CTL, in collaboration with the four faculties, is delighted to announce our University Learning, Teaching and Assessment Conference. The theme of the conference is ‘Reimagining Student Engagement – Innovate, Include, Inspire’ and will take place on campus on Tuesday, 13 January 2026.
Student engagement remains a cornerstone of meaningful learning, yet its nature continues to evolve in response to shifting educational paradigms, technological advancements, and diverse learner needs. We welcome submissions that critically examine, creatively reimagine, and practically advance the ways in which engagement is fostered in contemporary learning environments. Contributions may be as workshops, practice papers, research papers or lightening talks and are welcome from all.
The includes Lightning Talks, Workshops, Practice Papers and Research Papers.
The keynote address will be given by Tom Lowe, Assistant Head of School (Student Experience) in Finance and Accounting at the University of Westminster.
Biography
Keynote Speaker, Tom Lowe
Tom Lowe has researched and innovated in student engagement across diverse settings for over 10 years, in areas such as student voice, retention, employability and student-staff partnership.
as Assistant Head of School (Student Experience) in Finance and Accounting where he leads on student experience, outcomes and belonging. Tom is also the Chair of , a network for all stakeholders in higher education for researching, innovating and sharing best practice in student engagement.
Prior to Westminster, Tom was a Senior Lecturer in Higher Education at the University of Portsmouth, and previously held leadership positions for engagement and employability at the University of Winchester.
Tom has published two books on student engagement with Routledge; ‘’ in 2020 and ‘’ in 2023, and has supported over 40 institutions in consultancy and advisory roles internationally.
Guest Speaker, Roy Priest
Based in the College of Computing at Birmingham University, Roy is College Academic Lead for Employability and Mobility.
Roy's teaching focuses on developing students' industrial awareness. His approach involves opportunities for students to engage with a range of industry professionals.
Roy has a particular interest in graduate employability. His research in this area was the basis for his PhD which he completed through the University of Warwick.
The aim of Roy’s PhD was to explore, in the context of a specific course type, stakeholder perceptions of policy across the Higher Education sector that typically espouses an integrated approach for the enhancement of graduate employability.