SDF’s Festival of Learning and Development 2026
Date: 9, 10 and 11 November 2026
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 2026. More partners and supporters will be added shortly.
SDF Awards Partner
We’re delighted to welcome AdvanceHE again as our partners for the SDF Festival in 2026.
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 NewsPad Partner
We’re delighted to welcome Ciphr Limited as our SDF NewsPad Partner for 2026.
Ciphr eLearning, previously Marshall E-Learning, is a leading UK-based provider of off-the-shelf eLearning content, bespoke eLearning solutions and facilitated training. A team of experts in delivering challenging and nuanced projects, we are committed to inclusivity and accessibility and have been a diversity and inclusion expert for more than two decades.
Our team works with a vast range of clients, including most universities in the UK and Ireland. Since joining Ciphr in 2023, we have been able to scale-up our eLearning solutions, create a broader range of courses to expand our library and continue delivering innovative and engaging eLearning.
SDF Awards Partner
We’re delighted to welcome Women-Space Limited again as our SDF Awards Partner for 2026.
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 their 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 in.
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.
Workshop Lead Partner
We’re pleased to welcome back for another year – Formium Development.
At Formium Development we’re passionate about helping everyone to do more of their best work, to be more fulfilled and productive, and make positive and lasting change.
We can all see how much the workplace has changed in recent years – and we know that the future of work is all about disruptive change: new technology, multigenerational workforces, new external pressures, new demands, new expectations. believe that people, teams and organisations get their best results from working with their strengths. And the UK Higher Education sector is facing a unique set of pressures and disruption.
Our highly experienced and qualified team has worked with a wide range of universities, so can provide bespoke interventions – training, facilitation, executive and team coaching, organisational development consultancy – to help leaders find a way to meet the challenges of today and prepare for the changes of tomorrow.
For more information: https://formium.co.uk/
Festival Strand Partner
We’re very pleased to welcome The Learning Moment back again this year as Festival Strand Partner.
The Learning Moment is a female-led, culturally diverse company that supports your leaders, managers, and teams in Higher Education and beyond. With us, your staff can thrive, grow, overcome obstacles and lead real change across teaching, learning leadership, and culture. Our team includes senior education managers who understand the day-to-day realities of academic and professional services roles.
We offer inclusive, research-informed workshops, executive and management coaching, and coach supervision. Learning with us, your staff will build soft skills, innovate collaboratively, strengthen resilience, and be ready for whatever’s on the horizon.
Led by Andry Anastasis McFarlane. Reach out for a chat about supporting your leaders, managers and teams.
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.