HELOA National Conference 2025 Programme

David Metcalfe | Student Recruitment Coordinator | Newcastle University

Lauren Perry | Regional Student Recruitment Officer | University of South Wales

Helpful hints and tips on how to prepare and deliver unique and bespoke sessions to a variety of audiences.

Becky Naylor-Teece | University of Southampton

This interactive workshop introduces a lifecycle approach to student support, which emphasises supporting students before they access university, during their course, and after they complete their studies. The Learn with US Transition Programme at the University of Southampton will be used as a case study to demonstrate the impact pre-entry support can have, especially for students who are underrepresented at university. The programme provides free interactive workshops and guidance to state schools offering the EPQ (Extended Project Qualification).

A joined-up approach is essential, and the Learn with US Transition Programme is an access focused component of the first intervention strategy we have developed in our Access and Participation Plan (APP) as a response to the OFS’ Equality of Opportunity Risk Register (EORR). This session will demonstrate how other pre-entry programmes such as Ignite Your Journey work together, and how sustained support across the student lifecycle continues for students who study at the University of Southampton.

Helen Foster | Interim Director of Access Programmes | The Brilliant Club

This session explores the particular impact that targeted interventions can have on attainment, access and transition for those students who are most underrepresented in Higher Education, such as care-experienced young people, and those from refugee or migrant backgrounds. The session considers the importance of tailoring programme design to meet the needs of different student groups, rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach.

Alongside sharing The Brilliant Club’s own experience of running access and success programmes with over 100,000 students, the session will give the audience space to reflect on the different student groups their institutions are prioritising for attainment, access and success work, and the design, implementation and evaluation of interventions targeted towards these groups.

Connect with HE professionals from across the UK who specialise in PG. The session will feature focused discussion topics, with a member of the HELOA UK Committee in every room to facilitate engaging conversations.

Nathan Monk | Co-Founder | Prospectus+

Join this enlightening and interactive workshop where personal
insights meet sustainability in higher education marketing. Tailored for HE professionals,
this session revolves around a fun and engaging quiz, sharing the hard truths and valuable
lessons learned on the journey of creating a digital-first alternative to the traditionally
printed prospectus.
Discover practical, eco-friendly strategies through dynamic quiz questions and real-world
university case studies. This session aims to provide you with the knowledge and tools to
lead your institution towards a sustainable future. Prepare for an hour of learning, collaboration, and a touch of competitiveness, with “The Big Green Quiz”.

Vivi Friedgut | Founder & Chief Executive Officer | Blackbullion

Getting into schools can be competitive and outreach alone can be tough. This session will focus on how collaborating with external companies can help you deliver truly impactful, skills-focused outreach activities. We will:
Share insights on what young people want and need from outreach activities
Show international and UK best practice case studies on how to build an outreach ecosystem and demonstrate how Blackbullion has collaborated with teams
Try out a suite of skill-building tools on budgeting, goals and developing long-term money management and confidence
Discuss and vote as a group on what should be the standards of skill-building within outreach sessions

Katy Murray | Coach and Catalyst | Katy Catalyst/ Catalyst Collective

What kind of challenges are you dealing with every day, and how are you centering your wellbeing as you navigate them?! A reflective and interactive session to explore how you can step up in your leadership, without burning out, even through disruptive times. Come open, curious and prepared to share… expect practical tools and compassionate challenge!

Blackbullion partners with 75+ universities, colleges and businesses to bridge outreach/recruitment and student support teams. Bringing financial literacy, wellbeing and confidence to current and prospective students – to empower them with the money skills to thrive while studying and beyond. 

Come and chat to us about best practice from across our partner community, so you can steal their secrets! You’ll also get to see the supertools they’re using: 

• Financial education as you’ve never seen it before, plus tools that give students their ‘Financial Wellbeing Score’ and money personality
• The first student money management app for budgeting, cutting spending and achieving financial goals
• The UK’s largest hub of support funds, scholarships and grants (with millions of pounds for students to apply for!)
• The leading end-to-end funding solution for universities that staff say they “can’t cope without”
• Powerful, actionable insights and more!

Why not come to our drop in session and discover how to improve your ROI from
your schools liaison work

This drop in session will demonstrate how a data-led approach to schools targeting will lead
to enhanced schools liaison activity and potentially an improved student recruitment rate.
During this short session, and please feel free to join us at any time, we will show how
Datafiltr can benefit your schools liaison team and a wider internal stakeholders.
I will be joined by Jack Cooper from Leeds Trinity University, who will explain how Datafiltr
has become a cornerstone for analysing, evaluating and reporting on all their schools liaison
activity.

The drop in will be open from 4.30pm and we will be offering refreshments as well. It will all
be delivered in a relaxed and open fashion, but we will be doing a short demo of Datafiltr at
5.30pm for 15 minutes.

