students and staff. The impact of her work is to enable students to succeed to the best of their ability in a high quality HE environment that challenges and supports them. She is recognised both nationally and internationally and has 29 years\' experience in Higher Education at a time of rapid change (8 years at University level, 21 years at Faculty level).$

Michelle Morgan

Student experience transitions specialist & Dean of Students, University of East London

Michelle is a HE student transition and experience specialist and practitioner. She develops initiatives based on pragmatic and practical research to improve the experience of students and staff. The impact of her work is to enable students to succeed to the best of their ability in a high quality HE environment that challenges and supports … Continued
$Jill is the Dean of Equality Diversity & Inclusion at the University of Stirling, and a member of the Senior Management Team. She is responsible for leading the creation of a culture where the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion permeate the structures, decisions and environment of the University. Jill is also the Director of Student Services. Her role is to provide leadership, direction and support to the Student Services team, and to oversee the effective and impactful delivery of all student support services with a view to maximising the student experience, retention, academic outcomes and graduate prospects. Jill has worked in the HE sector for 13 years, with additional significant periods working in Scottish sport, and has a background and experience in policy, strategy, equality & inclusion, governance and sport. Prior to taking up the role of Director of Student Services, Jill worked for a year (2013-2014) as the Accessibility & Inclusion Manager for Glasgow 2014, where she provided strategic leadership for accessibility, inclusion and equality issues for the XX Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Non-Executive Director Positions Jill is the current Chair of AMOSSHE, the Student Services Organisation, having been a Director on the Executive Board for 4 years. Her priorities as Chair are to oversee the implementation of the AMOSSHE strategy, support members and influence partners in the sector and beyond. She is also currently the Chair of the Stirling Gender Based Violence Partnership, and previously spent five years (2010-2015) as Equality Director on the board of Triathlon Scotland. Current priorities at the University of Stirling Continuing to develop and enhance a suite of world class student support and development services that respond to the ever-changing needs and diversity of our student body Creating a whole institution, integrated student support model Leading and driving work across the institution to achieve the University\'s Equality Outcomes 2021-2025 Driving the institutional mental health and wellbeing strategy Embedding gender equality throughout the University, and achieving significant progress in relation to our Athena SWAN ambitions Strengthening an institutional culture that prevents and tackles gender-based and sexual violence Developing the University\'s first anti-racism and race equality strategy; and Creating and embedding a culture of inclusion in the University$

Jill Stevenson

Dean of Equality Diversity & Inclusion at the University of Stirling

Jill is the Dean of Equality Diversity & Inclusion at the University of Stirling, and a member of the Senior Management Team. She is responsible for leading the creation of a culture where the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion permeate the structures, decisions and environment of the University. Jill is also the Director of … Continued
Claire Hamshire

Faculty Head of International, Manchester Metropolitan University

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Shuab Gamote

Project Manager, The Union MMU

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Alan Roberts

Consultant

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Dani Bradford

Policy and Research Manager, Students' Union UCL

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$Calum Sherwood is Senior Policy and Research Officer at Arts Students\' Union$

Calum Sherwood

Senior Policy and Research Officer at Arts Students' Union

Calum Sherwood is Senior Policy and Research Officer at Arts Students’ Union
Georgia Spencer

Welfare Officer at Arts Students' Union

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Syeda Zara Haram

Vice President Education, Herts SU

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Debbie McVitty

Editor, Wonkhe

Debbie McVitty, Editor, Wonkhe
Mark Leach

Founder & Editor in Chief, Wonkhe and former Labour adviser

Mark Leach is the founder, Editor in Chief and CEO of Wonkhe. Mark worked in policy, politics and public affairs in and around UK higher education and founded Wonkhe in 2011 while working as a jobbing policy wonk in the sector. The first part of his career took him to the National Union of Students, … Continued
Sunday Blake

Associate Editor, Wonkhe

Sunday Blake is President at Exeter Guild of Students
Jim Dickinson

Associate Editor, Wonkhe

Jim is an Associate Editor at Wonkhe and takes a particular interest in the student experience, university governance, and regulation – and leads our work with students’ unions. His career background is in support for student leadership. He has held senior roles at the National Union of Students – where he led on SU development, … Continued
David Kernohan

Associate Editor, Wonkhe

David Kernohan is Associate Editor of Wonkhe. Until June 2016, he worked at Jisc as a programme manager and senior codesign manager, after being seconded from HEFCE in 2006. He has also worked for the University of Glamorgan (now the University of South Wales). As Associate Editor, David has responsibility for the development and delivery … Continued