Date: 10, 11 and 12 and November 2025
Blended approach: SDF Zoom, Advance HE connect
Keynotes
Sarah Hubbard, Advance HE
About Sarah
Sarah Hubbard is a Senior Consultant in Senior Leadership and Strategic Transformation at Advance HE. As part of her role, Sarah provides culture and leadership development and other consultancy services to a wide range of UK and global institutions. Prior to Advance HE, Sarah gained significant experience working in different institutions for over 15 years, holding cross-institutional leadership roles in the areas of equity and inclusion, student services delivery and organisational development.
Her expertise lies in co-creative change and organisational design; in collaboration, Sarah’s work is focused on enabling and empowering individuals, groups, and institutions to thrive. Sarah is a published author on communities of practice, a certified Organisational Transactional Analyst (ITAA), a Chartered FCIPD, a qualified coach, interpersonal mediator and integrative counsellor and a Lean 6 Sigma practitioner.
Professor Christina Hughes, Women-Space
About Christina
Professor Christina Hughes is Founder and CEO of Women-Space Leadership, a consultancy designed to support women who work in universities to flourish. Named as a “Woman of Influence 2023”, Christina has executive leadership experience in three UK universities (PVC, University of Warwick; Provost, Sheffield Hallam University; DVC (Interim) University of Kent). She is also an internationally leading feminist educator and researcher with 20 books to her name. Christina established Women-Space Leadership in 2021 with its focus on working for equity in higher education.
She has published over 15 books through her career and her 2020 edited collection Transdisciplinary Feminist Research, London, Routledge (with Carol Taylor and Jasmine Ulmer) was shortlisted for the American Educational Research Association prize ‘Outstanding Book of the Year 2021’.
Over her career she has won around £1.5m in external grant capture. Her upcoming publications are International Perspectives of Leadership in Higher Education (2022, with Alasdair Blair, Darrell Evans and Malcolm Tight) and the Routledge Handbook of Feminist Transdisciplinary Research (2023, with Carol Taylor, Jasmine Ulmer and Michelle Salazar Perez).
Dr Stella Lee, Paradox Learning
About Stella
Dr Stella Lee is an academic-turn-consultant, an ed-tech and AI strategist, international speaker, startup advisor, LinkedIn Learning instructor, writer and executive board member for the Learning and Development Accelerator. With over 20 years of experience in digital learning, Stella combines her passion, academic background, and knowledge in computer science, visual art, human-computer interaction, and adult education with her unique global insights for her work with clients such as the UNICEF, United Nations, Asian Development Bank, The Open University, Government of Yukon, Government of Alberta, WorkSafeBC, TransLink, Bosa Properties, Arco/Murray Construction, and InnoEnergy. She is the founder of Paradox Learning Inc., a boutique consulting firm based in Calgary, Canada. Still firmly keeping one foot in academia, Stella continues to research, collaborate, mentor, and teach with universities and institutions worldwide. Stella’s research interests include AI applications for education, ed-tech ethics, personalised and adaptive learning systems, and learning analytics.
Dr Marie Oldfield, Institute of Science and Technology
About Marie
Dr Marie Oldfield SFHEA FIScT, is the AI Lead for the Institute of Science and Technology. Dr Oldfield is the CEO of Oldfield Consultancy. Dr Oldfield sits on the following AI national and international standards committees as an IST representative. Marie is a recognised and published leader in AI and Ethics with a background in Mathematics and Philosophy.
Dr Oldfield serves as a trusted advisor across government, defence, and legal sectors. Dr Oldfield is frequently invited to speak on popular podcasts, panels and at conferences about her experience and research on the development of ethics in AI.
Marie is passionate about giving back to the global community through extensive pro bono work, with a focus on ethical AI, education, poverty, children and mental health.
Rebecca Rutschmann, Viva la Coaching
About Rebecca
Rebecca Rutschmann is a pioneer in the convergence of coaching technology and artificial intelligence. She is the co-founder of Viva la Coaching, the world’s first AI literacy movement bringing AI literacy specifically to coaching and corporate learning. She has also co-founded the AI coaching companion startup evoach in 2019, being responsible for all product development and acting as Co-CEO overseeing product development and marketing. She is the creator of the AI Coach Alpina that was officially launched early March 2023 as one of the first AI Coaches completely integrating generative AI (ChatGPT). As a tech entrepreneur, communications specialist and certified business coach, her expertise shines in crafting outstanding user experiences, a testament to her deep understanding of both technology and human interaction.
