'Planning 2.0: Data demands of the new world’ was a packed four days of online learning, discussion, debate, sharing and celebration.
Regular HESPA friends will know that a HESPA Conference has a great mixture of learning opportunities, workshops, specialist business sessions, interest group discussions and inspiring plenary speakers – well, this year was no different and, with a mixed programme which is not strictly limited to planning.
Our speakers included:
Rae Tooth is Chief Executive of Villiers Park Educational Trust, a national social mobility charity. She brings experience in higher education policy, in particular around improving access, progression, and success for socially disadvantaged and underrepresented groups. She is an expert in effective evaluation of practice and outcomes, and in bringing together practice, policy, and academic discourse in relation to social justice.Rae is going to talk to us about the changing requirements for ‘insight’ in today’s world, and the importance of narrative alongside data.
John Blake is Director for Fair Access at the Office for Students (OfS). Prior to joining OfS, he was a senior leader and researcher in the schools sector, leading on public affairs and curriculum research and design for Ark, policy and strategy for Now Teach and History initial teacher education for the Harris Federation. He has also worked as Head of Education and Social Reform for the think tank, Policy Exchange, was a founder governor of Oak National Academy, and served as an advisor to the government on reforms to initial teacher training and continuing professional development.
Dr Omar Khan is Director of the Centre for Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education (TASO). Omar has led TASO’s transition into an independent charity, developing its team and strategy to widen participation in higher education and eliminate equality gaps between students. Formerly Director of the Runnymede Trust, Omar brings expertise in research and policy, in particular race equality policy, and is going to present at HESPA22 about how to use evidence to make change happen.
Dr Paul Greatrix is Registrar at The University of Nottingham, responsible for the academic administration of the University including being Secretary to the various statutory bodies and a member of University Executive Board. Paul also manages the provision of a broad range of professional services for prospective students, current students and staff. Widely known in the sector, Paul is also author and creator of Registrarism and a Contributing Editor of Wonkhe. He will be interviewed by legendary planner, Jackie Njoroge, about the role of strategic planning as a multi-dimensional function, and the way in which it interfaces with many other departments.
Jogeshvari Downey is Head of Business Continuity & Risk Management at the Royal College of Art. She previously worked for the NHS as Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR) and Prevent lead. Jo will be talking to us about business continuity in the context of wider planning work, drawing on case studies and lessons learned at the NHS.
Ashley Kirby is Business Continuity Manager at the University of Bristol and Secretary to the Higher Education Business Continuity Network. She brings expertise in business continuity, coaching teams, health and safety, compliance, governance, planning and policy development and risk management strategies and will be talking to us about lessons learned and translating wider learning about business continuity into an HE context.
Daniel Kidd is Deputy Academic Registrar at the University of Wolverhampton, where he is responsible for student administration and systems. He was formerly Director of Planning at Arden University and Head of Training and Consultancy at the Higher Education Statistics Agency. Daniel co-authored a chapter on ‘Data capability across the information landscape’ within ‘Higher Education Strategy and Planning: A professional guide’ (Routledge, 2018), and is chair of the HESPA Training Committee. He will be talking to us about the new data landscape and how it affects us, with a focus on HESA Data Futures.
Jackie Njoroge is Director of Strategy at the University of Salford and Non Exec Director, Vice-chair of Board and Chair of Finance & Investment Committee for Bolton NHS Foundation Trust. A qualified management accountant, Jackie had a career in financial planning and management within the steel industry, before moving into Higher Education in 2003, where she eventually moved into Strategic Planning and Performance, successfully leading the team to an industry award for the implementation of Northumbria’s business intelligence solution.
As is traditional at a HESPA Conference we have included the annual HESPA Awards, where we celebrated the best of what the sector has to offer. There is a new category this year relating to collaboration, and for more details about the awards, including reading about the winners, please visit our awards pages.
