Phil Baty is a leading international authority on university performance and strategy, with more than 22 years of experience in global higher education, including a decade as editor of the prestigious Times Higher Education World University Rankings and its derivative analyses. He is an award-winning journalist, a sought-after speaker and commentator, and the creator of the THE World Academic Summits.
Michael Ignatieff joins John Gill to discuss the CEU experience so far, whether he can envisage being back in Hungary and whether that's more or potentially less important in a post-pandemic era. What is the potential for the Open Society University Network – and is this a new dawn for higher education?
John Gill has been editor of Times Higher Education since 2012. He has previously held roles as news editor, deputy news editor and reporter with the magazine. Gill has been closely involved in the development of THE’s World University Rankings portfolio over the last eight years, and was called to give evidence to the recent parliamentary inquiry into teaching metrics.
Prior to his current role at CEU in Budapest, Professor Michael Ignatieff served as chair of press, politics and public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School in the US. An international commentator on democracy, human rights and governance, he is also an award-winning writer, teacher, former politician and historian with a deep knowledge of Central and Eastern Europe. Professor Ignatieff has held academic posts at the universities of Cambridge, Toronto and British Columbia. In 2006-11, he served as an MP in the Canadian Parliament and was leader of the Liberal Party.
How important will national policies for economic stimulus be to protect and sustain research institutions? Will universities face increasing demands to demonstrate their national impact? Will we see a slow-down in the internationalisation of research universities – or an acceleration? This opening plenary will invite speakers to reflect on how strongly national government policies are affecting research universities and whether the existing international rankings overplay the 'national' character of universities and strengths of national systems.
Phil Baty is a leading international authority on university performance and strategy, with more than 22 years of experience in global higher education, including a decade as editor of the prestigious Times Higher Education World University Rankings and its derivative analyses. He is an award-winning journalist, a sought-after speaker and commentator, and the creator of the THE World Academic Summits.
Professor Dawn Freshwater has been a globally recognized leader in world-class universities for more than a decade. She became the University of Auckland’s first female vice-chancellor in March 2020, after serving as the University of Western Australia's vice-chancellor and senior deputy vice-chancellor and registrar for six years (2014-2020). She is also chair of the World University Network (WUN), board director of Research Australia, member of the NHMRC Women in Science Committee, and a member of the International Advisory Committee for the APEC/APRU University Leaders forum.
In his current role since 2009, Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli fulfilled the same role at Heriot-Watt University from 2007-09. He is chair of the Russell Group of UK universities, and of the Scottish Government’s Standing Council on Europe, a non-political group that provides expert advice to Scottish ministers on protecting Scotland’s relationship with the EU. He also chairs the Commission on Economic Growth for the Glasgow City Region and is a member of the Scottish Government’s Council of Economic Advisers. His research interests are monetary economics, central bank independence, fiscal policy, international finance and macroeconomics.
Professor Tan took up his post in January 2018. He is the university’s fifth president and the 23rd leader to head Singapore’s oldest higher education institution. A pioneer architect of the current academic system at NUS, Professor Tan has seeded many initiatives such as the Special Programme in Science, University Scholars Programme, University Town College Programme, Grade-free Year and Technology-enhanced Education.
Henrik C. Wegener, in his current role since 2017, is an expert on food safety, zoonoses, antimicrobial resistance and emerging infectious diseases. He has served as adviser to national and international authorities and governments (including as chair of the High-Level Group of the EC Scientific Advice Mechanism), international organisations and private companies, and universities and research foundations. He has also served, and is presently serving, on several national and international committees and boards on food safety, veterinary public health and research policy. In addition, he is a former pro-rector at the Technical University of Denmark.
Henrik C. Wegener is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
In his current role since 2009, Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli fulfilled the same role at Heriot-Watt University from 2007-09. He is chair of the Russell Group of UK universities, and of the Scottish Government’s Standing Council on Europe, a non-political group that provides expert advice to Scottish ministers on protecting Scotland’s relationship with the EU. He also chairs the Commission on Economic Growth for the Glasgow City Region and is a member of the Scottish Government’s Council of Economic Advisers. His research interests are monetary economics, central bank independence, fiscal policy, international finance and macroeconomics.
Dr Garza has held academic and leadership positions at Monterrey Institute of Technology for more than 30 years, as well as teaching and research positions. As president, he heads innovation initiatives such as the implementation of a world-class educational model in 26 campuses, and serves in national and international committees and councils in industry and academic organisations. Dr Garza holds a PhD in computer science from Colorado State University.
Luc Sels became rector of KU Leuven in 2017. As rector, he is a member of the Rectors’ Assembly of LERU, the Rectors’ Advisory Group of the Coimbra Group, the Board of Directors of VIU, Board of Directors of Vlerick Business School, the Academic Council of the Europaeum, the General Assembly of UNA Europa, and the General Assembly of Universitas21. His research centres around labour market projections and policies, talent management and workforce differentiation, and cooperative enterprising. He serves on the Belgian High Council for Employment and leads the Centre of Expertise in Labour Market Monitoring.
Professor Tan took up his post in January 2018. He is the university’s fifth president and the 23rd leader to head Singapore’s oldest higher education institution. A pioneer architect of the current academic system at NUS, Professor Tan has seeded many initiatives such as the Special Programme in Science, University Scholars Programme, University Town College Programme, Grade-free Year and Technology-enhanced Education.
Shearer West is president and vice-chancellor of the University of Nottingham, which has campuses in the UK, China and Malaysia. Professor West's background is in art history and has held a number of significant leadership roles in universities and higher education, including the Universities of Birmingham, Oxford and Sheffield and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Professor West is the president of the Universitas 21 network.
Elisabeth Ling is senior vice-president of data science and product management, Research Products at Elsevier. She leads and advises teams to leverage data science approaches, iterative data-driven product management techniques, user research and innovation processes to create such solutions.
She is a member of the European Commission High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence, a member of the Board of Directors of Project COUNTER, a body which provides the standard that enables the knowledge community to count the use of electronic resources. She is also an advisor to Ometria, an AI-driven customer marketing platform for retailers backed by Octopus Ventures.
Professor Walsh’s research focuses on trust in AI, and he has been a leading voice in the debate around autonomous weapons. In addition to his role at UNSW Sydney, he is research group leader at Data61 and guest professor at Technical University of Berlin. He is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, and won the NSW Premier’s Prize for Excellence in Engineering and ICT in 2016. He has published two popular science books, 2062: The World that AI Made and It’s Alive!: Artificial Intelligence from the Logic Piano to Killer Robots.
Swathi Young is chief technology officer of Integrity Management Services Inc., a healthcare services company, where she is leading innovative AI solutions for clients. With over 20 years of technology experience, she has led projects in Belgium, India and the United States across a number of Fortune 100 companies, like GE and Oracle. She is the Washington DC Ambassador for Women in AI, an international non-profit organization working to increase diversity in the field of AI. She recently co-authored the AI Playbook, a framework to help US government to implement AI solutions. She is a member of the 2020 Forbes Technology Council.
Tao Zhou is director of the Big Data Research Center, and a full professor and doctoral supervisor at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. His main research interests include data mining, network science, and collective dynamics. In 2009, he received the First Prize of Natural Science from the Ministry of Education. In 2011, he was the youngest winner of the 12th Science and Technology Award for Chinese Youth and received the First Prize of Science and Technology Progress. He has also been identified as one of the Most Influential Chinese Scientists in 2014, one of the Top Ten National Technology Innovators in 2015, and won the National Innovation Pioneer Award in 2017.
Phil Baty is a leading international authority on university performance and strategy, with more than 22 years of experience in global higher education, including a decade as editor of the prestigious Times Higher Education World University Rankings and its derivative analyses. He is an award-winning journalist, a sought-after speaker and commentator, and the creator of the THE World Academic Summits.
Vincent is corporate senior vice-president and president of the Corporate Communications Department, as well as owner of corporate image strategy and execution. Vincent joined Huawei in 1999, and has held several senior positions within the company, including president of the West European Region, vice-president of the European Region, president of the Vodafone Account Department, president of the Carrier BG Global Sales Department, and president of the Global Sales & Accounts Business Department.
Paul Jump is features and opinion editor at Times Higher Education. Before that, he was a senior reporter covering research policy.
In his current role since 2013, Professor Gertler was previously dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science for five years. An expert in the geography of innovative activity and the economies of city regions, he has advised governments in Canada, the US and Europe, as well as international agencies such as the OECD. He chairs the Working Group on Higher Education-Business Research Partnerships of the Business-Higher Education Roundtable and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 2015, he was appointed to the Order of Canada.
