Speakers

Donald Clark is a Learning Tech Entrepreneur, CEO, Researcher, Blogger and Speaker. He was CEO of Epic Group plc, which established itself as the leading company in the UK online learning market. As well as being the CEO of Wildfire an AI learning company, he also invests in, and advises, EdTech companies. An investor and board member of learning companies Cogbooks and Learning Pool, he was also on the Boards of City & Guilds, Learn Direct, University for Industry and the Brighton Dome and Festival. He has published 3 books, the first on AI, second on Design for technology and the third, published next month on Learning Technology. His fourth book on Learning in the Metaverse has just been commissioned. Donald has over 37 years’ experience in online learning, video, games, simulations, adaptive, chatbot, social media, mobile learning, virtual reality and AI projects. He has designed, delivered and advised on online learning for many global, public and private organisations. An evangelist for the use of technology in learning, he has won many awards, including the first ‘Outstanding Achievement in E-learning Award’, ‘Best Online Learning Project and ‘JISC EdTech Award’. An award winning speaker at national and international conferences, he is also a regular blogger on learning technology.

Neil Mosley is an education & management consultant specialising in online distance, digital education and learning design. He is also a Fellow at the Centre for Online and Distance Education based at the University of London. He works with universities, colleges, companies, arts & cultural organisations, professional bodies and other education providers. Supporting them through strategic, management, design and research & analysis consultancy focused on online distance and digital education. He is also a writer and regular speaker on online & digital education, both in the UK and internationally.

Professor Jo-Anne Murray is Pro-Vice Chancellor: Digital Transformation at the University of Leeds where she is responsible for leading the overall digital transformation strategy. This includes enhancing ways of working, supporting an excellent student experience and improving student success, as well as enabling innovation, collaboration and knowledge exchange in research. Prior to joining Leeds, Jo-Anne was a Managing Director at Higher Ed Partners (HEP) where she worked with senior executive-level colleagues within Universities across the UK to define and deliver strategic vision for digital transformation in education.

Jo-Anne was also Assistant Vice Principal for Digital Education, at the University of Glasgow and before that held senior roles at the University of Edinburgh leading learning technology teams and online learning. She is Professor of Educational Innovation and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She has led the development of many novel approaches to learning, teaching and assessment, including virtual worlds, mobile apps and the use of robots in education. Jo-Anne has also led and participated in a range of research activities in education and the biological sciences and has published over 130 peer reviewed articles in these areas.

Dr. Aaron Kessler is Assistant Director, Learning Sciences and Teaching for Open Learning at MIT. In his role within the residential education team he is responsible for working with faculty and course teams in the development and research of online and residential courses that use educational technologies. As part of that process, he utilizes research from the learning sciences, educational psychology, and discipline-based educational research to help inform design decisions that are situated within complex learning settings. He is the primary co-author of Learning Engineering Process chapter in the Learning Engineering Toolkit, currently serves on the IEEE Industry Consortium on Learning Engineering (ICICLE) Steering Committee, and chairs the ICICLE Design for Learning SIG. Central to all this work is the goal of supporting the development of instructional opportunities that provide learners the chance to engage in building deep conceptual understanding of content.

Joann Kozyrev has been a leader in Program Design & Development at Western Governors University since 2018, and currently serves as Vice President of Learning Design & Analytics. This team is charged with creating a symbiotic relationship between creative learning design and data driven insights in service of personalized online learning pathways and student success in competency based education. At Western Governors University, Joann has led initiatives in digital innovation, affordability of high quality learning development, connecting curriculum to labor market opportunity, as well as the creation and implementation of the WGU framework to improve equity in online learning and assessment content.

Margaret Korosec is the Dean of Online and Digital Education at the University of Leeds, leading on establishing a design ecosystem to support and scale online education and a digitally-enabled student experience. Margaret brings creativity, intentionality, and systems perspective to her leadership in scaling online and digital education. She has academic oversight of the Digital Education Service at Leeds, which provides specialist learning design, development, production, media, creative and learning systems management for online and digital education. She has recently led the development of Helix, a creative space to encourage experimentation and enable radical internal and external collaboration. Prior to joining Leeds, Margaret led the growth of the credit and non-credit bearing online portfolio at the University of Derby Online Learning. Her earlier contribution at Western Governors University in the US, a fully online, competency-based educational model, significantly informed her commitment to online and flexible models of education.

