Job Shadowing HE

Dr Alex Street is a Senior Research Fellow at the Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Research, part of Anglia Ruskin University. He is an applied researcher who specialises in the use of music therapy for patients undergoing neurorehabilitation following stroke and brain injury. In this episode, Alex shares more about how music therapy works, including case studies of patient benefit. We also e...

Professor Ken Sloan, Vice-Chancellor and CEO of Harper Adams University. Ken has extensive experience in strategy leadership, governance and commercial activities gained through both the Higher Education and private sectors, and he became a VC through a non-academic route. In this episode, we discuss his leadership of this specialist university, including its strategic focus, living the institutio...

Dr Charlotte Verney and Dr Joanne Caldwell each work in different areas of professional services, but both of them also engage in research and scholarship in HE management. In this episode, Charlotte and Joanne share more about their experience of balancing research and scholarship while working in a professional services role and consider the extent to which this type of portfolio of work is reco...

Sarah Beavon has worked in Higher Education for over 20 years, moving through a series of increasingly senior roles to her current position as Chief Digital and Student Experience Officer at Canterbury Christchurch University. In 2025, she was recognised as one of the top 100 innovators and change makers of the year reflecting her success with large-scale digital transformation projects. In releas...

Hugh Jones is a renowned figure in Higher Education having worked in several universities during his career and, since 2014, undertaken consultancy work with over 60 clients. He is also the founder of the HE postcard series on Wonkhe, and Deputy Chair of the Board of Governors at Birmingham City University.  In this episode, Hugh delves into his career background  and what it’s like to engage as a...

Professor Emmanuel Adukwu is Dean for Students at UWE Bristol and professor of microbiology. Emmanuel started his Dean for Students post just a couple of months ago, transitioning from a deputy head of school into this university senior leadership role. A central focus of his career is removing barriers to ensure access and quality of opportunity for all, illustrated in his national and internatio...

Aaron Tyler is Co-Founder and Director of Pact Solutions. In this episode, Aaron reflects upon some of the themes I recorded with 4 different Vice-Chancellors in the Leading Differently mini-series, including how those topics inform practice at Pact Solutions. We also consider the institutional leadership qualities he looks for when working with an institution - and later on in the episode we look...

Professor Evelyn Welch is the Vice-Chancellor at the University of Bristol. Evelyn has a notable career path in research intensive institutions,and took up the Vice-Chancellor post at Bristol in 2022. In this episode, we explore a number of current regional, national and international initiatives under her leadership. We also discuss a wide range of other topics including the student experience, u...

Professor David Mba is Vice-Chancellor of Birmingham City University, and in this episode he talks about developing the vision for the University as being an exemplar anchor institution and how its work is intertwined with the city of Birmingham. He shares more about the innovative way in which science, technology, engineering, mathematics - and the arts - come together at the University, includin...

My guest in this episode is Professor Damien Page, Vice-Chancellor at Buckinghamshire New University.  Damien has progressed significant change at the University in his first few months in role and he talks in this episode about how things are being done differently at BNU to make a greater impact for students and staff, and to increase organisational efficiency. He reflects upon why operational u...

Clare Marchant DBE is Vice-Chancellor at the University of Gloucestershire. She holds what currently looks like to be a unique position in UK Higher Education being a female Vice-Chancellor who has also come from a non-academic route, and one of the topics we discuss in the episode is the opening up of the Vice-Chancellor role to a more diverse community, and why this is important in leading the s...

Guests: Andy Winter, Interim Director of Student Life at the University of Kent; Helene Usherwood, Senior Partner at Anderson Quigley; Jeremy Shute, Fortune 500 Leader and Co-Founder Ignition Strategy.     The Higher Education sector is adapting to the changing strategic and financial environment, and a particularly visible part of this adaptation is restructuring within many institutions. In this...

Joe Cooper is Director of People and Culture at the University of East London. In this episode we discuss how the University has evolved during recent years and where his focus has been as the executive HR lead. Joe also talks about his unique career path from Students’ Union Chief Executive into University HR, and the importance of remembering that students are always at the heart of university l...

Simon Goldsmith is Head of Sustainability at the University of Greenwich. He works with colleagues across and outside the institution to help embed environmental sustainability into all aspects of university life, and to support the strategic goal of the University of Greenwich being a recognised leader in this field by 2030. Simon explores various strategic initiatives that the University is prog...

My guest in this episode is Steph Glen. Steph has been a Higher Education professional since 2007, initially working her way through a series of progressively senior roles in Timetabling including nearly 10 years at the University of Nottingham, and since December 2024 holding the newly created strategic role of Head of Teaching Space Operations at UCL, the UK’s largest university. In this episode...

Jenny Jenkin and Tessa Harrsion have each had 25 year+ careers in Higher Education, and both held registrar positions at various institutions. During the past few years, they have each forged new career directions outside universities but still working with HE. The episode explores the motivation for change and how they have experienced their transitions. They also reflect upon the similarities an...

My guest in this episode is Anna Quinn, Head of Student Services at the University of Northampton. In addition to leading her large team, Anna contributes to the strategic development of the University such as its bid for the University Mental Health Charter and work on student suicide prevention. She also talks in this episode about the work she has led since 2017 on addressing sexual misconduct,...

My guest in this episode is Gemma Kenyon, Director of Careers and Employability at City St George’s University of London. Gemma shares more about her role and how she has successfully directed and embedded a student employability and career focus into institutional life. We talk about how she and her team have gone about collaborating successfully with academic colleagues to achieve this goal, how...

Dr Brooke Storer-Church is Chief Executive Officer of Guild HE which represents around 70 diverse institutions in the Higher Education sector. In this episode, Brooke reflects upon why diversity is so important to UK Higher Education, and talks about the way in which Guild HE is working to support and champion this part of HE . She also discusses her career pathway into and through Higher Educatio...

Kerry Shepherd and Ben Tucker are founders and partners of the executive search firm, Minerva, sponsor of this Leadership Reflections Mini-Series.   In our discussion, we explore some of the themes from earlier episodes of the mini-series and put those topics into the wider Higher Education leadership context of 2025. As professionals who have contact with a significant number of institutions and...

Professor Pip Beard is Professor of Viral Pathology and Head of the School of Life Sciences at Keele University. Pip took her up post as Head of School following the initial part of her career in practice and subsequently in research institutes, and she continues to hold a national and international government advisory role in her professional field. In this episode, Pip reflects upon taking up a...

My guest in this episode is Jim Irving, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Students and Governance) at Southampton Solent University, who has developed his higher education career over the past 25 years across a series of progressively senior professional services posts.  Jim reflects on his leadership path so far and delves into a range of topics including what motivated him to pursue a career in Higher Educat...

My guest in this episode of the Leadership Reflections mini-series is Professor Randall S Whittaker, Principal and CEO of Rose Bruford College, one of the UK's leading specialist performing arts Higher Education Institutions.  As a renowned figure for his work on representation and diversity, Randall reflects upon his leadership journey including what he has learnt along the way, how creativity fo...

My guest in this episode of the Leadership Reflections mini-series is Professor Shân Wareing, Vice-Chancellor of Middlesex University. In this episode, Shân shares more about her professional background and progressing her career through an educational development route and into senior leadership. With a prime motivation to want to see students flourish and for institutions to work effectively, Sh...

My guest in this episode is Erica Conway, Chief Financial Officer at the  University of Birmingham  and Chair of the British Universities Finance Directors Group ( BUFDG ).   In this episode, Erica offers insight into the role of Chief Financial Officer, and how she works in partnership with university colleagues and governors to enable the institution to achieve its strategic goals. She also offe...