Sally Jeffery leads PwC’s education team in the Middle East and is the global education and skills network leader. Her consulting experience spans the US, Europe and the GCC market. She focuses on sector expansion and reform, strategic planning, governance, performance improvement and partnering models. She has a master’s in business administration and in applied psychology, and has a personal interest in learning science and the drivers of innovation and entrepreneurship.
Ali Breadon has over 20 years of experience in the provision of assurance and advisory services and specialises in education and government where she has led many engagements advising on board development and governance, due diligence and risk and regulatory reviews. Her interest in effective board governance and stewardship extends to her voluntary roles. Ms. Breadon is currently chair of the Audit and Risk Committee at the national sports governing body Swim England.
Professor Jenny Dixon is responsible for the international portfolio, alumni relations and development, marketing and communications, government (including Auckland) and stakeholder relations in New Zealand. She has oversight of the North Asia Centre for Asia-Pacific Excellence (CAPE) and the Auckland Confucius Institute. Professor Dixon has been actively engaged in the Asia Pacific region through leadership of various research and engagement collaborations. She represents the University on several international organisations, including Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), Asia-Pacific Association for International.
Laura Van de Bogart is a managing director in PwC's public sector practice focusing on the higher education sector. She has over 15 years of experience working in a variety of strategy and operational improvement roles in the public and health sectors. She has extensive experience delivering complex business transformation projects, developing new service delivery models, and working with a diverse list of clients within the government.
As a specialist governance consultant working across the higher education and the healthcare sectors, Michael Wood has developed a suite of diagnostic improvement tools designed to strengthen the core principles of effective governance. He has conducted over 20 university and other governance reviews in recent years, and has co-authored a chapter on a universal framework for good governance within Governing Higher Education Today (Routledge 2019).
Louise Simpson is an expert in higher education communications and branding, leading research for many universities and government bodies in the UK, Japan and Europe. Before becoming a consultant, she was director of communications at the University of Cambridge, and a commissioning editor for Reed Elsevier.
Simpson has worked on a variety of major international marketing and reputation projects, creating tools to benchmark university reputation, brand and communications, and in 2007 created The World 100 Reputation Network, now supported by 50 World 100 universities.
Andrea Farquhar leads a team at McMaster University that is responsible for strategic reputational management, marketing and media relations, digital media communications, fundraising communications and the alumni magazine, government and community relations, and internal communications. Her early career was in media, where she was a reporter and newsreader. Farquhar has been at McMaster for the past 20 years but her first career was in broadcast media, included presenting the news on CFRB, Canada’s most listened to news station.
Alan Ferns is responsible for providing coordination, leadership, and strategic direction for a range of external relations and reputation-building activities and functions at The University of Manchester. Prior to taking up his current role in 2017, Ferns was director of communications and marketing where he managed the award-winning central communications and marketing team and provided the strategy and leadership for a wider community of communications and marketing professionals responsible for delivering communications and engagement activity to 40,000 students, 11,000 staff and 350,000 alumni.
Ovidia Lim-Rajaram oversees institutional communications at the National University of Singapore (NUS). Her responsibilities include reputation management, strategic communications, branding and marketing communications, digital communications, special events and protocol, issues management as well as crisis communications for a diverse community comprising 17 schools and 27 university-level research institutes across three campuses.
She is the press secretary to the university president, and a university spokesperson. In her earlier life, Lim-Rajaram was a newspaper reporter, broadcast journalist, and lecturer in media studies.
Tania Rhodes-Taylor joined the University of Sydney in 2017 as its vice-principal of external relations. Rhodes-Taylor leads the work to improve coordination of the university's external engagement activities and develop ways of ensuring that staff and students can easily and effectively move between the university and its external partners.
Prior to joining the University of Sydney, Rhodes-Taylor was director of marketing and communications at Queen Mary University of London. She has previously worked in the corporate and government sectors in the UK, USA and Asia before moving to work for government agencies and, since 2007, within the higher education sector.
In his role, Mark Sudbury connects leaders in communications, marketing and international at global universities, helping them to build profile and navigate the developments in university reputation. Before joining The World 100 Reputation Network (W100) in 2017 he was director of communications and marketing at University College London (UCL), helping to build its reputation and establish it as a global brand. Sudbury was one of a small group of communications directors who established W100 in 2007, and became its first chair. He has presented at conferences around the world on university reputation, communications, and marketing. Previously, Sudbury worked for the UK government and the English Football Association.
Elizabeth Shepherd has more than 15 years’ experience in international higher education research and consultancy. She has worked in the UK, North America and East Asia, and specialises in internationally comparative research methods, evaluation methodology and education policy analysis. She joined Times Higher Education in December 2019 to lead its Consultancy Services team and develop the strategic support offered to universities and governments globally. She is also studying towards the completion of a PhD, exploring the language-in-education policy context of Vietnam.
What is the importance that 'place' and location will have for universities in a more digitised world with far greater remote learning and research collaboration? Will a universities' location become an even more vital asset in relation to public health and the local economy, and thus entrenching the positions of highly ranked universities in global tables? Or will the potential changes in international mobility flows with the consequent economic impact, and opportunities for greater partnerships mean that universities in emerging economies will have a greater opportunity to succeed in their missions?
Youngsuk “YS” Chi is a leader in the media and technology industry and currently serves Elsevier and RELX Group in several capacities. His primary role is as director of corporate affairs and Asia strategy for RELX Group, Elsevier’s parent company, and he is also non-executive chairman of Elsevier. In addition, he has served as chair of the Association of American Publishers, president of the International Publishers Association and on dozens of charitable, educational and industry boards, including Princeton University, the Korean American Community Foundation and McCarter Theater.
Rania Kassem is the dean of students at the Asian University for Women (AUW). AUW is an international university in Bangladesh that provides a pathway into Higher Education for women from backgrounds of forced migration, poverty and conflict. She brings to the role substantial experience in social work and mental health support, working with diverse and challenging communities in the USA for over twenty years. She is passionate about the role of HE in enabling displaced populations and is deeply committed to the project of re-imagining the tertiary education sector in a changed and rapidly changing global environment.
Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell became professor of physiology in 1994 and held a Medical Research Council research chair from 1998 to 2010. Concurrent with her faculty posts, she has also been vice-president of research (2004-07) and deputy president and deputy vice-chancellor (2007-10). Her ongoing research in the field of neuroscience has contributed towards major advances in the understanding and treatment of brain damage in stroke and head injury. She takes a strong and active interest in the public communication of science, and was appointed DBE in June 2005 in recognition of her services to science.
Tassew Woldehanna, a professor of economics, is president of Addis Ababa University. As a development economist, his main interests are fiscal incidence, child welfare and poverty, employment, micro and small-scale enterprise development, entrepreneurship and food security. He has published several book chapters and articles in peer-reviewed journals on poverty, education and health. He is an active researcher and is currently leading several projects in Ethiopia. He is a chair and board member of several organisations including the Ethiopian Higher Education Relevance and Quality Agency and Lion International Bank.
Before taking on her current role in 2017, Alison Johns was chief executive of the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education for three years. Prior to that, she was head of policy for leadership, governance and management at the Higher Education Funding Council for England, where she established the LFHE and the Equality Challenge Unit. She is a past-president of the Association of University Administrators and represents the UK on the Association of Commonwealth Universities Human Resources Management Network.
After graduating as a veterinary surgeon from Trinity College Dublin, Professor Andrea Nolan spent a short time in veterinary practice before embarking on an academic career leading to her appointment as professor in veterinary pharmacology at the University of Glasgow. Her senior leadership developed through various roles before taking up the role of principal and vice-chancellor at Edinburgh Napier University in 2013.
Professor Nolan held the convenorship of Universities Scotland and board membership of Universities UK from 2016 to 2020 and currently chairs the Universities Scotland International committee and the Interface Strategic Board and serves on a range of boards and groups contributing to the development of higher education.
Firoz Rasul joined Aga Khan University as its president in 2006 and has been involved in expanding the university and its programmes in six countries across three continents. Prior to that, he served as president and CEO for Ballard Power Systems, a world leader in fuel cell technology, from 1988 to 2003. Between 2000 and 2006, he was president of the Aga Khan Council for Canada, where on he led the development of The Global Centre of Pluralism in Ottawa and the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, initiatives of the Aga Khan Development Network with significant education and research agendas. Recently, he has been awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Hertfordshire in recognition of his contribution to education and business in the developing world and beyond.
David Sadler has been deputy vice-chancellor of education at the University of Western Australia since 2017. Prior to that, he held the role of deputy vice-chancellor of students and education at the University of Tasmania in 2011-2017.