Rebecca’s mission is bold and transformative: she aims to make coaching accessible through designing and developing innovative AI coaching and learning experiences. This groundbreaking work is designed to empower coaches and their clients, unlocking their utmost potential in an ever-evolving digital landscape. Her focus extends beyond theoretical frameworks to practical applications, particularly in coach enablement. She dedicates herself to making AI an accessible and integral tool for coaches, fostering a deeper understanding and practical navigation of AI in coaching. She is an accredited coach with both the International Coaching Federation where she holds a PCC level accreditation and the European Mentoring & Coaching Council where she holds a Senior Practitioner accreditation. Rebecca is not only an EMCC Global trained Assessor but also actively involved as VP Accreditation for EMCC Germany working on ensuring high quality level coaching competencies, while leading a global workgroup on upskilling coaches in AI literacy as part of the Digital and AI Community for practice. She is also a member of the ICF AI Task Force and an advisor to the NYU Coaching & Technology Summit.
Stefaan van Hooydonk, Global Curiosity Institute
About Stefaan
Stefaan van Hooydonk is founder of the Global Curiosity Institute and author of the bestselling book: The Workplace Curiosity Manifesto. His forthcoming book, Curiosity: The Secret Ingredient for Professional and Personal Success, is due in January 2025.
Stefaan researches the topic of workplace curiosity in companies. He believes that curious individuals need curious environments to thrive and that especially in times of turmoil individuals and companies need to embrace intentional curiosity. With the help of a number of diagnostics he designed, he creates insights on what drives and what enables (or prevents) individuals and organisations to show up curiously. He consults global corporations and leadership teams towards building a stronger curiosity muscle. He is a regular speaker around the world on the power of curiosity to benefit professionals, leaders, teams, and organisations.
Stefaan is a daily meditator, a marathon runner and a father of 4 children. Together with his partner, Jeltje Peletier, a successful psycho – and yoga therapist, he runs a modest permaculture farm and is a beekeeper.
Egle Vinauskaite, Learning Strategist – Nodes
About Eagle
Egle Vinauskaite is As the award-winning director of the learning innovation studio Nodes, Egle Vinauskaite’s deep expertise in learning, behaviour and technology has made her a sought-after advisor for blue-chip companies and next-gen edtech startups. With experience in AI, XR, mobile technologies, digital platforms and blended learning environments, Egle offers a wealth of insight at the intersection of technology, organisational learning and the future of work. In her capacity as an advisor and researcher, she focuses on integrating AI into L&D operations and equipping workforces with the necessary skills for AI adoption across their organisations. Grounded in both research and practical application, Egle understands the ground zero of how AI is ushering in entirely new ways of doing things in the world of L&D, learning and edtech.
Facilitators
Charlotte Axon, Tailored Thinking
About Charlotte
Charlotte is a Lead People Scientist at Tailored Thinking, a positive psychology, wellbeing and HR consultancy striving to make work better, and make better work. Charlotte has worked in a variety of HR, inclusion and organisation development roles across the Higher Education sector, having led and supported projects relating to culture, change, inclusion and recruitment.
She has a specialist interest in inclusion and belonging, which she has applied in university contexts, both internally and as an external consultant. Charlotte is passionate about making work better for everyone, in particular, through finding opportunities for personalisation of the employee experience, and bringing this to life through coaching.
Charlotte has partnered with multiple universities during her time as a consultant business psychologist, drawing on her experience of people analytics and how to practically use and apply these insights to make positive change.
Charlotte has presented at the 2023 SDF festival, the Women’s Higher Education Network (WHEN) Conference, and Universities HR (UHR) Annual Conference.
Leigh Beales, University of Sheffield
About Leigh
Leigh is an organisational development specialist with ten years experience in the higher education sector. Leigh has worked in a variety of learning and organisational development roles during this time supporting projects around leadership development, coaching/mentoring and inclusion. Leigh currently works in the People Development Team at the University of Sheffield.
Leigh is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an accredited coach. She is passionate about empowering individuals to cultivate self-confidence and enthusiasm within their professional journeys.
Jo Keeler, Belbin
About Jo
Jo Keeler is the Managing Director at Belbin Ltd, an employee ownership trust. At Belbin, the mission is to help teams and organisations to recognise – and capitalise upon – their strengths, and to work more effectively together. Jo is responsible for spearheading strategic and operational activities whilst working closely with Belbin’s patron, Dr Meredith Belbin, to ensure that innovation is in line with the company’s ethos. Jo is also a speaker and facilitator, bringing the Belbin message to international audiences, inspiring action to achieve lasting team and business performance improvements.
