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Summer Conference

12 - 14 June 2024
Queen's University Belfast

Programme

Designed for leaders and aspiring leaders in university commercial and campus services, the programme highlights innovative practices that will help you to enhance your campus experience and commercial contribution.

Wednesday 12th June

Group to meet at the Lanyon Building, front doors of the University.  Introductions to the QUB team and a brief history of the building and University.

From there, the group will move into the Black and White Hall and take a route which includes the following:

  • Canada Room, Council Chamber – One of the University’s function rooms, used for Senate and small meetings.
  • Naughton Gallery – The University’s public art gallery and Silverware collection
  • Great Hall
  • Main Site Tower – home to The School of Law and Junction café.
  • Graduate School
  • Seamus Heaney Centre
  • Queen’s Film Theatre – home to an art house, 2 screen cinema.
  • McClay Library and CS Lewis Reading Room
  • Whitla Hall / Senator Mitchell Bust
  • Elmwood Hall
  • Geek Retreat Gaming Café
  • One Elmwood – New Students’ Union and Student Centre

Please register here if you would like to attend the campus tour 

Kirsty Woodward, CUBO Chair & Director of Estates & Campus Services, University of Leicester and Jan Capper, CUBO Executive Director

Professor Judy Williams, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education and Students and Caroline Young, Vice-President, Student and Corporate Services - Queens University Belfast

Kevin Jackson, Director of Ideas and Innovation at The Experience is the Marketing

Kevin works at the cutting-edge of industry innovation, solving problems and allowing his clients to achieve their growth potential. Kevin is a thought leader with a huge catalogue of success behind him. Voted the most influential person in the UK event industry on three separate occasions, Kevin has a rare understanding of every conceivable touchpoint between a brand and its most valuable audiences. 

Leon Diop, Co-Founder, Black & Irish

As organisations increasingly recognize the importance of fostering diverse and inclusive environments, there is a growing need to move beyond performity - superficial or tokenistic efforts that may lack genuine impact. This discussion will shed light on how organizations can authentically embrace EDI, going beyond mere optics to instigate transformational change.

Leon will share the inspirational Black & Irish story before a panel including CUBO EDI Lead Carol Thomas, CUBO Vice Chair Melissa Browne, Unite Students Jenny Shaw and LSE's James Greenwood. 

Kirsty Woodward, CUBO Chair & Director of Estates & Campus Services, University of Leicester 

Transport will be provided to transport you to the Elms Village

 

Thursday 13th June

Tim Daplyn, CEO, Global Student Living and CUBO Member Panel

An exclusive presentation of the findings of this year's report - a response to the clear interest in the sector in student wellbeing and appetite for data to help target wellbeing support in a way that benefits everyone, including those who are most vulnerable.

We will look at the national picture and trends over time as well as the latest wave of GSLI data, before examining the overall experience of the spotlight cohorts versus others, and finally profiling these spotlight cohorts: part of an ethnic minority, students who have a long-term illness, health problem or disability which limits daily activities or work, students who report themselves as neurodivergent, students from different religious backgrounds and LGBTQIA+.

Declan Curry, Business broadcaster and journalist 

Declan Curry is one of the BBC's most recognisable business presenters , he presented business news on BBC One's breakfast television for almost a decade. Declan will provoke thought and reflection on the current political and economic climate and how this may affect University Commercial Services in the future.

Academic Conferences: Increasing Impact through City and University Co-operation -  Rachael McGuickin, Director of Business Development, Sustainability and Transformation, Visit Belfast

Sustainable Building Projects - Conor McGowan, Head of Estates Planning and Jonathan Thompson, Estates Planning and Chartered Architect, Queen's University Belfast

Profit on a Plate: Pricing Strategies in Hospitality - Sam Roth, Operations Director, Gather & Gather

Generation Alpha and What You Need to Know About Your Students of the (near) Future - Pete Maginn, Managing Director of Commercial Insight, Beano Studios

How One Elmwood enhances the Student Experience - Helen McNeely, Head of Student and Academic Affairs and Ciaran Higgins, Director of Queen's University Students' Union, Queen's University Belfast

Innovating to Deliver Sustainable Outcomes in Retail - Co-op

Generation Alpha and What You Need to Know About Your Students of the (near) Future - Pete Maginn, Managing Director of Commercial Insight, Beano Studios

This session will include Beano Brain covering: 
•    Key Generation Alpha Attributes & how these manifest in the real world
•    What Gen Alpha expect from brands and organisations
•    What values & things are important to Gen Alpha
•    What their media ecosystem looks like (for now!)