Laura Tucker founded Vertigo Ventures in 2009 and led the development of the company’s flagship product, the VV-Impact Tracker, which is used by research institutions in the UK, Australia and Hong Kong, across disciplines, to identify, capture and report the impact of their research. She oversees service delivery, ensures the core values are at the heart of how the company operates and contributes to the impact agenda through co-writing papers and speaking at conferences.
In this session, UN Environment Programme (UNEP), with the support of GRID-Arendal and Behavioural Insight Team (BIT), will launch its new publication titled, The Little Book of Green Nudges. This document sets out a range of guidelines which summarises the evidence around which nudges work best while seeking to encourage more sustainable practices among students and staff across several behavioural categories. It provides 40 simple nudging options to support universities to develop, implement and evaluate behavioural change interventions in a variety of contexts.
Seeta Bhardwa has been the student content editor at Times Higher Education since February 2017. She manages a network of student bloggers from all over the world who write about their experiences of studying at university, while creating student-focused content based on the THE rankings portfolio and writing comment and advice pieces on student issues. She was previously the deputy editor of Independent Nurse magazine and has a BA in English from the University of Reading.
Dr Charmondusit received his PhD in chemical technology from Chulalongkorn University and post-doctoral fellowship in chemical engineering from University of Waterloo. He has been an associate professor in environmental science and technology, faculty of environment and resource studies, Mahidol University. He is the founding president of Sustainable University Network of Thailand (SUN Thailand), and currently serves as vice-president of environment and sustainable development at Mahidol University.
Ms. Mari Nishimura works at UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. She leads the work on behavioural changes on campus and green jobs for youth. Previously, she worked closely on sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12) in Paris, New York and Panama City. Before joining UNEP, she held a public policy and advisory role covering the EU regulation on fluorinated gas and the Montreal Protocol.
Toby Park leads the energy and sustainability work at the Behavioural Insights Team, the world's first government organisation dedicated to using behavioural science to improve people's lives. Mr Park's expertise lies in the psychology of pro-environmental behaviour, and in using this insight to develop effective policies, campaigns and interventions to drive sustainable change in the way we travel, eat, consume and use our homes.
With a background in both academia and business, Professor Parkes is based at Winchester University’s Business School, a PRME (Principles for Responsible Management Education) Champion School. A member (and acting chair) of the PRME global advisory committee and a former chair of the PRME UK and Ireland chapter, she has been awarded a PRME Pioneer Award for her leadership and commitment to the development of PRME, and appointed a global PRME special advisor. She has edited and co-edited a number of publications including The Sage Handbook of Responsible Management Learning and Education (2020). She is also an inaugural fellow of the Environmental Association of Universities and Colleges (EAUC) and on the editorial board of Society and Business Review (SBR).
A senior, studying genetics and plant biology with a minor in energy and resources, Julia Sherman is also a waste reduction coordinator for the housing and dining sustainability advocates, a zero waste fellow in the office of sustainability, and chairs the UC Berkeley zero waste coalition. She is also an undergraduate student researcher in the Koskella microbiology laboratory.
As special projects editor, Alistair Lawrence works with THE’s university and industry partners to co-create thought leadership and chair discussions about best practice and creative solutions.
Leah Belsky is chief enterprise officer at Coursera. Under her leadership, Coursera is helping more than 3,000 businesses, governments, and universities reskill their workforce and access a world-class education. She also sits on the board of Engine Advocacy, a leading technology and start-up policy organisation.
Isak Froumin has worked at HSE University since 2009. As head of the Institute of Education, his responsibilities include monitoring the operations of HSE’s strategic development programme, leading its educational expert analytics, and consulting with heads of international operations. He is also a member of the HSE Academic Council.
Loretta O’Donnell coordinates with deans to develop international academic systems for educational programmes. She also liaises with Nazarbayev University’s strategic partners, such as Duke University, National University of Singapore and University of Wisconsin-Madison to implement the academic mission of Nazarbayev and to share its experiences with local and regional universities.
A passionate advocate of higher education and the role teaching and research play in shaping student futures, Rorden’s leadership interests lie in experiential learning, educational technologies, virtual and augmented reality, institutional innovation and cultural change. He is a champion of student participation in all aspects of university life.
Professor Olonisakin is vice-president and vice-principal international and professor of security, leadership and development at King’s College London. Previous roles have included founding director of the African Leadership Centre, which aims to build the next generation of African scholars and analysts generating cutting-edge knowledge for security and development in Africa; and director of the Conflict, Security and Development Research Group at King’s College London (2003-13). Prior to this, she worked in the Office of the United Nations as the special representative of the secretary-general for children and armed conflict.
A professor of anthropology, José Jorge de Carvalho is a proponent of quotas for black and indigenous students and leads the project “Meeting of Knowledges”. Aimed at decolonising the Latin America academy, the project helps to place experts in traditional Afro-Brazilian and indigenous knowledge as lecturers in institutions of higher education.
Appointed pro vice-chancellor (Indigenous) in 2017, Professor Ewen is also foundation director of the Melbourne Poche Centre for Indigenous Health at the University of Melbourne, and visiting professor of Indigenous health and leadership at King’s College London. He is also convenor of the Association of Commonwealth Universities’ Peace and Reconciliation Network. As pro vice-chancellor, he has responsibility for institutional policy, strategy and advice in relation to Indigenous higher education. Professor Ewen has a clinical background in physiotherapy, and holds postgraduate qualifications in international relations and education. His area of research expertise relates to Indigenous health and health professional education.
Professor Habib is a political scientist who has been the vice-chancellor and principal of the University of the Witwatersrand since June 2013. Before that, he served as deputy vice-chancellor for research, innovation, library and faculty coordination at the University of Johannesburg. He has also served as executive director of the Human Sciences Research Council.
Joanna Newman joined the Association of Commonwealth Universities in April 2017 and is also a senior research fellow in the history faculty of King’s College London. Before taking up her current role, she served as vice-principal (international) of King’s College London, director of the UK Higher Education International Unit (now Universities UK International) and head of higher education at the British Library. In 2014, Dr Newman was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of her work promoting British higher education internationally.
A world-renowned translator, literary critic, public intellectual, editor, writer, and social and cultural catalyst, Professor Wangũi wa Goro is an interdisciplinary scholar best known as a theoretician/practitioner and for advocacy in human rights and justice for over 35 years. Her scholarly, professional and practical work is concerned with epistemic freedom and decolonisation through intersectionality and traducture (deep meaning).
Since joining Times Higher Education in January 2015, Nick Davis has worked closely with universities in the UK, Middle East, North Africa and Asia helping to develop their long-term recruitment advertising strategies. By implementing elements of these strategies across the THE platforms, Davis has enabled his partner institutions to attract and recruit high-quality talent from around the world.
Rebecca Jarrett is a chartered fellow of the CIPD and head of resourcing for Cranfield School of Management at Cranfield University. She is also the HR lead on the MK:U project, a new model university for Milton Keynes. Rebecca Jarrett is currently studying for a doctorate, looking at the extent to which recruitment and selection processes are barriers to universities’ attempts to address underrepresentation.
Dr Hugh Martin graduated from the University of Oxford with an MA (Hons) in english language and literature. As an academic, Dr Martin held the post of associate lecturer at The Open University for 15 years and has worked in higher education senior management for over 20 years, including as the secretary at the University of Bedfordshire, chief of staff at the London School of Economics, head of governance at the University of Bristol, and executive officer at the University of St Andrews.
As global director of solutions for education institutions, Skyler Webster works with universities around the world to deliver best-in-class payment products through innovative technology. With more than 15 years of experience in the payments industry, she brings a wealth of experience and expertise in international finance solutions for education institutions.
This discussion will reflect on the extraordinary global collaboration and competition that has developed in the research towards a vaccine for Covid-19, and how the legacy of this drive could bring the world closer together, or divide us? What have we learnt from the geopolitics of the research (so far) and how might this pandemic might empower universities to have a greater role in the application of research as well as its development. Does the race for the vaccine mean that universities can play a similar role towards combatting the existential threat of our changing climate?
John Gill has been editor of Times Higher Education since 2012. He has previously held roles as news editor, deputy news editor and reporter with the magazine. Gill has been closely involved in the development of THE’s World University Rankings portfolio over the last eight years, and was called to give evidence to the recent parliamentary inquiry into teaching metrics.
Professor Agnes Binagwaho is a Rwandan pediatrician who returned to Rwanda in July of 1996, two years after the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi. Since then, she has provided clinical care in the public sector, served the Rwandan Health Sector (2001-2016) in high-level government positions, first as the Executive Secretary of Rwanda’s National AIDS Control Commission, then as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, and 5 years as Minister of Health. She co-founded the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE), an initiative of Partners In Health, which focuses on changing how health care is delivered around the world by training global health professionals who strive to deliver more equitable, quality health services for all.