Megan Kime is Director of the Digital Education Service at the University of Leeds, where she leads a team of over 160 professionals working across a range of specialist functions. Megan has over 14 years’ experience of leading online and digital learning, first in her academic discipline of ethical and political philosophy, then institutionally. She has a particular interest in supporting online students to succeed through a focus on the end-to-end student experience. Megan has been recognised within the University as an innovator in online education through the award of a University Student Education Fellowship and a Leeds Institute of Teaching Excellence Teaching Enhancement Project.

Nick Mount is Professor of Learning Innovation and Academic Director at the University of Nottingham Online. He leads the university’s multi-million-pound investment into a brand new ecosystem for designing, developing, delivering and certifying stackable, credit-bearing microcredential learning that is competency-based and aimed at upskilling and reskilling. Having been a student in the late 1990s, his professional career has closely tracked the development and growth of online higher education – from his early years delivering remote learning to outback communities whilst at Charles Sturt University, Australia to the establishment of pioneering, fully-online programmes at the University of London External Programme and Birkbeck. A passionate innovator, Nick is willing to challenge convention where clear evidence of benefit and opportunity exist, and he is a big fan of all questions beginning with the words ‘how can we…’!

Leonard Houx is Director of Learning Design at Cambridge Education Group (CEG). He is a fellow at the Centre for Online and Distance Education (CODE) and the 2022/23 winner of Learning Designer of the Year Award from the Learning Technologies Awards. In previous work, he won an award for Best Online Distance Learning Programme for his work with Google’s on their “Squared” marketing course. He also served a two-year term as (2019-2021) director at the Learning Network.

Dr Bo Kelestyn is a design thinking academic and practitioner with a diverse teaching and scholarship portfolio. She works as an Associate Professor, Course Director for the MSc in Management of Information Systems and Digital Innovation, and the UG Student Engagement Lead at the Warwick Business School (WBS). Prior to this role, she worked in multiple Departments at Warwick, including leading on the early embedding of the Education Strategy across all 35 academic Departments, and becoming the youngest Director of Student Experience at Warwick. She has designed and led a number of interdisciplinary modules on design thinking, innovation and entrepreneurship, and leads on The Guardian Masterclass on design thinking. Bo also hosts the Student Experience by Design podcast to champion the use of design thinking in Higher Education.

Dr Leah Henrickson is a Lecturer in Digital Media and Cultures at the University of Queensland. Her current research projects use theoretical frameworks and empirical methods to investigate the social and literary implications of textual technologies, commercial and community applications of digital storytelling, and social perceptions of artificial intelligence. She is the author of Reading Computer-Generated Texts (Cambridge University Press, 2021).

Dr J. Simon Rofe is Associate Professor in International Politics at the University of Leeds with School responsibilities for Curriculum Redefined, having been Reader in Diplomatic Studies at SOAS University of London (2011-2022). Simon previously headed the Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise portfolio (2020-22) and was Academic Head of Digital Learning (2016-2020) at SOAS University of London, where he devised and implemented an institutional Online Learning Strategy 2018, and led in the strategic response to COVID 19 2020-21. He has designed, developed and delivered under the aegis of the IR Model, numerous online learning programmes at a variety of HEIs, NGOs and other organisations; he led reviews of digital learning at a number of institutions, developed MOOCs in the first wave of their deployment, and has been at the forefront of digital learning for over a decade. He is widely published in the Scholarship of Learning and Teaching.

Sam is Director of Online Education at the University of London, where he leads on: innovations in online learning; partnerships with federation members; devising, designing and developing online courses and degrees; and student success services for the 45,000 students around the world who study on the university’s 100+ online and distance programmes. Before joining the University of London, he was Director of Digital Learning at Bayes Business School. Previously, he was Director of the Learning Institute at Queen Mary, University of London, and he has also worked with various online learning firms in the private sector. He has twenty-five years of experience in digital education, and deep knowledge of the strategy, implementation, pedagogy and practice of online teaching and learning.

Dr Highton is Assistant Principal for Online and Open Learning at the University of Edinburgh. Melissa is strategic lead in the University for a wide range of technologies and support for innovative learning and teaching, including blended learning tools, bespoke web development, online video, lecture recording, VLEs, open education resources, partnerships with platforms such as Coursera, Edx, FutureLearn and Wikimedia. Her teams support a range of online provision including taught online Masters programmes, micro credentials, CPD and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Under her leadership the Learning, Teaching and Web Directorate has become one of the most successful and comprehensive learning technology groups in the UK, with diverse teams of multi-professional staff, student interns and expert consultants.

