On 10 - 11 June 2025 CUBO members, partners and sector leaders gathered at Northumbria University for the Summer Conference, united by a timely theme - "Fostering Creativity and Driving Innovation: Transforming Challenges into Opportunities".
With higher education facing ongoing challenges, from economic pressures to the rise of AI, pace of innovation, and evolving student expectations, the programme was designed to inspire new ways of thinking and equip delegates with the tools to support their teams through times of unprecedented change.
Kate Ancketill opened the conference, making the case that HE leaders should themselves become business futurists. Demonstrating how our world is shaped by “metaforces” such as the climate emergency, rise of AI, mental health crises, and geopolitical instability, she urged us to rethink how we track and respond to trends. We do this not just by passively observing change, but by understanding it as the human response to these immovable forces.
Kate stressed the importance of seeking diverse viewpoints, and engaging with ideas across the political, economic, and cultural spectrums to avoid groupthink and get an unbiased picture of what’s happening in the world. Building an innovative culture means accepting failure, experimenting constantly, and learning from outside our traditional silos.
Rody Vonk followed with an energising keynote and interactive workshop that brought creativity to life. Rody reminded us that creativity is a skill we can relearn, and that the most innovative ideas often come from reframing problems, combining unexpected concepts, and even seeking solutions from outside of our sector.
He highlighted the role of urgency in sparking innovation, drawing parallels with how our institutions adapted during the pandemic and historical examples such as the moon landing to demonstrate how groundbreaking solutions can emerge when there is a time pressure and little alternative.
Rody also provided practical tools to help delegates take ideas from brainstorming to execution, encouraging us to fall in love with the problem, not the first idea - and to start small, test, learn and iterate.
Shirine Khoury-Haq, CEO of Co-op, joined CUBO’s Research Lead Sue Pimblett to discuss how she led the Co-operative through radical transformation during financial crises without compromising its ethical roots.
Shirine’s journey highlighted the importance of staying commercially sharp while remaining purpose-driven, as without being a successful commercial entity, you cannot do the things that have purpose. Her leadership style, built on transparency, communication and a direct connection to the organisation’s frontline, offered valuable lessons for our sector.
Beth Kume-Holland delivered a powerful keynote on accessibility on campus, grounded in her lived experience and professional work through Patchwork Hub. She emphasised that accessibility must be proactively designed into services from the start, with accountability embedded in every team. Beth called for regular, role-specific training and encouraged institutions to appoint named accessibility leads within each service area.
Delegates were spoilt for choice with this year’s breakout workshops, with something for every campus and commercial service area. SFG’s Robert Kingham talked about the future of university partnerships, demonstrating the different models and some exciting partnerships including both accommodation and academic spaces. While Lolly’s Peter Moore gave us a look at the next generation of students and how technology is embedded in all parts of their lives.
We had the opportunity to delve deeper into the workings of Northumbria University’s campus services, including talks on their experience of contract catering, transforming their sport offer, campus security and preparations for Martyn’s Law, and insight from their recent student lifestyle report.
Our strategic partners delivered insightful workshops, including ACUHO-I who gave an overview of their Future of the Profession Phase II Discovery Report, with actionable insights for residence life and student accommodation colleagues. TUCO joined us for a demonstration of the value of in-house catering with case studies from institutions who have recently switched back to internal catering.
No CUBO conference would be complete without its vibrant community spirit. The event offered top tier networking opportunities, bringing together colleagues from far and wide. At the present time, when our challenges are shared and complex, the strength of the CUBO network remains a great asset.
As well as the conference breaks, all attendees had the opportunity to come together at Newcastle’s Wylam Brewery for the chance to connect over food, drinks and live music.
Our exhibition of 42 CUBO partners provided opportunities to discuss new collaborations and the innovative services on offer to enhance campus experiences.
The CUBO Awards were a wonderful way to end such an impactful conference, celebrating truly outstanding project and people working within commercial services across the UK and Ireland.
This year the awards were hosted by the hilarious Carl Hutchinson and catered by the talented team at Chartwell’s. Congratulations to all our winners and nominees on their achievements.
Becky Maddison, Durham University
Paul Burns, The University of Manchester