Before joining NYU in 2015, Dr Hamilton most recently served as the vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford, after an academic career that took him from Princeton to the University of Pittsburgh, and then to Yale, where he was named provost. He has continued an active research career - at the intersection of organic and biologic chemistry - throughout his time in academic leadership positions, and is a fellow of the Royal Society.
Professor Toope was appointed vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge in 2017. He was previously director of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, and president and vice-chancellor of the University of British Columbia. He publishes and lectures around the globe on international dispute resolution, international environmental law, human rights, and international legal theory. He also served as chair of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, and as fact-finder for the Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in relation to Maher Arar.
Marijk van der Wende’s research in the Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance focuses on the impact of globalisation and internationalisation on higher education systems, institutions, curricula, and teaching and learning arrangements. She is also an affiliate faculty and research associate at the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California Berkeley and guest professor and member of the International Advisory Board of the Graduate School of Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. She is a member of the Academia Europaea and has been a chair and member of numerous national and international advisory committees and editorial boards.
Michael Lubacz leads THE’s global brand and strategic solutions team. He works closely with institutions to help raise their international profiles, build visibility around their research excellence, and create identities that differentiate their institutions in what is a competitive global market.
How and why has changemaker education been gaining traction in the last decade? And how and why might it be relevant amidst our current crises of a global pandemic and calls for overturning systems of oppression?
Senior leaders from Ashoka University's changemaker campuses explore why their institutions are committed to changemaker values and education, the promises they stand to offer in our current moment, and the trade-offs to be made.
Dr Angie Fuessel oversees the selection and network collaboration of approximately 45 designated Changemaker campuses at Ashoka U. In this role, she bridges theory, research, and practice in the pursuit of catalysing social innovation and changemaking across higher education. Dr Fuessel draws from over 20 years of experience working to foster effectiveness and transformation amongst individuals, organisations, and systems. In previous roles, she served as a consultant in the US and abroad, and as an advisor for the government of Abu Dhabi in the UAE.
Ji Mi Choi is associate vice-president at Arizona State University, and advances entrepreneurship and innovation leveraging her 25+ years of expertise in higher education at the intersection of entrepreneurial and public-private partnerships.
She has previously served at New York University (NYU), including leading a merger of what is now the engineering school of NYU and the development of strategic initiatives including the launch of several start-up incubators. A New Yorker by way of Seoul and an avid internationalist, Choi has also served in leadership roles for Columbia University, the United Nations, and numerous start-ups, both not-for-profit and for profit.
Dr Kenneth Furton is provost, executive vice-president, and COO of Florida International University (FIU). He leads across-the-board improvements in student success and research and community impact in an urban multicultural setting. Under his leadership, FIU achieved Carnegie R1 designation and increased numerous rankings including #43 in Washington Monthly, #10 Top Performer in Social Mobility in US News and World Report and top 3 in the US in four Times Higher Education Impact Rankings in 2020.
Professor Pamela Gillies has been president and vice-chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University since 2006. She is a founding member of the Global Advisory Council for the African Leadership University and of the Grameen Caledonian College of Nursing, Bangladesh. She was a founding board member of RFK Human Rights UK and a trustee of the British Council. She is a professor of public health and former pro vice-chancellor at the University of Nottingham, and has written widely on HIV/AIDS, health and inequalities focusing on the potential of social action for health.
Dr Philip Steenkamp has broad experience in the public service and postsecondary sectors, previously serving as vice-president of external relations at the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University. Steenkamp held office as deputy minister in several portfolios from 1997 to 2011, including Aboriginal Affairs, Economic and Skills Development, and Advanced Education in British Columbia, and the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities in Ontario.
His academic roles included adjunct assistant professor at Queen’s University, research fellow at the University of Namibia, and assistant professor and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Victoria.
Professor Johanne Turbide is secretary-general, director of sustainable development, and responsible for equity, diversity and inclusion at HEC Montréal. One of her main focuses is to foster a truly humane and sustainable economic ecosystem. She worked as a professor of accounting and is also co-founder of the IDEOS hub, a social impact centre. Professor Turbide sits on the boards of directors of HEC Montréal Foundation, the Montreal Arts Council, and United Way Centraide of Greater Montréal. In 2019, she received the title of Fellow of the Ordre des CPA du Québec.
Richard is an experienced HE leader and has held strategy, planning and finance roles in UK and Australian Universities for over 10 years. As director of strategy and planning at the London South Bank University Group, he has led on strategy development, the use of insight to inform decision making, and performance measurement. The LSBU Group comprises South Bank Academies, South Bank Colleges, South Bank Enterprises and London South Bank University. The group works to one vision and seeks to deliver a holistic solution to the educational needs of communities and business both locally and globally.
Meghan Fay Zahniser has been with AASHE for nine years and previously been director of programs and STARS program manager. Prior to AASHE, Meghan Fay Zahniser worked as a sustainability specialist at NELSON, where she provided sustainability expertise and consulting services to various clients. She spent over five years as a manager at the U.S. Green Building Council, where she developed and managed a local chapter network for building industry professionals and helped create the Emerging Green Builders programme aimed at integrating students and young professionals into the green building movement.
Dr Paul Shrivastava is chief sustainability officer at The Pennsylvania State University, director of the Sustainability Institute, and professor of organisations at the Smeal School of Business. Prior to this, he served as executive director of Future Earth, a global research platform for environmental change and transformation to sustainability. Dr Shrivastava was the David O’Brien Distinguished Professor of Sustainable Enterprise, and director of the David O’Brien Centre for Sustainable Enterprise at the John Molson School of Business, Concordia University. He also leads the UNESCO Chair on Art and Sustainable Enterprise at the ICN Business School, and is a full member of the Club of Rome.
Professor Ed Byrne was president and vice-chancellor of Monash University from 2009-14 before taking his up his current role at King’s College London. He is also chairman of the London-based academic health science centre, King’s Health Partners, as well as being a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, the Royal Colleges of Physicians of London and Edinburgh, and the American Association of Neurology.
Professor Byrne is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Kate Eichhorn is director of the cultural studies and media studies programmes at The New School, a university in New York City. For more than two decades, she has researched the impact of new media technologies on youth cultures, subcultures and social movements. Her most recent book, The End of Forgetting: Growing Up with Social Media, published by Harvard University Press in 2019, examines the impact of social media platforms on identity development, reputation management and memory.
Kate Eichhorn is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Gül İnanç is an award-winning lecturer at Nanyang Technological University and is co-director of the Centre for Asia Pacific Refugee Studies at the University of Auckland. Her areas of expertise include modern diplomatic history of West Asia and history education for K-12. Her recent published work focuses on global cultural heritage education for conflict resolution and access to higher education for refugees. She has taught at Bogazici University, Eastern Mediterranean University, University of Cyprus and National University of Singapore. She is the founder of Opening Universities for Refugees, an initiative to build knowledge networks and consortia to offer higher education to communities in need in Southeast Asia
Professor İnanç is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Having immigrated to Israel four years ago from bonny Scotland, Christian Jowers now works closely with the president, provost, and faculty of IDC Herzliya to increase the scope and elevate the level of activity across all areas of internationalisation. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh with an MA in Chinese (Hons) and has 11 years of experience in global higher education, having co-developed a plethora of projects and academic initiatives around the world.
Christian Jowers is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Sigbritt Karlsson is president of KTH and professor of polymer technology targeting the polymeric materials technical environment. An MSc in chemical engineering and a PhD in polymer technology at KTH were followed by a variety of academic posts including director of studies (1996-2004) and vice-dean of faculty with responsibility for undergraduate studies at the School of Chemical Science. From 2008 to 2010, she was vice-dean responsible for strategic education issues. She was president of the University of Skövde from 2010 to 2016.
Professor Karlsson is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Professor Lily Kong is the fifth president of Singapore Management University (SMU) and the first Singaporean to lead the 19-year-old institution. She is also Lee Kong Chian chair professor of social sciences. Professor Kong has previously served as provost of SMU, vice-provost and vice-president of the National University of Singapore, and executive vice-president (academic) of Yale-NUS College.
She is widely known for her research on religion, cultural policy and creative economy, urban heritage and conservation, and national identity. She has received five international fellowship awards and has also won the Association of American Geographers’ Robert Stoddard Award for Distinguished Service.
Professor Kong is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Professor Lin is the Compton Visiting Professor in world politics at the University of Virginia. She has also taught at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Tsinghua University and National Chengchi University. Previously a partner at Goldman Sachs, she spearheaded the firm’s investments in technology start-ups including Alibaba and SMIC. She currently serves on the boards of Goldman Sachs Asia Bank and Langham Hospitality Investments. She earned a PhD from the University of Hong Kong and her AB from Harvard College.