Eric is a Professor of Artificial Intelligence for Language at the University of Leeds, leading a team of 17 AI researchers applying text analytics to education. He teaches and researches Artificial Intelligence, Data Mining and Text Analytics, in the School of Computing. He also works at the Leeds Institute for Teaching Excellence as a LITE Fellow, on research in AI for Decolonizing Reading Lists. He is also a Turing Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence and a member of Leeds Institute for Data Analytics (LIDA) and LATL Language At Leeds.

Jolene is the Founder of Accessibrand™, Canada's first accessibility focused design, marketing and communications collective that all have lived experience with disability and inclusion.

For over a decade, she has known that people with disabilities needed a different work model to be able to give their full potential to their careers. Accessibrand™ is based on Jolene’s 20+ years of knowledge in the graphic design and marketing industry, as well as her 20 years as a successful entrepreneur and award-winning designer. Top that all off with her own personal disability experience, and out comes an innovative model for a design, marketing and communications agency.

Jolene is an advocate, wife and mother of three. She has volunteered with Little People of Ontario, Rare Disease Foundation, and sits on the Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee and Canadian National Accessibility Committee.

Dr Liyanagunawardena is the digital accessibility officer at the University of Reading. She is a fellow of Advance HE, a senior certified member of the Association for Learning Technology and an accessibility expert. Dr Liyanagunawardena has worked in learning technology in higher education for more than 15 years both in the UK and abroad, having started her career as a software engineer. She led the online learning research centre at the University College of Estate Management prior to joining the University of Reading in 2022.

Professor Arunangsu Chatterjee is a professor of digital health and education at the University of Leeds and is also dean of digital transformation for the University of Leeds. He is responsible for driving forward the delivery of the university’s digital transformation strategy, with a particular focus on leading change programmes and projects in digital education, digital research and digital operations areas. Professor Chatterjee was previously the head of digital education & director of Centre of Health Technology at the University of Plymouth and has worked in the higher education space for over two decades. His research interest spans across health and education technologies and specifically around how rapidly evolving digital technologies (innovation) facilitate capacity building for sharing and consuming practices of personalised technology use in complex organisations (like NHS and HEI’s).

Salha Abdo is the founding Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Financial Sciences at the Open University of Sudan. She is also a founding team member of the Sudan Open Learning Initiative. She has over 10 years of experience in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and Student Support Services (academic and non-academic). She is trained in the Teacher Educator Programme, Open Educational Resources (OER), Designing and Publishing Accessible E-Content for disabled people, and diagnostic tools for improving education policy planning, quality standards and accreditation.

She contributed to several national and international activities. In Sudan, she is active in advocating women's empowerment in education and economics research in Open Education, OER, design and development of e-learning courses, e-exams, Learning Management and Student Support Systems.

She is also the key partner of the Knowledge Equity Network at Leeds University, UK. She is looking forward to raising awareness of ODL, Open Education, and the Knowledge Equity field across the world.

Dr Chrissi Nerantzi is an Associate Professor in Education in the School of Education teaching on the MA in Digital Education, a Senior Lead of the Knowledge Equity Network and the Academic Lead for Discover and Explore at the University of Leeds. Her research interests include creativity, open education, collaborative learning, networks and communities. Chrissi initiated a wide range of Open Educational Resources, open online cross-institutional professional development courses and initiatives that bring educators, students and the public together and have been sustained the years. Examples include the Learning and Teaching in Higher Education tweetchat (#LTHEchat), the Creativity for Learning in Higher Education community (#creativeHE). Recently she has led the openly licensed collection of 101 creative ideas to use AI in education and the e(ducation)-pizza game for curriculum and learning design conversations.

Matt Cornock is Head of Online Learning in the Digital Education Service at the University of Leeds. With a passion for online education to increase access and empower learners through lifelong learning, he leads the team responsible for the design and development of fully online degree programmes, microcredentials and short courses. Matt contributes to the strategic direction of online programmes at Leeds, exploring the design relationship of online degrees and pathways of learning, with an interest in professional learning and how organisational and individual learners' development goals are met through online education. Matt's prior experience includes leading, researching and innovating online CPD reaching over 250,000 learners through open access courses.

Rupert Ward is a former Special Advisor to the Royal Household and Project Lead for iDEA (idea.org.uk), one of the most successful digital badging solutions implemented to date, with widespread adoption in over 95 percent of all countries globally, that in 2022 represented a fifth of all digital badges ever issued. He is a National Teaching Fellow and Professor of Learning Innovation at the University of Huddersfield. He has authored two books on personalised learning, led a national project for the UK Quality Assurance Agency in skills, badging and micro-credentialing, and co-developed one of the world’s most successful technology acceptance models (GETAMEL).

