Professor Karen Stanton is Vice-Chancellor of UAL. Prior to this, she held the role of Interim Vice-Chancellor at Bishop Grosseteste University and was Vice-Chancellor of York St John University and Solent University. In addition to holding senior leadership roles at Sheffield Hallam, Birmingham, Nottingham, King’s College London, and Glasgow Caledonian University, she worked as a researcher for the BBC and the Home Office. She served on UAL’s Court of Governors from 2023 – 2024. Professor Stanton has set up campuses in New York, Oman, and a College of Nursing in Bangladesh (winning the Unilever Global Development Award in 2014). She has led initiatives focused on universities’ role in the community, including bringing the micro-lending Grameen Bank to Scotland and establishing the Centre for Digital Humanities and Centre for Climate Justice at King’s. Professor Stanton is a Fellow of the RSA and a Champion of the Chartered Management Institute and actively serves as a Non-Executive Director on several education sector Boards.

Andrew Barker has been Library Director at Lancaster University since September 2019. Prior to that, he held a number of senior roles within a wide range of UK universities. At Lancaster, Andrew has worked to ensure that Lancaster plays a significant role within the open scholarship ecosystem, working with colleagues to develop a range of open research initiatives, working in partnership with academics, publishers, the N8 and other university consortia. Throughout his career in Higher Education, Andrew has worked visibly and actively across the sector. Andrew was chair of UKSG between 2018 and 2022 and co-chair of SCONUL between 2022 and 2025 and is now chair the OIPA (Open Institutional Publishing Association) Advisory Board.

Nick Hillman OBE has been the Director of HEPI since January 2014. He previously worked in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills as the Special Adviser to the Rt Hon David Willetts MP (now Lord Willetts) when he was the Minister for Universities and Science. Earlier in his career, he was a History teacher and he also spent time working on policy at the Association of British Insurers. At the 2010 general election, he was the runner-up in Cambridge. Nick’s recent research for HEPI includes papers on the sixtieth anniversary of the Robbins Report of 1963, the Graduate Route visa and the educational underachievement of boys and young men. Nick has written for a many think tanks and journals. His academic articles include pieces on the Coalition’s higher education reforms for the Oxford Review of Education, on access to schools and selective universities for Higher Education Review and on the fifty-year history of student loans for Contemporary British History. He also wrote the authoritative account of being a special adviser for the Institute of Government. In 2020/21, Nick was shortlisted for the first Prospect magazine Think Tanker of the Year Award. He is an Honorary Fellow of both Queen Mary University of London (2016) and the National Conference of University Professors (2022) and also a Companion of the British Academy of Management (2022). In June 2025, he was delighted to be awarded an OBE for ‘services to higher education’. Nick is currently a governor of the University of Manchester and the University of Buckingham as well as at two secondary schools, Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School and Repton School, and he was formerly a Trustee of the National Foundation for Educational Research.

Professor Theo Papaioannou is Academic Lead for Open and Engaging Research, and Professor of Politics, Innovation and Development at the Open University, UK. He is also Co- Director of the Innogen Institute (Open University and University of Edinburgh) and holds visiting positions at other academic institutions, including CIMR Birkbeck, University of London, University of Edinburgh and University of Brighton. Theo has researched and published extensively in the areas of social justice and politics of technological innovation and development. His most recent books include: Why Justice in Innovation and Development Matters: A Relational Egalitarian Perspective (Routledge, 2026) and Inclusive Innovation for Development: Meeting the Demands of Justice through Public Action (Routledge 2018).

Vanessa Proudman is Director of SPARC Europe, working to make Open the default in Europe. Vanessa has well over 20 years of experience in international, national and regional policymaking and advocacy in the areas of Open Access, Open Science, Open Culture and Open Education with many leading universities and libraries worldwide. Research and evidence-based policymaking is key to her work, as is connecting stakeholders and sharing knowledge to build capacity on open, also to amplify good practice. Prior to SPARC Europe, she worked at Tilburg University library on various international initiatives, was programme manager of over 10 projects at Europeana and led a dept on information and IT at a UN-European region research institute in Vienna for over 10 years aside from having her own company to advise academic libraries on how to innovate in the digital age.

David Beales is the University Librarian at Brunel University of London. David has a range of experience in US and UK higher education, research and parliamentary libraries and most recently worked at the House of Commons Library as the Head of Research Information. David’s areas of expertise include Open Education Resources, collection evaluation and Big Deal modelling. David is co-Chair of the OER Community of Practice for the UK and Ireland through which open education practitioners can share their experience, grow academic engagement with open educational resources (OER) and discover opportunities for mutual support and collaboration. He also serves on the Open Education Network Steering Committee in support of their goal to make higher education more open and equitable through community collaboration.

Dr Jessica Gardner is Cambridge University Librarian and Director of Library Services. She provides leadership for the University’s library and archive services, working in coordination with the College library community and with partners across the University’s museums and gardens. She is responsible for advising and representing the University of Cambridge on the future of library and archive matters, including the changing scholarly communication landscape and the UK and Ireland Legal Deposit partnership. Jessica was previously Director of Library Services at the universities of Bristol and Exeter.

Jane is Associate Director: Content and Discovery at Leeds University Libraries. She is a member of the SCONUL Markets and Technologies Group, Jisc’s Library Hub Community Advisory Board, the Open Journals Collective Library Board and the UK Print Book Collection Board.

Amy Warner May is Associate Director, Scholarly Resources at the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. In this role she is a member of the Bodleian’s Executive Team, responsible for Collections Management (including Legal Deposit), Open Research and Digital, including chairing the Digital Group for Oxford’s Garden’s, Libraries and Museums. Before joining the Bodleian, Amy was Associate Director at Royal Holloway, University of London, and worked at The National Archives as Head of Systems Development and Search. Amy is a member of SCONUL’s Technology and Markets Group and also sits on the Science Museum’s Collections Committee and the Board of the Digital Preservation Coalition.

Duncan Calvert is the President of Glasgow University Students’ Representative, the sole legal representative of students at the University of Glasgow. He has oversight of the operations and strategy of the organisation, membership of University Court and its subcommittees, and is the primary spokesperson for the SRC. In the role, he has advocated for the increased prominence of the Student Experience in the University Strategy and a more compassionate extension request and reasonable adjustment process, and improved accessibility on the campus estate. He holds this position after having completed an undergraduate MA degree in Portuguese and Spanish.

Lesley is Director of Education Services at the University of Plymouth. This includes responsibility for Library & Learning Services and the Centre for Teaching Enhancement & Innovation which Lesley calls ‘2 sides of the same coin’ – support for students to learn and support for academics to teach. She is also the institutional lead for Learning Analytics and Welcome Week for all new students. Lesley is a former Vice Chair of Sconul and is currently a member of the Sconul Shared Services task and finish group.

Dr George Hulene is Deputy Dean in the College of Business and Law at Coventry University and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He holds a PhD in Executive Governance in the UK banking sector and works at the intersection of academic leadership, education governance and sector wide policy and practice. He has led a QAA funded project on student engagement and serves as a member of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings Board. Alongside his university leadership, he serves as Vice Chair of the Governing Board of a primary school in Coventry.

Jonathan joined Advance HE in 2015, bringing with him 16 years experience in customer insight and market research. Jonathan began his career with TNS in London and has worked for market research agencies Quaestor and Optimisa, and also client-side at The Co-op, before specialising in Education. Jonathan graduated from the University of Liverpool with a degree in Geography, and is a full member of the Market Research Society. Heading up the student surveys portfolio at Advance HE,