Syaru Shirley Lin is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Before taking on his current role, Professor Max Lu held academic and leadership positions at the University of Queensland from 1994 to 2016, most recently as provost and senior vice-president. He has been appointed to the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology, and serves on several boards including UK Research and Innovation, and Universities UK. He founded the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Functional Nanomaterials and has twice been the recipient of the Australian Research Council Federation Fellowship.
Professor Lu is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Henrik C. Wegener, in his current role since 2017, is an expert on food safety, zoonoses, antimicrobial resistance and emerging infectious diseases. He has served as adviser to national and international authorities and governments (including as chair of the High-Level Group of the EC Scientific Advice Mechanism), international organisations and private companies, and universities and research foundations. He has also served, and is presently serving, on several national and international committees and boards on food safety, veterinary public health and research policy. In addition, he is a former pro-rector at the Technical University of Denmark.
Henrik C. Wegener is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Professor Qiu Yong was appointed president of Tsinghua University in 2015 following a long career at the university. He previously served as vice-chairman of the university committee of academic affairs and deputy dean of the School of Sciences (2002-2009), and vice-president (2009-2015). He has also been a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences since 2013 and professor of chemistry since 2000. He is a specialist in organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) and has been devoted to the fundamental research and technology transfer of OLEDs.
Professor Yong is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Prior to his current role as vice-chancellor of Lahore University of Management Sciences, Dr Arshad Ahmad served as vice-provost of teaching and learning, and director of the MacPherson Institute at McMaster University. He is also chair of teaching and learning and former president of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Dr Ahmad completed his MBA and subsequent PhD in psychology at McGill University, won a lifetime 3M National Teaching Fellowship in 1992 and was a professor of finance at Concordia and McMaster Universities. His research interests are in student evaluations of teaching, approaches to teaching, teaching philosophies and student partnerships.
Dr Arshad is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Daniel Akinbosede is a PhD researcher at the University of Sussex, studying a protein that allows Neisseria bacteria to highjack iron from human blood as a nutrient source. He is a keen advocate for anti-racism in STEM teaching and research as well as the academy in general. In 2019, he was a co-founder of the Sussex Race Equity Advocate programme, which is designed to give voice and power to ethnic minority students as they fight to address academia’s many racial inequalities.
Mr Akinbosede is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Dr Hassan Al-Derham is president of Qatar University (QU). In his previous role as vice-president of research, he guided QU to its current position as leader of research excellence in the Gulf Cooperation Council region. He developed and implemented the organisation’s research policies and procedures, and initiated several research centres. He plays a major role in advancing research activity at both university and national levels.
Dr Al-Derham is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Dr Amit Chakma, an expert in petroleum research and energy management, moved to The University of Western Australia in 2020. Prior to this, he served as president and vice-chancellor of Western University (2009-2019), and provost vice-president (academic) of the University of Waterloo. Dr Chakma is also a professor of chemical engineering, chair of the Council of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, and a member of the Science, Technology and Innovation Council of Canada.
Professor Chakma is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Professor Shiyi Chen joined SUSTech in 2015 from Peking University where he had been vice-president of research, dean of the Graduate School and dean of the College of Engineering. Previous roles included chair of the department of mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins University and research group leader at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Science in 2013 and a fellow of the World Academy of Sciences for the Advancement of Science in Developing Countries in 2018.
Professor Chen is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Professor Kelly Chibale is a professor of organic chemistry at the University of Cape Town where he is also the Neville Isdell chair in African-centric drug discovery and development. He is also a member of the university’s Institute of Infectious Disease & Molecular Medicine, a tier 1 South Africa research chair in drug discovery, founding director of the South African Medical Research Council Drug Discovery & Development Research Unit, and founder and director of the UCT Drug Discovery and Development Centre (H3D).
Professor Chibale is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Dr Steven Currall was named seventh president of the University of South Florida in 2019. He brings three decades of experience as a faculty member and administrator at research universities, both public and private, in the United States and abroad. Dr Currall earned a master’s degree in social psychology from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a PhD in organisational behaviour from Cornell University. He was lead author of a book on university-business-government collaboration, Organized Innovation: A Blueprint for Renewing America's Prosperity. At USF, he is a tenured professor of information systems and decision sciences in the Muma College of Business.
Dr Currall is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Professor Akiko Morozumi is associate professor at the University of Tokyo. Her research areas include higher education policy, university leadership and management. She has been conducting empirical studies of Japanese university management and she is involved in the training of university management and senior management personnel in graduate education.
Professor Morozumi is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Professor Sung-chul Shin, a nanoscience scholar, first joined the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) faculty in 1989. From the early 1990s, he held key administrative positions including dean of planning, dean of the international office and vice-dean of student affairs. He also served as vice-president in 2004-06. Prior to being selected in 2017 as the 16th president of KAIST, his alma mater, he led the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology for six years.
Professor Shin is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Professor Nic Smith was appointed provost of Queensland University of Technology in 2020, having previously been dean of engineering at the University of Auckland since 2013. Prior to that, Professor Smith was head of biomedical engineering at King’s College London and professor of computational physiology at the University of Oxford. At the University of Auckland, Professor Smith led a computational modelling group which was a central contributor to the European based Virtual Physiological Human Project. He has authored over 150 peer-reviewed journal publications and 300 conference publications. He is the lead author on several patent applications filed with the United States and European Patent Offices, which outline intellectual property covering the development of anatomically based physiological models and specific applications.
Professor Smith is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Before taking on the mantle of president, Professor Vahan Agopyan – a professor of materials and components for construction – fulfilled a variety of roles. He has been University Scholars Programme provost of graduate studies, dean of the Polytechnic School, chief executive officer of the Institute for Technological Research of São Paulo State, and vice-president of the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction. Among his numerous awards are Commander of the National Order of Scientific Merit (Brazil) and Distinguished Engineer of the Year (Institute of Engineering).
Professor Agopyan is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Dr Yusuf Al-Turki has been vice-president of postgraduate studies and research at King Abdulaziz (KAU) University since 2017. In 1985, Dr Al-Turki was awarded a doctorate in electrical power engineering from the University of Manchester. He became associate professor at KAU in 1991, and then professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department in 1999 where he worked until appointed to his present position.
Dr Al-Turki is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Professor Dina El Maoula is president of the Islamic University of Lebanon and the first female president of the Association of Arab Universities, an association of more than 360 universities. She is also president of the Center for Academic Research and Cooperation, a member of the Joint Committee, and professor at the Research and Strategic Studies Center in the Lebanese Armed Forces. Professor El Maoula is a member of the Higher Education Council and the Supreme Committee for Programs and Curricula of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in Lebanon. She holds a PhD in law from the University of Montpelier 1 (2002), and was granted the Academic Palms Award from the French government (2016).
Professor El Maoula is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Professor Ian Jacobs has led UNSW Sydney since 2015 and been chair of the Group of Eight universities since 2018. Prior to this, he was vice-president of the University of Manchester for four years. For 30 years, he has led a research team working on the early detection and risk prediction of cancer with a focus on screening for ovarian cancer. Among other roles, he is an honorary senior principal research fellow of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and board member of Research Australia.
Professor Jacobs is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
A Japanese citizen, Shigeo Katsu is the founding president of 10-year old Nazarbayev University. He also serves as chairman of two boards, one a NU secondary school system, and another a NU-affiliated financial services company. Prior to coming to Kazakhstan, he worked for over 30 years at the World Bank with assignments in Africa, East Asia, Europe, and Central Asia. He retired in 2009 as regional vice-president. He continues to be active in international development issues.
Professor Way Kuo is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering and Academia Sinica in Taiwan, and a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the Russian Academy of Engineering. He is renowned for his work in design for reliability of electronics systems and energy. He was on the senior management team of Oak Ridge National Lab and served as dean of engineering at the University of Tennessee before taking on his current role in 2008. His book, Soulware: The American Way in China’s Higher Education, is jointly published by Wiley-Scrivener (2019).
Professor Kuo is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Before joining the University of Pretoria in 2019, Professor Tawana Kupe was vice-principal of the University of the Witwatersrand, where he also served as deputy vice-chancellor of advancement, human resources and transformation, and deputy vice-chancellor of finance and operations in 2013-14. He was executive dean of the Wits Faculty of Humanities in 2007-12, after serving as head of Wits School of Literature and Language Studies and founding head of the media studies department. He completed his tertiary studies in Zimbabwe and Norway.
Professor Kupe is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Professor Jin-Guang Teng assumed office as president of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2019. Prior to his current appointment, he was vice-president and dean of the Graduate School at Southern University of Science and Technology. Professor Teng has conducted extensive research in the field of structural engineering. He was elected member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2017, corresponding fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2015, and fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences in 2013.