So if you haven’t seen Datafiltr in operation, please fell free to pop in

The Student Room 

Join us for an insightful session that looks into the decision-making process of prospective undergraduate students as they choose whether to stay at home or move away for university. Based on the latest market research by The Student Room insight team, this presentation will offer data and insights into the factors influencing students’ choices, the implications of these decisions, and the support they seek during this pivotal time.

Connect with HE professionals from across the UK who specialise in Widening Access and Participation. The session will feature focused discussion topics, with a member of the HELOA UK Committee in every room to facilitate engaging conversations.

Hannah Simnett | Founder and CEO | Cherished UK

Are you seeking to foster deeper connections with students who are difficult to reach? Join us for ‘ Connecting with Challenging Students,” a dynamic and interactive seminar designed to equip educators with the skills and strategies needed to create meaningful and lasting relationships with all students.

In this workshop, we will explore effective techniques for engaging students who may be resistant, disengaged, or otherwise challenging to connect with. Participants will gain insights into understanding the underlying causes of these behaviors and learn practical tools for creating an environment where every student feels seen, heard, and valued.

Key topics covered include:
– Understanding Student Behaviours: Discover the root causes of challenging behaviors and learn how to respond with empathy and understanding.
– Effective Communication Strategies: Learn proven communication techniques to break down barriers and build trust with students.
– Creating Impactful Experiences: Explore ways to create memorable interactions that leave a positive, lasting impact on students.
– Practical Tools and Techniques: Gain access to a toolkit of resources and strategies that can be implemented immediately in your classroom or school environment.

This workshop will provide you with the knowledge and confidence to connect with every student, fostering a supportive and inclusive community. Join us and be empowered to make a difference in the lives of students, creating connections that resonate far beyond the classroom.

Mark Bennett | Director (Audience & Insight) | FAU

Something has been rotten in the state of UK postgraduate recruitment and
the ghost of previous policy decisions stalks the ramparts of student finance and international
offices. But 2025 doesn’t have to be a tragedy and the right insight can make Masters and PhD
recruitment less of an existential problem.

This session will pull from FindAUniversity’s unique data sources to reveal the audiences
searching for UK postgraduate study in 2025, understand how they’re evolving and highlight
opportunities to engage and support them.

James Kerr | Head of Student Recruitment and Admissions | University of Buckingham

Ruth Lucas | Head of Marketing, Brand and Creative Services | Swansea University

Join James Kerr and Ruth Lucas for an engaging and insightful workshop that tackles the critical challenge of making student recruitment a collective responsibility across your institution.

Why Attend?

Proven Expertise: Learn from industry veterans with over 20 years of combined experience in higher education recruitment, marketing, and admissions.
Real-World Examples: Gain insights from James and Ruth’s extensive careers, including their collaborative work as Recruitment Manager and Marketing Manager. They will share both successful strategies and lessons learned from past challenges.
Practical Takeaways: Discover actionable strategies to foster collaboration between marketing teams, academic staff, and professional services to boost student recruitment efforts.
Session Highlights:

Collaborative Approach: Understand the importance of making student recruitment a shared mission and learn how to get buy-in from all stakeholders.
Case Studies: Dive into examples of what worked (and what didn’t) from James and Ruth’s experiences at various universities.
Interactive Learning: Engage in discussions and activities that will help you apply these strategies in your own context.
James Kerr, Head of Student Recruitment and Admissions at the University of Buckingham, and Ruth Lucas, Interim Head of Marketing, Digital and Creative Services at Swansea University, bring a wealth of knowledge and practical insights to this session. Both have successfully led teams and projects that bridge the gap between recruitment and marketing, ensuring a cohesive approach to attracting students.

Gemma Spencer | Lecturer in Pre-Registration Nursing | University of Central Lancashire

Applications to higher education institutions (HEI’s) from learners who identify as Neurodivergent have increased year on year. This increase, coupled with the difficult to navigate transition to higher education highlights the need for increased awareness and support around neurodivergence. This session will explore common definitions and terminology, the legal, moral and ethical responsibilities of HEI’s as well as provide tips to supporting Neurodivergent students in HE.

Emma Bridge | Director of Marketing (Domestic B2C) | IDP

A unique look at the latest trends in student demand from 2025 applicants accessing university rankings, course information and peer-to-peer content on Whatuni and Complete University Guide as they navigate applying to university in this ever-changing Higher Education landscape

Meg James | Recruitment Officer | University of Sheffield

Sarah Bertram | Senior Marketing and Communications Officer | Sheffield Hallam University

A student recruitment and marketing case study around the Sheffield City collaborative campaign. This session will explore how the two universities came together to address a shared challenge: low awareness of Sheffield as a student destination amongst key UGH market. We will cover how the collaboration was started, how the two institutions have worked together to extend the Sheffield City collaboration to UCAS and other student recruitment events, the impact we’ve seen from the collaboration and top tips for other institutions and organisations to tap into the power of collaborative working.

