Keynote speakers

Rachel Hewitt, director of policy and advocacy, Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI)

Rachel joined HEPI in November 2018, as director of policy and advocacy and has written about a wide variety of HE policy issues, including the future demand for higher education and the graduate gender pay gap.

Prior to joining HEPI, Rachel held a number of roles at the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), focused on data policy and governance and gathering requirements for information that could be met from HESA data. Rachel also lead on the review of data on graduate destinations and designed and implemented the new Graduate Outcomes survey.

Rachel's keynote session takes place on day one of Data Matters, Tuesday 26 January, at 10:10. See the full programme.

Richard Prowse, deputy director service design, University of Bath

For over a decade Rich has worked with students and colleagues to design and develop better products and services through the application of human-centred design and the use of design thinking. As an advocate for the use of tech for good, he believes that the ethical application of new and innovative technologies has the potential to transform people’s lives; removing barriers to participation and improving the outcomes of students from lower-income families, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities.

His specialities include the application of agile in a higher education context, the adoption of human-centred design-led practices, and the use of product management techniques to improve how teams design and develop experiences with others. He regularly shares his experiences and expertise at higher education conferences in the UK and the US.

Rich's keynote session takes place on day one of Data Matters, Tuesday 26 January, at 12:00. See the full programme.

Charles Baird, data architect, Government Digital Service (GDS)

Charles is a technologist with over 20 years of experience of data management.

He recently joined GDS to help push forward the Government API Catalogue, and related standards both for APIs and data catalogues more generally.

Charles's keynote session takes place on day two of Data Matters, Wednesday 27 January, at 10:10. See the full programme.

Bart Rienties, professor of learning analytics, The Open University

Dr Bart Rienties is a professor of learning analytics and head of academic professional development at the Institute of Educational Technology at The Open University UK. As associate director, he leads a group of academics who provide university-wide academic professional development and innovation courses and conduct evidence-based research of how professionals learn.

His primary research interests are focused on learning analytics, professional development, and the role of motivation in learning. He has successfully led a range of institutional/national/European projects, and has received a range of awards for his educational innovation projects. He has published over 200 academic outputs, and is the fourth most cited author and contributor in learning analytics in the period 2011-2018 (Adeniji, 2019).

Bart's keynote session takes place on day two of Data Matters, Wednesday 27 January, at 12:00. See the full programme.