Jo’s global speaking engagements have taken her to conferences from Auckland to Hangzhou to Saint Louis, via universities in Estonia and Poland, to name but a few. In the UK, Jo has been a guest lecturer at various universities, including Cranfield, Goldsmiths and Liverpool. She has spoken regularly for the Institute of Leadership, the Association of Coaching, WBECS / Coaching.com, the Staff Development Forum and the CIPD. Jo has been a guest on a myriad of podcasts ranging from Management Today’s ‘Workplace Evolution Podcast’ and ‘HR UpRising’ to ‘There’s No ‘I’ in Podcast’ and the ‘VetChat’ podcast.
During the pandemic, Jo launched (and hosts) the popular and thought-provoking Belbin webinar series, which draws in a large and engaged audience from across the globe.
In a nutshell, Jo and the team at Belbin truly believe that everyone can make a valuable contribution at work, by identifying and using the strengths they have, in a team setting. Belbin helps teams and organisations globally to make the most of their talent, through the Belbin reports, team building activities, bespoke workshops, recruitment and much more.
Hedda Bird, 3C Performance Management Specialists
About Hedda
As Founder Director of 3C, Hedda works closely with senior leadership teams, bringing a deep understanding of what works in managing performance. She has developed powerful tools to help leaders envision what ‘great’ might look like for their organisation. Her methods empower leaders and managers to make significant progress with improving performance, productivity and engagement across the workforce. Hedda is valued by both academic and professional service leaders for her rich understanding of the complex challenges the HEI sector faces.
Her book, the Performance Management Playbook, was published by Pearson in 2021 and is already a core text for anyone wanting a rich understanding of what drives performance at work. The book was runner up in The Business Book of the Year awards, listed in the top 10 reads for Leaders by CEO Today, and topped the Amazon Best Seller List for HR.
She holds a first degree in Mathematics and Philosophy from the University of London, and an MBA (with distinction) from University of Warwick. She is a Fellow of the CIPD.
Kasia Bronk, University College London
About Kasia
Kasia is an L&D practitioner, specialising in researcher development. Her nearly 20 years’ experience in HE includes researching, developing and delivering strategic initiatives supporting all stages of researcher development; from doctoral research, through early- to mid-career transitions, to supporting pathways into independence in academic, research and teaching careers. Her current focus is on strengthening UCL’s holistic and tailored development opportunities to its 6,500 doctoral community, providing seamless central and local induction and aligned researcher development offer, and expanding UCL digital learning. She is also UCL leadership programme director for academic and researcher community.
Following the value of growth in her professional and personal life, Kasia has undertaken a combined CIPD Level 7/Senior People Professional apprenticeship and is now in the EPA stage. She is excited about the opportunity to apply her own learning to drive change in researcher development in HE.
Gary Butterfield, Joy Junction
About Gary
Gary is Founder of the Leeds-based employee wellbeing consultancy, Joy Junction, which he founded in 2023. He started his career in the fitness industry and professional sport, before eventually moving into HR in 2011 as part of the soon-to-be multi-award winning wellbeing team at the University of Sheffield. From 2015 to 2023, Gary led the University subsidiary, Everyday Juice Limited, working with organisations around the world.
Through his work at Joy Junction, he supports senior leaders to get more value from existing wellbeing investments, trains line managers to have meaningful wellbeing conversations with their colleagues, and equips employees with the models they need for their wellbeing to thrive.
Outside of work, Gary is a proud Yorkshireman (he’ll probably tell you straight away), runner, cyclist, hill walker, and wannabe adventurer. When not outdoors, you’ll usually find him playing with his German Shepherd, Athena. Gary has been very open about his struggles with loneliness, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic. Through openness of our own struggles, he believes that we can break down the stigma of expressing mental health challenges in the workplace.
Laurie Gallagher, King’s College London
About Laurie
Laurie Gallagher is an experienced HR practitioner with a passion for workforce analytics and digital transformation in higher education. Currently leading Staff Survey & Data Insights at King’s College London, he helps translate employee engagement data into actionable strategies. His background spans HR digital services and organisational development, bringing data-driven insights to strategic decision-making. At King’s, he oversees an institution-wide survey program engaging 10,000+ colleagues, focused on enhancing the employee experience through evidence-based initiatives.
