Meet our Conference Keynote Speakers

We are delighted to announce that day two of Building Resilient Learning Communities: Using Evidence to Support Student Success (3-5 November) will open with two keynote presentations, focused on inclusive curriculum design. These will be delivered by Dr Maha Bali (The American University in Cairo) and Nona McDuff OBE (Solent University), respectively.

Associate Professor of Practice at the Centre for Learning and Teaching at the American University in Cairo, Dr Bali’s research is focused on social justice, critical pedagogy, and open and online education. She is co-founder of virtuallyconnecting.org, a grassroots movement that challenges academic gatekeeping at conferences, and co-facilitator of Equity Unbound, an equity-focused, open and connected intercultural learning curriculum. Dr Bali’s keynote presentation will explore possible frameworks to promote and assess social justice in educational interventions and methods to encourage agency and equity in student learning spaces.

Nona McDuff is Pro Vice-Chancellor, Students and Teaching at Solent University. She was awarded an OBE for her services to higher education in 2017. Passionate about widening access, she is dedicated to ensuring inclusion in higher education is recognised as an essential measure of quality in teaching and professional services. Nona McDuff’s keynote presentation will offer a unique perspective on awarding gaps, illustrate the need for institutional approaches aimed at reducing the BAME awarding gaps to focus on embedding inclusivity in teaching, and explore the ways that the Inclusive Curriculum Framework has been utilised to bring about innovation in practice.

Following the keynote presentations, our speakers will be joined by Professor Valerie Webster, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Learning, Teaching and Student Experience at Glasgow Caledonian University, for a live Q&A session.

Visit our dedicated event site to find out more about this essential event for the new era in higher education - and book your place today!