9 to 11 November 2026 | Influence. Integrate. Impact. Shaping strategic voice, connected practice, and meaningful change in Higher Education
There are moments when a professional community does more than gather. It pauses, looks up from the urgent, and asks: what are we here to shape next?
The SDF Festival of Learning and Development 2026 is one of those moments.
Our 2026 theme, Influence. Integrate. Impact., speaks directly to the role we now need to claim more boldly: as strategic partners, bridge-builders, evidence holders, storytellers, challengers, enablers and catalysts for meaningful institutional change.
Our keynote speakers have been chosen because each brings a vital piece of that conversation.
Nick Shackleton-Jones, author of How People Learn, has helped many of us question what learning really is, and what it is not. Through his pioneering work on human-centred learning design and the shift from “courses to resources”, Nick invites us to move beyond development as something we deliver at people, and towards learning designed around real needs, real moments and real human beings.
Dr Julian Stodd’s keynote, Sketches of the Future Organisation: human, AI, and the space between, invites us to reimagine the organisation itself. As AI becomes woven into our work, Julian will help us explore not only what technology can do, but what it asks of us. His keynote speaks to everyone working to connect leadership, learning, culture and change into something more coherent, courageous and human.
Hannah Fromageau SFHEA, Senior Consultant in Leadership and Management at Advance HE, brings deep experience of leadership development across higher education and research environments. Her keynote, From Framework to Practice: Co-creating What Higher Education Needs Now, will explore co-creation not simply as a method, but as a mindset: designing with people, listening carefully, working collaboratively and building development colleagues can recognise, trust and use.
Danny Mirza, award-winning Careers and Employability leader and Careers and Experience Head/Manager for the London Hub at Coventry University London, brings energy, practicality and sector insight to one of the defining conversations of our time. His keynote, AI Will Not Remove Work; It Will Move Work, cuts through both hype and fear, focusing on people, productivity, confidence, employability, student experience and professional practice.
Paul Gentle brings 35 years’ experience in higher education, including senior roles as Head of Department, Dean and Director of Programmes at the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education. His keynote, Breaking Down Silos with Relish, speaks directly to leading change and connecting practice across organisational boundaries. Paul will help us think about how universities can build stronger bridges between people, purpose, strategy and positive change.
Rachel Reeds, author of Surviving and Thriving in Higher Education Professional Services, speaks directly to the people who keep universities running and too often go unheard. Her keynote, Stop Waiting for Permission: Influence, Voice, and a Seat at the Table, explores confidence, influence and practical agency. Rachel will challenge us to ask whether we are shaping the questions, or only delivering the answers.
A Festival for now
Together, these keynote speakers create a rich and urgent conversation for our sector.
They will help us explore how people learn, how organisations change, how AI shifts work, how leadership becomes more human, how silos are dismantled, how professional voice is strengthened, and how development can create measurable, meaningful impact even when resources are tight.
Join us from 9 to 11 November 2026 as we shape what learning and development can become in higher education.