Professor Teng is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Professor Paul Wellings joined Wollongong in 2012 from Lancaster University where he was vice-chancellor for nine years. He started his career in the UK as an NERC research fellow and moved to Australia as a research scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, becoming deputy chief executive in 1999. In 2006, he was appointed a board member of, and chaired committees at, both Universities UK and the Higher Education Funding Council for England.
Professor Wellings is speaking in our series of #NewDawnHE videos. To find out more please visit the Resource hub here.
Billy Wong works closely with some of the top universities in the world to help them identify national and global competitors, understand their relative strengths and weaknesses, and formulate strategies that best suit the higher education needs of their countries. He studied in France and Hong Kong, and is involved with DataKind UK, which promotes the use of data science techniques in the charity sector.
Phil Baty is a leading international authority on university performance and strategy, with more than 22 years of experience in global higher education, including a decade as editor of the prestigious Times Higher Education World University Rankings and its derivative analyses. He is an award-winning journalist, a sought-after speaker and commentator, and the creator of the THE World Academic Summits.
Joyce Chee uses her experience of studying and working in China in her current role as regional director of Mainland China for Times Higher Education. She oversees the development of universities and forges strategic partnerships, connecting universities with experts in data-driven performance analysis, reputation management and areas essential to the growth of a university. Prior to this, she gained entrepreneurial experience in strategic planning, marketing and operations before an acquisition exit.
Ritin Malhotra is a regional director for South Asia at Times Higher Education specialising in branding and internationalisation. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Singapore Management University and a certificate programme in marketing from University of California, Berkeley. He works with the leading higher education institutes and policymakers across South Asia to solve various key issues including improving quality of higher education, internationalisation, branding and recognition in the THE World University Rankings.
Dr Pankaj Mittal, secretary-general of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), is the second woman to hold this position in the association’s 95 years of existence and has served the higher education sector at senior positions for over 30 years. Dr Mittal has also served two terms as vice-chancellor of Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Vishwavidyalaya, Haryana, the first rural women university of North India.
She has travelled around North and South America, Europe and Asia to present academic papers in international conferences, and has published a number of papers, articles and reports on issues relating to higher education and women empowerment in national and international journals.
Professor Anil Sahasrabudhe has held several important academic, research and administrative positions at institutions across India, and has also served as director of the College of Engineering Pune (CoEP) since 2006. He has taken up several new initiatives for academic, curricular and co-curricular activities, entrepreneurship, research, and good governance.
Professor Sahasrabudhe has been bestowed with several awards including Maha Intrapreneur Award from Praj Industries in 2011, Lifetime Achievement Award from MIT World Peace University in 2019, and Mahatma Gandhi Leadership Award from Indian Achievers Forum in 2019.
Prof. D.P. Singh is chairman of the University Grants Commission, the apex higher education regulatory body in India. Prof. Singh has held academic and leadership positions in Indian higher education in a career spanning close to four decades. Prior to this, he was vice-chancellor of Banaras Hindu University, Dr. Hari Singh Gour University and Devi Ahilya University, and was director of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council. Prof. Singh has been instrumental in developing a conducive learning environment, enhancing academic and administrative efficiency, fostering excellence in research, encouraging global facilitation of higher education, and promoting quality and value-based higher education in India.
Phil Baty is a leading international authority on university performance and strategy, with more than 22 years of experience in global higher education, including a decade as editor of the prestigious Times Higher Education World University Rankings and its derivative analyses. He is an award-winning journalist, a sought-after speaker and commentator, and the creator of the THE World Academic Summits.
Will a vision or understanding of 'success' for a university change this in decade, and in what way? Are impact rankings going to be more important than traditional research-based methodologies? Post-pandemic, are there new or greater challenges for universities to reflect, engage with, support their local communities? Should university governance be more directly accountable to local communities or city/state authorities? Equally, how might universities play a stronger role for people who are left out or otherwise unable to access our online world?
Ellie Bothwell is rankings editor and international reporter at THE. She oversees editorial content for THE’s global series of rankings, including the flagship World University Rankings, and reports on all areas of internationalisation, including student and staff mobility, research and institutional partnerships, and branch campuses.
Professor Fujii is in charge of finance and external relations at the University of Tokyo. He served as associate professor in the university’s Institute of Industrial Science (IIS). He worked at the Riken Institute for four years before returning to IIS where he was promoted to full professor in 2007 and served as director-general (2015-18). He also served as an adviser to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (2005-07) and was co-director of LIMMS-CNRS/IIS (2007-14), a joint research laboratory between CNRS (the French National Centre for Scientific Research) and IIS.
Professor Phakeng, a National Research Foundation B1 rated scientist, took on the role of vice-chancellor at the University of Cape Town in 2018, having previously been the deputy vice-chancellor for research and internationalisation. She joined UCT from the University of South Africa where she was vice-principal of research and innovation (2011-16) and, before that, dean of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology. She is an internationally renowned educator and mathematics education researcher, and has won numerous awards for her research and community work.
Dr Spence has been in his current role since 2008. Under his leadership, the University of Sydney has forged a distinctive strategy focused on the transformation of undergraduate education, promoting interdisciplinary research, and strengthening the culture around its core values. Dr Spence was instrumental in leading the university’s A$1 billion “Inspired” philanthropic campaign. In 2017, he was awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia. Before joining the University of Sydney, he spent 20 years at the University of Oxford and latterly headed the Faculty of Law and the Social Sciences Division.
Joyce Msuya was appointed deputy executive director of UN Environment Programme in 2018 by UN secretary-general António Guterres. Ms Msuya served as acting executive director in 2018-2019, overseeing UN Environment’s portfolio in 33 countries and administering multilateral agreements on critical environmental issues.
A microbiologist from Tanzania, Ms Msuya began her career at the World Bank as a public health specialist in 1998 and has worked across the World Bank Group in Africa, Asia and Latin America in both the public and private sectors. With over 20 years of experience in international development, strategy, knowledge management and partnerships, Ms Msuya has served as advisor to the World Bank, as the inaugural World Bank special representative, and as head of the World Bank Group Office.
Michael Lubacz leads THE’s global brand and strategic solutions team. He works closely with institutions to help raise their international profiles, build visibility around their research excellence, and create identities that differentiate their institutions in what is a competitive global market.
Phil Baty, Duncan Ross and M'hamed el Aisati reveal, analyse and take questions on the new data and insights from the THE World University Rankings 2021.
Phil Baty is a leading international authority on university performance and strategy, with more than 22 years of experience in global higher education, including a decade as editor of the prestigious Times Higher Education World University Rankings and its derivative analyses. He is an award-winning journalist, a sought-after speaker and commentator, and the creator of the THE World Academic Summits.
M'hamed el Aisati has held his current position in the research management unit of Elsevier since 2012. He leads a team that looks after content and analytical services, supporting large research performance evaluation programmes and rankings. After joining the company in 1998, he contributed to the realisation of its first digital journals platform, which preceded ScienceDirect, and in 2004 he helped launch Scopus. El Aisati was granted a master’s in computer sciences from the University of Amsterdam. He has published several papers in peer-reviewed journals and holds two patents.
Phil Baty is a leading international authority on university performance and strategy, with more than 22 years of experience in global higher education, including a decade as editor of the prestigious Times Higher Education World University Rankings and its derivative analyses. He is an award-winning journalist, a sought-after speaker and commentator, and the creator of the THE World Academic Summits.
Professor McCahan fulfils two roles at the University of Toronto – vice-provost for innovations in undergraduate education and vice-provost for academic programmes. She leads a set of IT and data initiatives at the University of Toronto aimed at improving learning experiences and outcomes for faculty and students. Prior to her current roles, she was vice-dean, undergraduate in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, where she led the redesign of the undergraduate curriculum of the mechanical and industrial engineering programmes.
Richard Miles is vice-provost of academic performance and pro vice-chancellor of education, enterprise and engagement at the University of Sydney. Professor Richard Miles has led the successful development of experiential project units, and is overseeing the creation of a sustainable innovation education eco-system at the university. In his role as vice-provost, Professor Miles is involved in the development of university-wide career development and performance management processes for academic staff. He is also professor of roman history and archaeology and has held research and teaching appointments at the universities of Cambridge, Wisconsin (Madison) and Paris I et X.
Clay Shirky is vice-provost for educational technologies at New York University (NYU). A faculty member since 2001, he holds appointments in NYU’s journalism department and the interactive telecommunications program. Professor Shirky taught in the inaugural years of NYU Shanghai, where he helped develop that school’s first online courses. He is the author of several books about social media, including Here Comes Everybody and Cognitive Surplus.