Ashley Walshe | HE Partnerships Manager | Unifrog

Join Unifrog for an in-depth exploration of the priorities of students from disadvantaged
backgrounds as they navigate their next steps. This session will reveal trends from the 2025
cohort, including subject preferences, regional differences, and the key factors important to
prospective students.
We are also privileged to have input from our Unifrog teachers, sharing their perspectives on
university access schemes and the most effective strategies for supporting disadvantaged
students in pursuing higher education.

Ben Kibble-Smith | Incoming Wales Group Chair | UKC

Vicky Bannerman | Scotland Group Chair | UKC

Niamh Gallagher | Digital Comms Manager | UKC

Join us for this interactive session to learn about the qualifications and HE systems in Northern Ireland, Scotland & Wales as well as an insight into the student finance differences. Myths will be busted, prizes to be won, no Welsh nor Gaelic/Gaeilge required!

Emma Price | Head of Postgraduate Recruitment | University of Derby

Alice Brereton | Postgraduate Recruitment Manager | University of Bristol

Delve into the world of postgraduate recruitment with two universities sharing valuable insight, experience and practical tips. This session will focus primarily on Undergraduate to Postgraduate progression from the internal market/continuing students. You will explore central and faculty activities, internal stakeholder engagement, incentives, streamlining the admissions process and benchmarking/evaluation.

Leon Harris | Senior Education Liaison Officer | University of Hertfordshire

Gemma Polatajko | Regional Student Recruitment & Access Officer (West Midlands) | University of Reading

Finnuala Jenkins | Student Recruitment Officer | University of Brighton

Leah Ingall | Outreach and Recruitment Officer, Regional Officer for London and South East | The University of Plymouth

When your university isn’t based in the region you work in, it can provide certain obstacles when trying to engage with schools and colleges, but also when trying to engage with your office team on-campus. Join us for a discussion and some tips to help steer your engagements.

Elizabeth Lloyd | Independent Careers Advisor | The Careers People

You have spent endless hours stood in cold, draughty school halls waiting for students to come along and engage with you. Only for a bunch of year 7’s to come in after the ‘freebies’. Time is precious and we need to talk about how we can maximise your engagement and exposure to pre and post 16 students and target those who will benefit the most from the conversation. With many years of experience working in the education system, I can give you some quick wins for optimising your time and engagement.

Kathryn Mead | Senior Event Sales Manager | UCAS

Samantha Sykes | Customer Success Manager | UCAS

Aimee Okafor | Head of Events | UCAS

Join UCAS to get valuable first-hand insight from your audience and hear what is influencing young people’s future choices. Find out how to maximise all the UCAS resources available to support you as you prepare for both 2025 Discovery events and the start of the 2026 cycle.

Tom Haywood-Pope | Chief Operating Officer | Zero Gravity

Alex O’Connor | School Strategy Lead | Zero Gravity

Sophie Radford | Head of Employer Partnerships | Zero Gravity

This session will provide data-driven insights and practical strategies for enhancing WP student access and outcomes. Our expert speakers will share comprehensive perspectives on WP students’ journeys, reveal gaps in current APP strategies, and offer actionable takeaways for immediate implementation.
Engage in interactive discussions to address key challenges and collaborate on innovative solutions to support Gen Z students effectively.

Kirsty McLaren | Senior Widening Participating Officer | King’s College London

Recognising LGBTQ+ students as WP target groups and interventions to support them.
This session is split into two sections:

(1) an overview of what issues are faced by LGBTQ+ students in school and university.

(2) an introduction to the Pride Power Programme pilot years, and how universities can develop their own schemes.

Nuala Murray | Postgraduate Widening Participation Manager | University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge has had a dedicated postgraduate widening participation team since 2020, working on initiatives such as contextual data, the Close the Gap project, research experience placements and the AIM applicant support programme. During this time, the team has been working to understand the postgraduate pipeline and the challenges faced by applicants from underrepresented backgrounds in accessing Postgraduate study at Cambridge. In this session, Nuala Murray, Postgraduate Widening Participation Manager, will share information about the team’s findings and work to address inequalities in postgraduate admissions.

Chris Green | Social Media Manager | Imperial College London

With social media having the potential to reach so many of our key audience, how can we make sure that the content we post is genuinely resonating?
In this session, Chris Green, Social Media Manager at Imperial College London will discuss how nurturing student content creators to support student recruitment has resulted in the creation of viral content that has truly resonated with the university’s target audience.

Matthew Powell | Engagement Manager | Speak Easy

We know that public speaking and presenting can be nerve-wracking, especially when engaging with students, new clients and staff, but don’t worry, we’ve got your back. Our experienced trainers will give you the tools and techniques you need to communicate with confidence and clarity. During this workshop, you’ll learn how to captivate your audience, use body language effectively, and create powerful, engaging presentations. We’ll also cover how to deal with nerves and handle unexpected challenges like a pro.