Mamta Gera, The Leader In You
About Mamta
Mamta is an Executive & Leadership Coach, dedicated to unlocking leaders’ full potential. With an MSc in Psychology & Neuroscience of Mental Health from King’s College London, she deeply understands the link between mental health and effective leadership. She fosters a growth mindset through self-awareness, equipping leaders with tools to overcome obstacles and achieve goals. Passionate about mental health advocacy, Mamta addresses challenges in high-pressure roles, promoting well-being and resilience. Her extensive knowledge empowers leaders to harness strengths, navigate modern leadership complexities, and drive positive organisational change.
Rachel Holmes TMSDI Network (Rachel Holmes Ltd)
A
bout Rachel
Rachel is a qualified Executive Coach and facilitator, specialising in individual impact, team performance and leadership excellence. She established her consultancy in 2001 and now works extensively with individuals and teams at H.E. institutions across the UK, as well as sector-wide membership organisations such as the AHUA, AdvanceHE, BUFDG, ARC and UHR. Her clients are academics and professional services staff, from graduate trainees to the Vice Chancellor.
Rachel is joint Programme Director for the AHUA’s two year-long flagship development programmes: the Aspiring Registrar and Chief Operating Officers’ Programme, and the Professional Service Directors’ Programme, and she was a Key Associate for AdvanceHE, facilitating the leadership styles session on their Top Management Programme from 2006-2020. She is an action learning set facilitator and a systemic constellations practitioner.
With a background in languages and music, Rachel’s professional focus is on enabling people to communicate effectively, have greater impact, and enjoy their working lives. She’s fascinated by what makes people tick, how people ‘show up’ at work, and how they can work more effectively with difference in styles, so that the sum is greater than the parts.
Vicki Love, University of Sussex
About Vicki
Vicki Love is an organisational development consultant and EMCC-accredited coach, bringing over 15 years of experience across the NGO and higher education sectors. With a strong foundation in project management, Vicki specialises in leadership development, team dynamics, and cultivating inclusive, supportive workplace cultures.
Passionate about empowering individuals and teams, Vicki partners with leaders and managers to enhance engagement, motivation, and overall effectiveness. She is a strong advocate for agile work practices and a coaching-led approach, helping organisations unlock their people’s potential and drive sustainable success.
Vicki’s expertise lies in designing and delivering tailored development programmes, leading strategic OD interventions, and providing high-quality coaching. Her collaborative style and dedication to fostering psychological safety have established her as a trusted advisor and a catalyst for positive change.
Jenna Maloney, King’s College London
About Jenna
Jenna is an Organisational Development Programme Manager for Careers & Talent initiatives at King’s College London, having been in the role for 2 years. Organisational Development plays a vital role in empowering, developing and supporting the King’s staff community to thrive. With Career Pathways being a prominent area of development from the King’s 2023 staff survey, Jenna’s role aims to cultivate the potential, capacity and capability of all King’s colleagues.
During her time at King’s, Jenna has also achieved an ILM accredited Level 5 Coaching Professional qualification and has previously achieved a Distinction in her MSc in Occupational and Business Psychology with Kingston University, giving her valuable theoretical knowledge in the Careers & Talent space. With a focus of supporting development across the employee lifecycle, this knowledge has been vital to the build of careers & talent programmes Jenna has developed at King’s so far.
Sue Marwood, TMSDI
About Sue
As a Senior Consultant and Master Trainer at TMS Development International (TMSDI), Sue has over 17 years’ experience working in the field of Learning & Development. She has successfully accredited hundreds of people, across both public and private sector organisations, in a wide range of individual, leadership and team development profiling tools.
Sue advises clients on the design and implementation of people development programmes using TMSDI’s suite of profiles, and also delivers profile feedback sessions to support personal and professional development. As part of her work as a Learning Designer at TMSDI, Sue plays a key role in creating effective and impactful learning experiences to enhance client engagement.
Fiona McBride, University of Liverpool
About Fiona
Dr Fiona McBride is a Senior Researcher Developer within The Academy at the University of Liverpool, where she leads Prosper – an innovative model of postdoc career development designed to unlock postdocs’ potential to thrive across multiple career pathways, both within and beyond academia.
Fiona has played a key role in Prosper from its start in 2019 as a Research England Development (RED) fund project to its current UKRI funded nationwide rollout and embedding at the University of Liverpool.
Fleur McDonnell, 3C Performance Management Specialists
About Fleur
Fleur is a specialist in Performance Management consulting and in training leaders, managers and teams. She has also worked with organisations to develop and embed feedback and coaching cultures and has multiple ways in supporting organisations to achieve this.
