Chief executive of the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB)
Prior to joining NCUB, Joe held a number of positions across government and university organisations. As an academic specialising in government education policy and practice he worked with a number of international agencies including UNESCO, WHO and the European Parliament.
After spending time as a researcher at the University of Manchester, he went on to hold senior lectureship positions at Liverpool Hope University and University of Worcester, before working for UK Sport (the government agency for elite sport) and then the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
James Wilsdon
Digital science professor of research policy at the University of Sheffield and director of the Research on Research Institute (RoRI)
Over a 25-year career, in addition to posts at the universities of Sheffield, Sussex and Lancaster, James has worked in think tanks and as director of science policy for the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy. Previously, he chaired the UK’s Campaign for Social Science, and led an independent government review of responsible uses of research metrics, published in 2015 as The Metric Tide.
He was co-founder—and from 2015-2021, vice-chair—of the International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA). In 2015, he was elected a Fellow of the UK’s Academy of Social Sciences. He serves on the editorial board of the OA journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, and tweets @jameswilsdon.
Keynote panel
Neha Agarwal
Head of research and insight, HESA
As a social researcher by profession, Neha have an interest in data collection methods and social surveys. During her career, she has worked in various research and analytical roles, mainly in the public sector. Neha has been working in the higher education sector as a lead analyst and researcher since 2015. She is currently leading the delivery of the Graduate Outcomes survey in the UK.
Rosie Cornelius
Deputy director, head of analytics, UKRI
Rosie has been working in UKRI since 2020, heading up the analytical team overseeing UKRI’s cross-cutting evidence, data, systems insights, policy appraisal, evaluation and analysis. Prior to this, she spent sixteen years in central UK government departments. She worked on a range of economic, environmental and social topics both as an economist and working directly on policy.
Karen Foster
Executive director of data analytics, Jisc
Jisc’s data analytics directorate focus on advancing data informed decision making, developing and delivering products and services to help further and higher education members and customers address strategic challenges and goals. Karen is a chartered educational psychologist and associate fellow of the British Psychological Society and worked in education in her early career as a teacher and headteacher.
Rachel Hewitt
Chief executive, MillionPlus
Rachel formerly worked at the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), as director of policy and advocacy, where she explored a wide variety of HE policy issues, including the future demand for higher education and the graduate gender pay gap. Earlier in her career, Rachel held a number of roles at the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), focused on policy and governance. During this time, she led on the review of data on graduate destinations and designed and implemented the Graduate Outcomes survey.