But this isn’t just a workshop on public speaking and presenting, it’s also a team-building experience. You’ll get to know your fellow participants through fun and engaging group activities. Our goal is to create an environment where you feel comfortable taking risks and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. So, whether you’re a seasoned public speaker or a complete beginner, this workshop is perfect for you. You’ll leave feeling more confident, more energised, and ready to take on the world. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to grow your communication skills and have a blast doing it!

Connect with leadership HE professionals from across the UK who specialise in areas of student recruitment (UG & PG), outreach, marketing and widening participation. The session will feature focused discussion topics, with a member of the HELOA UK Committee in every room to facilitate engaging conversations.

Connect with HE professionals from across the UK who specialise in areas of student recruitment (UG & PG). The session will feature focused discussion topics, with a member of the HELOA UK Committee in every room to facilitate engaging conversations.

Glyn Morris | Lecturer | Queen Margaret University

Suzanne Ewing | Widening Participation Officer | Queen Margaret University

We wish to improve understanding, confront stereotypes, and increase participation of working-class boys into caring professions. By taking a co-design approach, we will include Scottish working-class boys in the dialogue and include their voices in this project.
The Scottish NHS records that only 1 in 10 of the nurses are male, and that only 2 in 10 of the allied healthcare professionals (AHPs) are male. In terms of education, 15% of AHPs surveyed by the Health Care Professional Council (HCPC) reported that they attended independent schools, which is significantly higher than the national average of 6.5%. An equal representation of society within the healthcare sector is vital for equity, diversity, and inclusion, and can lead to improved health, social and economic gains.
The overall aim of this project is to examine perceptions of male masculinity in the context of healthcare professions. In the longer term, this research may reveal interventions to help raise aspirations of working-class boys, particularly into healthcare careers. This project takes place August to December 2024. As part of our presentation, we wish to share our co-design approach and methods with you, introducing the scope, aims and potential impacts that this innovative project will have.

Jon Cheek | Founder and Director | UniTasterDays

Simon Fairbanks | Consultant | UniTasterDays

You already know that you need engaging presentation skills once you enter the
classroom… but how do you get into the classroom in the first place?
Teacher engagement. We must value this every bit as highly as student engagement.
This session will offer you top tips for your two-fold task. You will learn:

• How to engage teachers with emails that are opened, read, and actioned
• How to engage students with talks that are immersive, memorable, and inspiring.

You will discover:

• Best practice for standing out in a crowded inbox
• Ways to improve your email readability through words, structure, links
• Powerful delivery techniques for your next school and college session
• Examples of interactive examples to make sessions more engaging
• Insights from the UniTasterDays university guidance survey.

Stephen Jones | Account Manager for North West England and North Wales | Student Loan Company 

Becky Barritt | Postgraduate Recruitment Manager | Edge Hill University

Join us as we focus on finance for postgraduate masters and doctoral students. We’ll start by exploring funding available, eligibility criteria, the application process and repayments. Equipped with knowledge from the experts at the Student Loans Company, we’ll then ask what next? How do we best support prospective postgraduate students to navigate student finance? Explore the role that we can play, with plenty of chances to share best practice and top tips between us.

Jo McLaughlin | New Business Consultant | SMRS

Gain a competitive edge by tapping into the unique insights of career advisors on how prospective students are exploring and making decisions about their post-18 destinations. This session will provide you with the key takeaways from our recent research, helping you understand students’ motivations, concerns, and decision-making processes as they navigate their future education and career paths and our recommendations of how to ensure your marketing approach hits the mark with this audience.
Explore how marketing strategies can better address the evolving priorities of students, from employability and skill development to career readiness. Plus, discover what tactics can enhance your approach, offering real-time engagement insights and improving targeting for successful, student-centred recruitment outcomes.

Andy Cotterill | Head of Global Undergraduate Student Recruitment and Access | Keele University

Brian Greenwood | Associate Director of International Student Recruitment | University of Exeter

An introduction and overview of international student recruitment for those who are either interested or looking to make the move over to international! In this session, we will cover the history of international recruitment, understanding why it is so important today, as well as current trends, examples of roles/responsibilities in those roles, and how your skills may transfer into the international sphere.
The session is led by two professionals from different international set-ups who will share their backgrounds and experience to help with your career planning.

Penny Eccles | Founder and CEO | Marketing Partnership

Feel like you’ve tried everything to revive an existing course or launch a new one? There are still a few levers yet to pull!

In this session Penny Eccles will share her top tips to critically assess the growth potential of a course and how to make the real and lasting changes required to reach new applicants and enrollers. [Spoiler alert: you need to work with your academics!]