Customer Service, Creative thinking skills, storytelling and culture development are additional strings to Fleur’s bow and has found this knowledge and experience to be extremely helpful and engaging when working with organisations who wish to improve innovation or improve engagement in organisational goals and values.
Fleur’s qualifications include: Neuro-Linguistic-Programming (NLP) Practitioner Coach (Performance Partnership), “How to coach a Leader” programmes with Neish Consulting and Team Coaching Foundation Certified Coach (GTCI)
Andry Anastasis-McFarlane, The Learning Moment
About Andry
Andry Anastasis McFarlane is an accredited, qualified and experienced executive and management coach, author, learning consultant, facilitator and coach supervisor.
Andry has been supporting conversations, leadership development and culture change at work for 25 years. Her work has been featured in Coaching at Work, BBC Radio and i magazine. Andry leads Handling Challenging Conversations with Care workshops and Conversations that Change your Working Life programmes for Leaders. You can find Andry’s first book, The Really Resilient Guide here.
Stefania Silvestri, University of Liverpool
About Stefania
Stefania is a Researcher Developer for Prosper within the Researcher Development and Culture team in The Academy, University of Liverpool.
Stefania is responsible for delivering the Prosper cohort at Liverpool, a career development programme specifically designed for postdocs. She is part of a wider team working on Prosper rollout across the sector, which aims at creating a sustainable practice sharing model of postdoctoral career development.
In her role Stefania brings her experience as an international postdoc in Humanities, together with her passion for languages and cultures and her enthusiasm to support others in developing their career potential.
Kirti Swift, King’s College London
About Kirti
Kirti Swift is an accomplished and strategic leader in organisational culture, employee engagement and people development, recognised for driving impactful learning solutions and embedding robust people strategies across large, complex educational institutions. As Deputy Director – Organisational Development at King’s College London, Kirti’s has been able to evolve and notably expanded engagement in learning from 650 to 7500 colleagues annually, increasing quality, engagement and impact.
More specifically, Kirti’s expertise extends to delivering a large portfolio of talent, performance and development strategies across the entire employee lifecycle set against a framework of organisational strategy and KPIs. He has also spearheaded King’s largest-ever staff engagement programme of work, helping to drive ongoing strategic priorities and whilst building out new operational action plans. Under his leadership, the Organisatioanl Development team have been recognised in 2024 and 2025 by winning multiple accolades, including HR Team of the Year, HR Impact Award, and HR Learning Excellence Award. Kirti holds MA in Sociology, as well as certifications in Agile Project Management, Change Management, and a CIPD Associate Diploma.
Fiona Thomas, TMSDI
About Fiona
Fiona is a Senior Learning and Development Consultant at TMS Development International Ltd (TMSDI).
Fiona has a background of working as a Consultant, Coach and Change Manager in both the public and private sector bringing purpose, clarity and high performance in her work with others.
Now working in people strategy and development, Fiona leads TMSDI’s in-company delivery service working with organisations to deliver change through new insights and learning at an individual, team and organisational level.
Jimi Wall, Upwrd
AboutJimi
Jimi is CEO of Upwrd and an ICF-accredited Leadership Coach and Facilitator, with deep Higher Education sector experience.
Jimi believes that everyone deserves to love their work. He is passionate about developing managers and leaders in Higher Education and beyond to lead themselves and to lead their people with confidence, compassion and courage.
Prior to founding Upwrd, Jimi worked as Executive Client Director at London Business School in Executive Education. In this role he collaborated with Chief People Officers, HR Directors and Talent Management Leaders at FTSE 100, S&P 500 and Euronext 100 companies, to diagnose learning needs and to co-design and deliver bespoke leadership programmes with a heavy emphasis on action-oriented development via coaching.
The Upwrd team now works with the Organisational Development and Staff Development teams at a number of Higher Education Institutions and Business Schools in the UK and Europe. Jimi also works in the Organisational Development team at City, University of London.
A native of Yorkshire, Jimi has been based in London since 2010 and lives with his wife, daughter and cheeky cockapoo.
Megan Webb, University College London
About Megan
Megan is a researcher developer with 10 years’ experience designing and delivering learning and development solutions. Over the years she has led a variety of initiatives including leadership development, mentoring programmes and academic skills training. Megan is currently focusing on enhancing the early career researcher experience at UCL. Passionate about evolution of good practice Megan is a peer reviewer for the UK process of the HR Excellence in Research Award and contributed to the recent review and refresh the Vitae Researcher Development Framework. She is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.