Summit Programme
The Summit is designed as an immersive, conversational experience.
The day blends research insight, provocation, collective sensemaking and leadership exploration — creating space for the sector to imagine new futures and the shifts required to reach them.
The programme will include:
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Opening address from Professor Sir Steve West CBE, Vice-Chancellor, President and Chief Executive of the University of the West of England
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Insight and provocation from Richard Sharpe, drawn from Elementa Leadership’s HE Futures research paper
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Responding and making sense of the research findings — through dialogue and reflection on its implications and possibilities for HE
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Exploring the radical shifts needed for universities to thrive by 2040, and the systemic conditions that will shape what is possible
Below is an outline agenda for the day. We hope you can join us.
HE Futures Summit — AM
Welcome — Richard Sharpe, Elementa Leadership
Setting the tone for the day and framing the need for new ways of thinking in a period of profound transition.
Context Setting — Professor Sir Steve West CBE, UWE Bristol
Research Insights
Provocation based on our research into the future of higher education
Unpacking the key trends, societal expectations, characteristics of successful institutions, and the radical shifts required for 2040.
Research Sensemaking
Exploring the findings: identifying what resonates, surfacing tensions and testing implications for the sector and for your own institution.
Lunch
Opportunity for networking and continued conversation.
Research Insights
HE Futures Summit — PM
Radically Re-Thinking the University: Key Shifts
Exploring the radical shifts universities will need to make to thrive in the context of 2040 — cultural, structural, strategic and operational.
Identifying which shifts feel most important and most challenging for your institution and for the sector as a whole.
Preparing for the Future
Turning insight into action:
What questions about the future do we need to take back into our own institutions to stimulate deeper reflection, alignment and preparedness?
What practical steps should we begin taking now to prepare for the shifts identified?
Closing Reflections
Drawing together the insights, challenges and possibilities surfaced throughout the day — and considering what they mean for leadership, for institutions, and for the future of the sector.
Book Your Place
Curiosity is where transformation begins. Margaret Wheatley
Elementa Leadership is a specialist leadership and organisational development consultancy for higher education passionate about the future of universities as central to the development of a better world.