Professor Annabel Kiernan is Pro Vice-Chancellor - Academic at Staffordshire University where her focus is delivering on the University’s strategic priorities, specifically around next generation education and experience.

Annabel joined Staffordshire University in May 2021. She previously worked at Nottingham Trent University as Deputy Dean for the School of Social Sciences, leading their Education portfolio.
Annabel is an advocate of microcredentials and their ability to play a key part in addressing current and future skills gaps and in supporting access to education.

Steven Osborne is a principal lecturer with a strong focus on employability, workforce planning, and development in the field of sport and physical activity. He has held various academic roles at institutions, including his current position at Cardiff Metropolitan University and previously at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Steven works to bridge the gap between academia and practice, contributing to developing innovative solutions to enhance graduate outcomes and career pathways, drawing on almost 30 years of experience working and volunteering at various levels in the sport and physical activity industry.

Adam Nosal is a dynamic force bridging the realms of consciousness, technology, and democracy. With a decade-long commitment to fostering wisdom in digital public spaces, Adam brings a fresh and invaluable perspective towards our relationship to technology. Prior to this pioneering work, Adam enjoyed a highly respected career as an outdoor educator and facilitator, instilling in him a deep understanding of community dynamics and experiential learning. Adam has also served as the founder of two software startups (Pollinate & Tula.world), demonstrating his passion for driving positive change through innovation.

Dr. Andrew Kirton is a lecturer in Applied Ethics at the IDEA Centre, University of Leeds. His research focuses on the nature of trust: what it means to trust others, how trust underpins our ethical demands to one another, and how trust relations shape social groups, institutions and societies. His teaching mainly focuses on the ethics of science and technology, including the ethics of AI and data. He is also a Fellow of the Leeds Institute of Teaching Excellence, where he is researching teaching methods for demystifying standards of academic rigour and reducing gatekeeping structures in Higher Education.

Marlies Gration currently works at the University of Nottingham Online as the head of content, leading the end-to-end learning design process of the microcredentials and managing the team of learning designers and content assistants. Marlies is an advocate for design thinking, component-based development, and data-led practice. She has 15 years of experience in a wide range of educational settings including museum education, secondary education, professional development, and higher education in both the UK and the Netherlands. In all these contexts her focus has been on engaging learners through digital learning products, shaping her expertise as a learning design leader.

Aindreas Muldowney, a graduate of the University of Leeds with a degree of master in engineering management 2021, is a versatile professional with a strong background in manufacturing medical devices, oil & gas, and power generation industries. With expertise spanning various domains, Aindreas has significantly contributed to process and automation, project management, source code design, commissioning, predictive lifecycle maintenance, histogram modelling, and construction, with engineering support for combined heat and power (CHP), gas turbines, power generation, and more.

Having gained a Bachelor degree in Chemical Engineering, Sue worked in engineering at Phillips for a few years before migrating into I.T. during her time with Rolls-Royce. She subsequently moved into IT consultancy but always had a hankering to return to her engineering roots. Having considered many options, she discovered the online Engineering Management MSc offered by the University of Leeds. The course allowed Sue to study at a convenient time and place with students across the globe who brought with them different experiences and fresh insights.

Claudia is working on the development and delivery of the University’s new fully online MSc Disability Studies, Rights & Inclusion. Her research looks at networks of disability advocacy and the opportunities that emerge for disabled people’s organisations and other social movements within changing structures of governance

Dr Hannah Morgan is Associate Professor in Social Policy and Disability Studies in the School of Sociology and Social Policy. She is the Programme Leader for the new fully online programme MSc Disability Studies, Rights and Inclusion and convenes a number of the modules on the programme. She has a particular interest in inclusive pedagogy and practice and is committed to ensuring teaching and learning is accessible to disabled staff and students.

Tony Morgan is an Associate Professor in Innovation Management Practice at the University of Leeds in the UK, where he teaches interdisciplinary and team-based innovation modules. He has previously held senior innovation and technology roles at IBM. Tony's primary interests include design thinking, innovation and innovation management, emerging technology and student skills development. He's the author of multiple books, including Design Thinking for Student Projects.

Dr Miro Griffiths is a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellow in Disability Studies, within the School of Sociology and Social Policy, at the University of Leeds. His research, primarily, explores disabled people’s experiences of activism, social movements, and resistance practices. He teaches in the areas of disability theory, social movement studies, social policy analysis, and inclusive pedagogies. Miro holds several policy advisory positions (government, civil society, and private sector) across Europe, including UK government and European Commission. He is a former strategic and confidential adviser to the UK government (across several administrations), and former adviser to the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission.