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Belonging by Design: Learning, identity and connection across our academic community (2026)

Teaching & Learning Conference 9th July 2026

Belonging by Design: Learning, identity and connection across our academic community

Time

Activity/session

Presenter(s)

Slides and Recordings

9:15 – 9:45

Arrive and breakfast

 

 

9:45 – 10:00

Welcome

 

Prof Elizabeth McCrum, PVC Education and Student Experience

 

 

 

 

10:00 – 10:30

Student Spotlight on Belonging

 

Victoria Grace-Bland (CQSD) and Student Partners

 

10:30 – 11:15

 

 

 

11:15-11:30

Key Notespeaker (presenting remotely)

Building Belonging from the Beginning: Practical Approaches to Foster Early Connection

 

 

Q&A

 

Prof Kelly Edmunds, Deputy Director of Learning and Teaching, School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia

 

11:30 – 12:00

Refreshment break & transition to parallel workshops

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12:00 – 13:00

 

Parallel session 1

Communicating to connect: the power of language, co-creation and design in building compassionate learning environments (Workshop)

Zola Dean (Psychology)

Karenjit Sandhu (Art)

Amanda Hall (Politics)

 

 

 

 

Parallel session 2

Spatial belonging: How university spaces shape student experience (Talks & table discussions)

 

 

Billy Wong (Education)

Ruth Ng (Library)

Shweta Ghosh (Film, Theatre & Television)

Rhi Smith (Archaeology, Museums and Collections)

 

 

 

 

Parallel session 3

Belonging in the classroom: Teaching approaches that work! (Lightning talks)

 

Katie Gray (Psychology)

Kate Jones (Henley Business School)

Emma Pape (Psychology)

Linyao Wang (Education)

Laura Girling (Agriculture)

Brian Turner (Global Academy)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13:00 – 14:00

Lunch break, posters & marketplace

Supporting Student Belonging Marketplace

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14:00 – 15:00

 

 

Parallel session 4

Belonging at scale: Making large classes feel personal (workshop)

 

Angela Buckingham (CQSD, ADE)
Tasha Barrett (Biological Sciences)

Emma Herrod (CQSD, TEL)

Jackie Fairbairn (CQSD, TEL)

 

 

 

Parallel session 5

Seen and Heard: Valuing Experience, Voice and Identity in Higher Education (Talks & table discussions)

 

Julia Limper, Anjali Mehta Chandar, Emma-Jayne Conway and Nakita Oldacre (Charlie Waller Institute)

Gemma Peacock (Global Academy)

Rachel Warner (Typography)

Julia Crabtree (Art)

Rebecca Harris (Education)

 

 

Parallel session 6

From Classroom to Career: Building Students’ Sense of Professional Belonging (Lightning Talks)

 

Andrea Tresidder (Henley Business School)

Louise Smith (Agriculture)

Noor Azeyah Khiyon (Built Environment,UoRMalaysia)

Dorothy Balhatchet (Food and Nutrition)

Scarlett Murphy (Education)

Tabarak Ballal (Built Environment)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15:00-15:10

Moving to final session

 

 

15:10-15:55

Plenary panel: Perspectives on Belonging by Design

 

Chair: Prof. Alana James (Psychology)

 

Lydia Fletcher, Research and Evaluation Manager (CQSD)

Jamie Samson, Campaigns and Insights Manager (ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø Students’ Union)

Ellie Vialls, Director of Academic Tutoring (Charlie Waller Institute)

Yashvi Borisager (Student, Pharmacology)

 

15:55- 16:00

Closing remarks

 

Prof Robert Van de Noort, Vice Chancellor