SDF’s Festival of Learning and Development 2025
Date: 10, 11 and 12 November 2025
Blended approach: SDF Zoom, Advance HE connect and Regional Networks
Below are our partners who have very kindly confirmed their support for the SDF Festival of Learning and Development 2025. More partners and supporters will be added shortly.
Below are our partners who have very kindly confirmed their support for the SDF Festival of Learning and Development 2024. More partners and supporters will be added shortly.
SDF Awards Partner
Advance HE is a member-led, sector-owned charity that works with institutions and higher education across the world to improve higher education for staff, students and society. Our strategic goals to enhance confidence and trust in HE, address systemic inequalities and advance education to meet the evolving needs of students and society, supports the work of our members and the HE sector.
We are experts in higher education with a particular focus on enhancing teaching and learning, effective governance, leadership development and tackling inequalities through our equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) work. We deliver our support through professional development programmes and events, Fellowships, awards, student surveys, providing strategic change and consultancy services and through membership (including accreditation of teaching and learning, equality charters, research, knowledge and resources).
SDF Awards Partner
We’re delighted to welcome Women-Space Limited again as our SDF Awards Partner for 2025.
Created by Professor Christina Hughes, Women-Space is a career coaching and leadership company set up to help the many wonderful women in higher education to progress and flourish in the professional lives and careers. As an executive career coach, Christina works to challenge the kind of thinking that holds you back, finding positive solutions that support your values and engage your passions, so you can bring what really matters to you into your working life
Festival Strand Partner Plus
We’re delighted to be working with Belbin for another year as a Festival Strand Partner Plus.
Belbin is a highly respected workplace tool that enables people to understand the strengths and weaknesses of individuals – and helps organisations bring together the right people to form high performing teams. The Belbin Reports, which can incorporate feedback from others, help managers manage their teams, and look for the potentially ‘missing element’ when recruiting. They make the theoretical relevant.
By using Belbin, individuals have a greater self-understanding of their strengths, which leads to more effective communication between colleagues and managers. Great teams can be put together, existing teams can be understood and improved, and everyone can feel that they are making a difference in the workplace.
Festival Strand Partner
We’re delighted to welcome Upwrd again of our partners for the SDF Festival in 2025.
Upward are the leading Leadership Development company for senior leaders, aspiring leaders and ambitious managers for people-first organisations, believing that access to best-in-class leadership and career development learning and professional coaching should not be solely for top executives at big businesses.
A diverse network of next generation professional coaches (all ICF or EMCC accredited), trainers and facilitators, the team at Upwrd collaborate with their clients to develop their leaders and managers to lead themselves and to lead others, Better, providing best-in-class, research-backed and highly practical leadership development coaching, programmes and workshops.
Festival Strand Partner
We’re very pleased to welcome The Learning Moment back again this year as Festival Strand Partner.
At The Learning Moment we help teams and people thrive at work through learning. Andry and her team listen to you and design bespoke development programmes to match your needs. This gives you the results and transformation you want.
The Learning Moment programmes help develop well-being, resilience, management, leadership, EDI, innovation, coaching and mentoring skills for your staff and you. Andry’s book and online course The REALLY RESILIENT GUIDE, will empower you to overcome obstacles and develop the confidence to handle almost any professional situation.
Connect with us at thelearningmoment.org.
Workshop Lead Partner
We’re pleased to welcome our new partners 3C Specialists in Performance Management as Workshop Lead Partner.
3C Specialists in Performance Management’s experienced team will help you maximise the value of performance management in your organisation. Whether you are looking to co-create a refreshed approach to performance management, get some essential training delivered, or simply have a critical friend to offer insights and validate your plans.
3C can support your organisation in many ways; (1) Creating and communicating re-vitalised performance management – co-creating with your HR, OD and People Teams, (2) engaging and securing buy-in from your Senior Leaders – being the external validating expert and (3) delivering tailored skills and coaching interventions to support the whole workforce hold effective and frequent performance conversations.
Connect with us at 3c-performance-management.co.uk.
Workshop Lead Partner
We’re delighted to welcome Tailored Thinking back as supporters for this year’s Festival.
Bringing a positively deviant perspective, informed by wellbeing and behavioural science, Tailored Thinking are a business and performance consultancy, supporting organisations to reach their highest levels of potential, bringing out the best of their people, through education and the design and delivery of key activities and core strategy.
If you work in Higher Education you may be interested in how their tailored services can support you and your teams.
Workshop Lead Partner
We’re delighted to welcome TMSDI back as supporters for this year’s SDF Festival.
TMSDI offer a flexible range of accreditation programmes designed to give learning and development professionals the knowledge and confidence to help people achieve their personal potential and build real value within a team-based environment using the TMS suite of Profiles.
Connect with us at TMS Development International Ltd.
Workshop Lead Partner
We’re delighted to introduce The Leader In You as supporters for this year’s Festival.
Mamta Gera is an Executive & Leadership Coach and Public Speaker. Every one of us has dreams and ambitions inside and outside of work, we all have goals we want to achieve and we are all unique in how we achieve them. Mamta helps you to achieve those dreams, ambitions and goals using effective techniques and methods to enable you to succeed. She enables you to overcome your self limiting beliefs and create a life with joy, meaning and purpose. To listen, to empathise and connect with another person is incredibly powerful and being able to help people to achieve something they thought was out of reach is the most wonderful thing.
Connect with us at The Leader In You.