As well as vice-president and provost, Professor Yang is professor of business administration in management science at Tsinghua, his alma mater. His teaching methods at Tsinghua School of Economics and Management have won him awards such as Outstanding Young Faculty Award and Best Teaching Award. He is vice-chairman of the Association of Chinese Graduate Schools, secretary-general of the China National Engineering Education Supervisory Committee and secretary-general of the China National MBA Education Supervisory Committee.
Dr Karlsson joined Elsevier in 2012, as vice-president for strategic alliances and global academic relations, to support the company’s relationships with key stakeholders in the Asia-Pacific region. Before that, he was counsellor for science and innovation at the Swedish Embassy in Tokyo. He also previously served as a professor of quantum photonics at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm.
Before Dr Candemir took on her current role within Elsevier’s Research Management division, she was a customer consultant for Turkey, Middle East, Central Asia and Iran. Her expertise is in combined quantitative/qualitative analysis and reporting for academic clients and government. She has experience in analysing large amount of publication, citation, macroeconomic and patent data from various sources, and in conducting bibliometric research performance assessments at different levels. Prior to joining Elsevier, she was a science and innovation officer at the British Consulate General Istanbul – as part of the UK Foreign Office – building bilateral relations in research and innovation.
Warwick Dawson is the director of knowledge exchange in the Division of Enterprise at UNSW Sydney. He has more than 20 years of experience in strategic leadership roles in the public and private sectors. In addition to various senior positions in research-intensive universities, he has held legal and commercial roles in the engineering, construction and IT sectors supporting a wide range of clients ranging from multinationals to SMEs. His key achievements include building effective innovation partnerships enabling the successful execution of high-impact projects, and delivery of effective customer-focused services.
Mary Juhas is associate vice-president of the office of research at Ohio State University. She focuses on catalysing innovation, creativity, and development of interdisciplinary women-led research teams. As director of Ohio State ADVANCE, Juhas oversees REACH for Commercialization™, an innovation ecosystem for women faculty, staff and postdoctoral inventors.
Vidya Yeravdekar is pro chancellor of Symbiosis International University and principal director of Symbiosis Society. She holds a postgraduate degree in medicine, a degree in law and PhD in internationalisation of higher education in India. She has been instrumental in bringing in innovative approaches to promote internationalisation of higher education in India.
Dr Yeravdekar has been able to influence policy regulations for promoting and bringing in innovative approaches to higher education in India through her appointments on various governmental bodies.
Covid-19 has impacted universities across the world and precipitated an emergency digital transition across education, research and administration. A recent Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) survey has pointed to both a digital divide between high and low income countries, and a 'double digital divide' within institutions with variable levels of online engagement according to professional roles.
With online and blended provision set to be the predominate model for universities in the short to medium term, this session will bring perspectives from higher education and beyond to explore potential solutions to improve connectivity and address the double digital divide, assessing the implications for equity and quality of access to online and blended learning, research activity, and international partnerships and collaborations.
Joanna Newman joined the Association of Commonwealth Universities in April 2017 and is also a senior research fellow in the history faculty of King’s College London. Before taking up her current role, she served as vice-principal (international) of King’s College London, director of the UK Higher Education International Unit (now Universities UK International) and head of higher education at the British Library. In 2014, Dr Newman was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of her work promoting British higher education internationally.
A science policy pacesetter with more than 33 years of experience, Dr Anantha Duraiappah has been leading the New Delhi-based UNESCO MGIEP since its inauguration in 2014. He plays a key role in positioning it as a leading research institute in education for peace, sustainable development, and global citizenship.
Aditya Malkani has responsibility for engagement with the ACU’s membership in the region, and the development of relationships with new members and partners. The ACU has more than 200 member institutions in Asia, including some of the region’s most influential universities. Previously, Malkani was India Country Head for King’s College London, where he focused on developing the university’s partnerships in India, including the development of King’s India Summer Schools. Malkani has been an education sector professional for over a decade and speaks regularly on issues relating to higher education and international collaboration at forums across the region.
Vukosi Marivate works on developing machine learning and artificial intelligence methods to extract insights from data. A large part of his work over the last few years has been in the intersection of machine learning and natural language processing (due to the abundance of text data and need to extract insights). As part of his vision for the ABSA data science chair, Marivate is interested in data science for social impact, using local challenges as a springboard for research. He has worked on projects in science, energy, public safety and utilities. Marivate is an organiser of the Deep Learning Indaba, the largest machine learning/artificial intelligence workshop on the African continent, aiming to strengthen African machine learning. He is passionate about developing young talent, supervising MSc and PhD students and mentoring budding data scientists.
Denise Whitelock is a professor of technology-enhanced learning and has more than 25 years of experience in artificial intelligence for designing, researching, and evaluating online and computer-based learning in higher education. She recently led the UK’s contribution to the Adaptive Trust e-Assessment System for Learning (TeSLA) project. The overall objective of this was to define and develop an e-assessment system, which ensures learners authentication and authorship in online and blended learning environments while avoiding the time and physical space limitations imposed by a face-to-face examination. Professor Whitelock is currently the editor of Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance & e-Learning. Her work has received international recognition through holding visiting chairs at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the British University in Dubai.
Mark Tweddle is a senior higher education consultant within the THE Consultancy Services team. Tweddle works with universities and governments around the world, providing data-driven insights to help them make informed decisions and reach strategic goals. Drawing on his prior experience in social research focusing on UK skills and education policy, Tweddle is developing the consultancy team’s capacity to offer bespoke primary research solutions to complement the wealth of data held by THE.
How are institutions in Africa and the global south adapting education to meet the needs of developing countries? If there is a global economic depression, is the onus on the greatest transformation of education systems on African leaders/governments as they have both a demographic bulge but also the greater risks of climate change? This plenary will showcase how new home-grown and highly innovative education models are helping prepare young people to build the continent's future.
Chris Havergal has been news editor since February 2017. Previously he was a reporter who covered areas including teaching and learning, access, and internationalisation. Havergal started his career as local government correspondent at the Cambridge News and holds a BA in history and an MA in medieval studies from the University of York.
Professor Anyang Agbor was elected to her current role in 2017. She has more than 20 years’ experience in the field of academia and is a professor of African and Commonwealth literature in the department of English, University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon. She has written a number of academic books and publications to contribute to scholarship. Previously, she was deputy vice-chancellor in charge of research, cooperation and relations with the business world at the University of Bamenda, North West Region, Cameroon. Presently, she provides guidance and vision to the HRST mandate – education, science and technology, youth and human resources.
Vijayakumar (“Kumar”) Bhagavatula joined CMU-Africa in Kigali, Rwanda, in January 2018. Prior to that, he was a faculty member and held various academic administrative roles at CMU in Pittsburgh, US. Along with colleagues and students, Professor Bhagavatula has published more than 600 research papers in the areas of computer vision and pattern recognition. He is a fellow of the Optical Society of America, International Society for Optical Engineering, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, International Association for Pattern Recognition, National Academy of Inventors and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
A thoughtful leader and an advocate for the world’s most vulnerable, Reeta Roy has worked tirelessly to build a foundation that is collaborative and known for its lasting impact. During Roy’s tenure, Mastercard Foundation has committed US$2.6 billion to education, skills training and financial inclusion programmes, primarily in Africa. Those programmes have reached 38 million people living in poverty, so they can improve their lives and the circumstances of their families and communities. A strong believer in listening, Roy can often be found in the field, working directly with the people the foundation’s programs serve. Roy’s childhood growing up in Malaysia helped her to develop her capacity to listen and the empathy with which she approaches the foundation’s work. Roy was a beneficiary of scholarships that allowed her to complete her education and mentors continue to support her growth as a leader.
Fred Swaniker is passionate about Africa and believes that the missing ingredient on the continent is good leadership. He has co-founded three organisations that aim to catalyse a new generation of ethical, entrepreneurial African leaders: African Leadership Academy, African Leadership Network, and African Leadership University. A passionate entrepreneur, Swankier also served as founder and CEO of Terra Education to provide leadership training across Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe.
Prior to his work in education, Swaniker co-founded Synexa Life Sciences, a biotechnology company with operations in Cape Town, Berlin, London, and Dublin.
Swaniker has been recognised as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and was listed by Forbes Magazine among the top ten young ‘power men’ in Africa.
Holly Falk-Krzesinski is vice-president of research intelligence on the Global Strategic Networks team at Elsevier, where she builds and maintains long-term relationships with research institutions and funders. Dr Falk-Krzesinski focuses on how insights from data and analytics guide strategic planning for research institutions, funders, and science policy organisations. Actively involved in promoting women leaders in STEM, Dr Falk-Krzesinski is co-chair of the Gender Working Group at Elsevier and co-author on Elsevier’s two global gender reports. She previously served as editor-in-chief of the magazine of the Association for Women in Science.