Supporting the Workforce and Resource Resilience Through Job Crafting - Charlotte Axon, Lead People Scientist, Tailored Thinking

People personalise all aspects of their lives - their cars, clothes and holidays. One area that we are often not encouraged to personalise is our work. This is despite clear evidence that shows the benefits of personalising and crafting work in terms of performance, wellbeing, engagement, and growth. An evidence-based way to personalise our work is through Job Crafting, which is an approach that encourages us to make small changes to how we act, interact and think about our work.

The practice of Job Crafting is an established and growing field of academic study, and up to 40% of workers are thought to be crafting to some extent. Yet many are not familiar with the concept, and if they are, they struggle with ideas of how to practically apply it within their role. Tailored Thinking are experts in bringing Job Crafting to life within teams and organisations, and believe that anyone can job craft with the right tools and support.

Job Crafting can also be a powerful personalisation tool for enabling people to individually and collaboratively explore, harness and amplify their talents and strengths in their work. Job Crafting and EDI both have their roots in recognising and valuing difference. There is also some research suggesting that there could be differences in crafting behaviours depending on people’s characteristics.
 
This talk will explore the what, why, and how of job crafting, including how it can help foster more healthy and inclusive workspaces. It will be focused on practical steps and tools you can use to craft your role, and support others to do the same. 

The Delivery Model for Accommodation - Conor McGowan, Head of Estates Planning  & Mike Uprichard, Head of Accommodation, Queen's University Belfast

Developing Trans and Non Binary Student Ambassadors  - Carley Owen, Student Experience Manager, UAL and Bobbi Pickard, CEO, Trans in the City

Trans in the City are a trailblazing organisation who have transformed the world for many individuals and created lots of employment pipelines and much more.
University of Arts London have secured one of the first HE partnerships with Trans in the City and are launching the first Trans and non-binary student ambassador programme. UAL students are at the heart of creation alongside support from senior leadership. This session will be facilitated by Carley Owen , UAL and Bobbi Pickard CEO of Trans in the City.

Wellbeing and Mental Health Risk Management - Helen McNeely, Head of Student and Academic Affairs, Queen's University Belfast 

Deanes and Queen's: An Innovative Collaboration - Michael Deane, Managing Director, Deanes Restaurant

Keeping Collaboration at the Core of Innovation - Ali Bott,  Head of Customer Experience, Kinetic 

Supporting the Workforce and Resource Resilience Through Job Crafting - Charlotte Axon, Lead People Scientist, Tailored Thinking

People personalise all aspects of their lives - their cars, clothes and holidays. One area that we are often not encouraged to personalise is our work. This is despite clear evidence that shows the benefits of personalising and crafting work in terms of performance, wellbeing, engagement, and growth. An evidence-based way to personalise our work is through Job Crafting, which is an approach that encourages us to make small changes to how we act, interact and think about our work.

The practice of Job Crafting is an established and growing field of academic study, and up to 40% of workers are thought to be crafting to some extent. Yet many are not familiar with the concept, and if they are, they struggle with ideas of how to practically apply it within their role. Tailored Thinking are experts in bringing Job Crafting to life within teams and organisations, and believe that anyone can job craft with the right tools and support.

Job Crafting can also be a powerful personalisation tool for enabling people to individually and collaboratively explore, harness and amplify their talents and strengths in their work. Job Crafting and EDI both have their roots in recognising and valuing difference. There is also some research suggesting that there could be differences in crafting behaviours depending on people’s characteristics.
 
This talk will explore the what, why, and how of job crafting, including how it can help foster more healthy and inclusive workspaces. It will be focused on practical steps and tools you can use to craft your role, and support others to do the same. 

Kate Russell, Journalist, reporter and author

Do you talk to your technology? Does it talk back? With rapid advancements in A.I. and natural language processing, our relationship with computers is on the brink of another revolution. Experimental A.I. deployments like ChatGPT, offer a glimpse of what the world might look like a decade from now – but is that good or bad? Technology reporter and author, Kate Russell, looks back at her 25 years of reporting to share her thoughts and insights about shifting global tech-culture. From the days of dial-up internet and Internet Relay Chat, to ‘playing with’ NASA robots and becoming a virtual presenter in Japan, Kate will share anecdotes from her travels around the world and then imagine what the world of tech might look like in another 10 years.

Kirsty Woodward, CUBO Chair & Director of Estates & Campus Services, University of Leicester 

Coaches will depart the Elms Village at 18:20 prompt to transport delegates to Mandela Hall

Hosted by Emer Maguire, Comedian

 

Friday 14th June

 

 

 

 

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