Speakers
Programme Facilitator
Fezzan Ahmed
The Business Development Project Officer works with the School’s Academic Directors and Business Development Team to help set up, coordinate and support the running of the Student-Led Social Impact Venture Capital Fund (‘Fund’) and an accompanying Social Impact Unit (‘Unit’), as part of the wider University SKETCH project.
The Business Development Project Officer engages local businesses, community partners and venture communities to help build the mentor/partner network for the Fund and Unit, he initiates and organises online and offline events for the Fund and the Unit to engage students, practitioners and local communities and monitors and helps manage student engagement in SKETCH activities.
Fezzan designs and delivers marketing and communication via social media and web portals. He compiles data and drafts project case studies, and reports, to monitor achievement on the project.
Speakers
Nishan Canagarajah
Nishan was born and educated in Sri Lanka, before moving to the UK where he received his BA (Hons) and PhD degrees from the University of Cambridge in 1989 and 1993.
He joined the University of Bristol as a research assistant in 1993 and worked in a number of academic roles, serving as the Faculty of Engineering Research Director, Head of Department of Computer Science, Head of Merchant Venturers School of Engineering and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering. He became Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Enterprise in August 2014.
Nishan is internationally recognised for his research on signal processing and texture classification. He served on national and international research funding, governance and postgraduate education panels, as well as acting as a technical consultant for Sony, BT, BBC, Orange, Thales, Toshiba and the Met Police.
As University of Bristol lead for equality, diversity and inclusion, Nishan championed a diverse and welcoming University community that reflected his role as one of the Bristol Race Equality Commissioners and position on the Governing Board of the Bristol City Funds.
Nishan assumed the role of President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leicester on 4 November 2019.
As President and Vice-Chancellor, he works with all colleagues to build on the University’s world-class reputation in research and teaching to make a positive change in the world. He is responsible for all University activities and leads the direction for overall business and academic strategies.
He chairs the University’s Executive Board and Senior Leadership Team and is an ex-officio member of the University Council.
Nishan delivered his inaugural address as President and Vice-Chancellor at the University of Leicester in January 2020. During his address he announced the development of the Leicester Institute for Inclusion in Higher Education and pledged that the University would achieve a net zero carbon emission target by 2040.
In October 2021, Nishan launched the University’s Centenary celebrations, marking 100 years since the University welcomed its first students.
Nishan launched the University’s new ten-year strategy in November 2021.
Debra Humphris
Vice-Chancellor Professor Debra Humphris is responsible for leadership and management of the university, within the policies laid down by the Board of Governors of which she is an ex-officio member. Her role involves line management for all University Executive Board members and Dean of Brighton and Sussex Medical School.
Debra joined University of Brighton in December 2015 from Imperial College in London, where she held the positions of Pro-Rector (Education) and Vice-Provost (Education) between 2012 and 2015. In three years she effected real change in the college’s position on teaching and learning, having developed and implemented the college’s first education and student strategy – with extensive consultation and involvement from staff, students, the Students’ Union and alumni.
From 2000–2012, Debra worked at the University of Southampton, progressing through a number of director roles to Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education).
Originally qualifying as a Registered Nurse, Debra spent 20 years in the NHS including Senior Research Fellow at the South Thames Regional Health Authority, and at St George’s Hospital Medical School. She achieved her PhD in 1999, which considered the implementation of policy into clinical practice.
In all of her roles, Debra has championed quality of student experience, and communication and advocacy of the institution and its engagement with internal and external communities.
As an openly LGBT senior leader in higher education, Debra is passionate about equality and diversity.
Nick Jennings
Professor Jennings is Vice-Chancellor and President of Loughborough University. Previously, Professor Jennings was the Vice-Provost for Research and Enterprise at Imperial College London, the UK Government’s first Chief Scientific Advisor for National Security, and Regius Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton.
He is a member of the UK government’s AI Council, the governing body of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and chair of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Policy Committee. Before Imperial, Nick was the UK's first Regius Professor of Computer Science (a post bestowed by the monarch to recognise exceptionally high quality research) and the UK Government’s first Chief Scientific Advisor for National Security.
Nick's personal research focuses on developing AI systems for large-scale, open and dynamic environments. In particular, he is interested in how to endow individual autonomous agents with the ability to act and interact in flexible ways and with effectively engineering systems that contain both humans and software agents. He is passionate about the real-world impact of research and has been involved with deployments of systems in domains such as business process management, smart energy systems, defence, telecommunications, sensor networks, disaster response and citizen science. He is also involved with a number of start-ups including Aerogility, Crossword Cybersecurity, Contact Engine, Darktrace, Rebellion Defence and Reliance Cyber Systems.
In undertaking this research, he has attracted grant income of £33M, published 680 articles (with over 400 co-authors) and graduated over 50 PhD students (including two winners and one runner-up of the BCS/CPHC Distinguished Dissertation Award). With 87,000 citations, he is one of the world's most cited computer scientists. He was the founding Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems and a founding director of the International Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems.
Nick was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the Queen’s New Year Honours List in 2016 for his services to computer science and national security science. He has received a number of prestigious awards for his research including the Computers and Thought Award, the ACM Autonomous Agents Research Award, and the Lovelace Medal.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, the British Computer Society, the Institution of Engineering and Technology, the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), the Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour (AISB), the Royal Society of the Arts, the City and Guilds of London Institute, the German AI Institute (DFKI) and the European Artificial Intelligence Association and a member of Academia Europaea
Dr Sally Jackson MSc
Sally has over 20 years' experience of HR/OD gained from across a number of sectors (private, public and not-for-profit) however has concentrated on higher education since 2006.
Her particular areas of professional and academic interest are all within the broad span of Organisational Development and HR where business strategy aligns and integrates with the development of staff, specifically cultural change, management and leadership development, coaching and mentoring, talent development, equality, diversity and well-being.
Sally is particularly dedicated to supporting women in their careers and is a role model and mentor for the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education's Aurora programme and a member of WISE (Women in Science and Engineering). She has significant experience in supporting HEIs with their applications for Athena Swan awards and is a panel member for ECU, reviewing applications.
James Johnston
James is Head of the Development & Alumni Relations at Sheffield Hallam University where he established the University’s fundraising operations 5 years ago. He has over twenty years’ experience of across advancement from roles in development services to alumni engagement and major gifts and is passionate about the transformative role that Development & Alumni Relations teams can play in shaping our universities response to the challenges highlighted by Covid19.