Prior to joining Elsevier, Dr Falk-Krzesinski was a faculty member and administrator at Northwestern University. There, she launched the Chicago Collaboration for Women in STEM and the Navigating the Professoriate and Beyond Tenure programmes in support of career advancement for women faculty members in STEM fields.
Sarah Hawkes is a medical doctor with a degree in sociology and a PhD in epidemiology. She is a professor of global public health at UCL Institute of Education where she leads a research theme analysing the use of research evidence in policy processes, particularly in relation to gender and health equity. Professor Hawkes is director of the Centre for Gender and Global Health and co-director and co-founder of Global Health 50/50 which advances action and accountability for gender equality in global health.
Elizabeth Pollitzer trained originally in biophysics and obtained a PhD in information science from King’s College London. She spent more than 20 years as researcher and lecturer in the Department of Computing at Imperial College London. Ms Pollitzer is director of Portia, a not-for-profit organisation she co-founded in 2001 with several women scientists and engineers at Imperial College London. The aim was to use scientific evidence to advance understanding and actions towards greater awareness of how gender issues impact on science values, knowledge, and quality of outcomes.
Louise Simpson is an expert in higher education communications and branding, leading research for many universities and government bodies in the UK, Japan and Europe. Before becoming a consultant, she was director of communications at the University of Cambridge, and a commissioning editor for Reed Elsevier.
Simpson has worked on a variety of major international marketing and reputation projects, creating tools to benchmark university reputation, brand and communications, and in 2007 created The World 100 Reputation Network, now supported by 50 World 100 universities.
Andrea Farquhar leads a team at McMaster University that is responsible for strategic reputational management, marketing and media relations, digital media communications, fundraising communications and the alumni magazine, government and community relations, and internal communications. Her early career was in media, where she was a reporter and newsreader. Farquhar has been at McMaster for the past 20 years but her first career was in broadcast media, included presenting the news on CFRB, Canada’s most listened to news station.
Alan Ferns is responsible for providing coordination, leadership, and strategic direction for a range of external relations and reputation-building activities and functions at The University of Manchester. Prior to taking up his current role in 2017, Ferns was director of communications and marketing where he managed the award-winning central communications and marketing team and provided the strategy and leadership for a wider community of communications and marketing professionals responsible for delivering communications and engagement activity to 40,000 students, 11,000 staff and 350,000 alumni.
Ovidia Lim-Rajaram oversees institutional communications at the National University of Singapore (NUS). Her responsibilities include reputation management, strategic communications, branding and marketing communications, digital communications, special events and protocol, issues management as well as crisis communications for a diverse community comprising 17 schools and 27 university-level research institutes across three campuses.
She is the press secretary to the university president, and a university spokesperson. In her earlier life, Lim-Rajaram was a newspaper reporter, broadcast journalist, and lecturer in media studies.
Tania Rhodes-Taylor joined the University of Sydney in 2017 as its vice-principal of external relations. Rhodes-Taylor leads the work to improve coordination of the university's external engagement activities and develop ways of ensuring that staff and students can easily and effectively move between the university and its external partners.
Prior to joining the University of Sydney, Rhodes-Taylor was director of marketing and communications at Queen Mary University of London. She has previously worked in the corporate and government sectors in the UK, USA and Asia before moving to work for government agencies and, since 2007, within the higher education sector.
In his role, Mark Sudbury connects leaders in communications, marketing and international at global universities, helping them to build profile and navigate the developments in university reputation. Before joining The World 100 Reputation Network (W100) in 2017 he was director of communications and marketing at University College London (UCL), helping to build its reputation and establish it as a global brand. Sudbury was one of a small group of communications directors who established W100 in 2007, and became its first chair. He has presented at conferences around the world on university reputation, communications, and marketing. Previously, Sudbury worked for the UK government and the English Football Association.
Prior to joining Elsevier in 2016, Dr Thompson worked for 26 years at the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, rising to the position of research director, with responsibility for the strategy and delivery of the scientific programme, and an annual budget of £800 million. She is a champion of early-career researchers, interdisciplinary research and diversity, and is a member of the Royal Society Diversity group. She is also a member of the Oxfordshire LEP Innovation Board. In January 2016, Dr Thompson was awarded an MBE for her services to research.
Bonnie developed the first phase of the Bristol & Bath Science Park which opened in 2011 and provides a supportive eco-system for knowledge exchange between entrepreneurs, academia, and other stakeholders. She worked for several decades in the advanced engineering sector for US research-led multinationals and had responsibility in the UK, Europe, Middle East, Africa, India, and Asia. She is a former council member of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, deputy chair of Catalyst Inc, the Northern Ireland science park and is on the advisory boards of the Engine Shed and the Faculty of Business and Law at the University of the West of England in Bristol. She is chair of the EEF’s Economic Policy Committee.
Dr. Alison Lloyd joined Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) in May 2020 and is leading the Office of Institutional Research and Planning. She supports university planning, spearheads various analytics and business intelligence endeavours to foster a culture of data-informed decision-making and oversees university rankings. She also serves on several advisory boards and steering committees pertaining to international higher education. Before joining HKBU, Dr. Lloyd served for 14 years in The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in various capacities including director of international affairs and director of institutional research and planning.
Susan Martinis is vice-chancellor of research and innovation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she provides leadership for the campus-wide interdisciplinary research institutes, promotes new research initiatives, and oversees the administrative and business processes that ensure the safe, ethical, and productive conduct of research at Illinois. Dr. Martinis, the Stephen G. Sligar professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, studies the mechanisms, evolution, and biomedical applications of protein synthesis and RNA-protein interactions. She is a successful researcher, engaged in entrepreneurial and corporate partnerships, a committed educator, and an experienced administrator.
Adrian has over 20 years of experience in market research. He has completed numerous studies on the communication of research, often in conjunction with partners, including the Lisbon Council on the Open Science Monitor, Leiden University, Times Higher Education and Sense About Science. He has presented at various conferences, including STM, ESOF, AAP and APE. Adrian’s background is in archaeology with an MSc from Leicester University. He also has a diploma in market research from the Market Research Society.
This session will explore whether a more digitised higher education world will replicate 'analogue' inequalities, or whether this decade can see a much greater rebalancing of the power bases in global higher education and research. How much can individual institutions affect change? If they can, then how will that happen, what does an institution need to do and how do governments, industry, or foundations need to change their practice?
Sara Custer is digital editor at THE. She has covered global higher education as a journalist for more than five years. Before joining THE in 2017, she was editor of international education website and magazine, The PIE News.
Katherine Fleming is provost of NYU and Alexander S. Onassis professor of Hellenic culture in the Faculty of Arts and Science. From 2007-12, she was associate professor at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, and from 2012-16 served as president of the board of directors of the University of Piraeus, Greece. She holds honorary doctorates from the University of Macedonia and from Ionian University in Greece. In 2016, she was awarded honorary Greek citizenship by the Hellenic Republic. In 2019, she was nominated a Chevalier in the French Légion d’honneur, to be conferred in spring 2020.
Professor Dilly Fung became pro-director of education at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 2018. She has senior leadership responsibility for student education and the wider student experience, and has introduced a number of high profile innovations including the Education for Global Impact framework which is a core part of the LSE 2030 strategy.
Education for Global Impact draws on Professor Fung’s open access monograph, A Connected Curriculum for Higher Education, which explores the qualities of research-rich education and provides a spectrum of practical approaches to programme design within and across the disciplines. Overall undergraduate student satisfaction at the LSE, as measured by the National Student Survey, has risen by more than 13% in two years.
In his current role since 2013, Professor Gertler was previously dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science for five years. An expert in the geography of innovative activity and the economies of city regions, he has advised governments in Canada, the US and Europe, as well as international agencies such as the OECD. He chairs the Working Group on Higher Education-Business Research Partnerships of the Business-Higher Education Roundtable and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 2015, he was appointed to the Order of Canada.
Angela Owusu-Ansah was educated in Ghana, Spain and the US, and is provost and full professor at Ashesi University. Previously, she served as faculty chair of dissertation research and an innovation fellow at Concordia University in Montreal, and as associate dean of the School of Education at Elon University in the US. Prior to this, she served as assistant dean and associate professor at Samford University in Alabama. Her research interests include the assessment of the impact of quantitative literacy on student learning outcomes, African women higher education leaders and intercultural understanding.
Phil Baty is a leading international authority on university performance and strategy, with more than 22 years of experience in global higher education, including a decade as editor of the prestigious Times Higher Education World University Rankings and its derivative analyses. He is an award-winning journalist, a sought-after speaker and commentator, and the creator of the THE World Academic Summits.