Tuesday 11 March 2025 - Day one opens

Registration and exhibition

Start your day in Hall 3, with an orientation of Digifest for first-time participants and a chance to meet others.

An introduction to Digifest for first-time delegates

Jisc's chief executive officer Heidi Fraser-Krauss welcomes delegates to this year's Digifest.

Welcome to Digifest

Jisc's chief executive officer Heidi Fraser-Krauss welcomes delegates to this year's Digifest.

In his keynote presentation, Paul Iske will introduce the Institute of Brilliant Failures to stress the importance of joint experiments and the need to accept risk and learn from experiences.While working on technical innovation, failing is not only inevitable, but also an essential learning process. But are we allowed to fail? Do we experience and contribute to the required psychological safety that is required to take risk and accept different outcomes then expected? Where everyone agrees that we should learn from our failures, no one explains how to do this. The Institute of Brilliant Failures has developed a method and some tools to extract the lessons learned and make it possible to use them at another moment and place. By doing so, we can develop ‘Failure Intelligence’. In this keynote, Paul aims to increase the Failure Intelligence Quotient of the audience.

Brilliant failures: working together, failing together, learning together

In his keynote presentation, Paul Iske will introduce the Institute of Brilliant Failures to stress the importance of joint experiments and the need to accept risk and learn from experiences.

Morning break

We'll be announcing more details soon.

More sessions to be confirmed

An opportunity to hear from digital leaders reflecting on the future of digital leadership. Join a panel discussion of previous participants from the digital leaders programme who have demonstrated and implemented their learning within their organisations as they reflect on the Digifest 2025 themes of data-informed education, student success, learning for the future, technology for good, and collaboration for impact.

How digital leaders meet tomorrow

An opportunity to hear from digital leaders reflecting on the future of digital leadership.

Explore how the Newcastle College Group is using digital solutions to enhance employability skills among its students.This session will highlight the various digital tools adopted, including virtual reality and environments, digital learning packages and video content, to revolutionise the learning experience.

Empowering employability with digital solutions to drive skills development

Explore how the Newcastle College Group is using digital solutions to enhance employability skills among its students.

This panel discussion will draw on recent experiences from a range of member organisations, highlighting approaches to the development of organisational digital strategies.The session will focus on how support from Jisc enabled the development of these strategies and the subsequent impact on people and practice.

Developing your digital strategy

This panel discussion will draw on recent experiences from a range of member organisations, highlighting approaches to the development of organisational digital strategies.

Gain practical insights from the LearnWise pilot at Liverpool John Moores University and discover how AI-powered tools enhance student support for complex queries.The LearnWise AI pilot has been deployed at Liverpool John Moores University for a number of use cases. Originally for induction and transition and expanding to cover a number of areas. We'll explore the potential of AI chatbots to revolutionise student interactions and institutional efficiencies. Engage in a forward-looking discussion on scaling these technologies to meet future educational needs and challenges.

Integrating AI chatbots in colleges and universities

Gain practical insights from the LearnWise pilot at Liverpool John Moores University and discover how AI-powered tools enhance student support for complex queries.

This session will share the journey towards implementing a whole university approach to enabling and embedding digital capability throughout the teaching, learning and student experience.Through its innovative flexible learning programme, The University of Manchester is working cross-institutionally to enable lifelong, flexible learning that is inclusive, accessible and international. This requires changes in mindset and culture and a focus on developing the digital capabilities and confidence of students and staff.This session will share the journey since the programme commenced in 2021 towards implementing a whole university approach to enabling and embedding digital capability throughout the teaching, learning and student experience. The contribution of Jisc’s support to enhancing development at an individual, as well as institutional, level will also be detailed, including the implementation of the building digital capability service, the provision of evaluation through the digital experience insights surveys and the introduction of the digital transformation programme.

Supporting organisational digital capability

This session will share the journey towards implementing a whole university approach to enabling and embedding digital capability throughout the teaching, learning and student experience.

Explore simple steps to cut unnecessary cloud storage, save costs, and reduce environmental impact, keeping your digital spaces clutter-free.This session explores the basics of managing cloud data more intentionally, aiming to reduce costs and reduce your institution's environmental impact. We'll discuss how to spot redundant files, develop simple habits to control data growth, and learn about the benefits of occasional "spring cleans". The focus is on practical, easily achievable steps that anyone can put into practice. By the end, you’ll have fresh ideas on how to keep your digital spaces more organised, cost-effective, and aligned with sustainability goals.

Decluttering cloud storage: practical strategies for cost and carbon reduction

Explore simple steps to cut unnecessary cloud storage, save costs, and reduce environmental impact, keeping your digital spaces clutter-free.

This session explores integrating digital skills into teacher training, highlighting the benefits for educators and students by enhancing teaching, learning, assessment, and feedback.Designed for educators and leaders in FE and HE, this session will highlight the importance of upskilling new and current teachers to improve the quality of teaching, learning, assessment and feedback. Join us as we discuss the development of bespoke training programmes, the extra-organisational value of these initiatives, and how putting digital skills at their heart can improve the student experience.

Embedding digital skills at the core of innovative teacher training

This session explores integrating digital skills into teacher training, highlighting the benefits for educators and students by enhancing teaching, learning, assessment, and feedback.

Lunch

Discover how Portflow empowers students' employability and supports universities' programme-level assessment journeys, offering actionable insights and tools to bridge education and career readiness.Portflow is an innovative digital portfolio dedicated to enhancing student employability and career readiness by streamlining programme-level assessment processes for universities. By integrating assessment management with career development tools, Portflow promotes learner agency through allowing students to effectively showcase their skills and competencies to potential employers. The platform offers traditional digital portfolio features, real-time feedback, and personalised learning pathways, empowering students to take charge of their professional growth.For universities, Portflow provides the perfect platform for holistic assessment, whilst also providing comprehensive analytics and reporting tools that facilitate data-driven decisions to improve curriculum design and assessment strategies. This dual focus ensures that educational institutions can work on aligning their academic outcomes with industry expectations, ultimately bridging the gap between education and employment.

Enhancing employability through holistic assessment and learner agency 

Discover how Portflow empowers students' employability and supports universities' programme-level assessment journeys, offering actionable insights and tools to bridge education and career readiness.

An opportunity to hear outcomes from the Jisc framework for digital transformation pilot research project.Over the past year, Jisc has been collaborating with 24 UK universities and a French university that have been adopting our framework and maturity model for digital transformation. Universities have been self-assessing their digital maturity across academic, professional services and IT departments to baseline their existing practice, highlight gaps in previous approaches, and identify priorities for investment and development.In this workshop, we will hear from three universities participating in the pilot that have been self-assessing their organisational digital culture and knowledge development areas of the framework.They will share their approaches to stakeholder engagement and explain how this has enabled a culture of collaboration and development of organisation-wide roadmaps for digital transformation. Participants will be asked to consider their own organisations’ digital maturity in relation to digital culture and knowledge development, and what their priorities are for change.

Cultivating collaboration for strategic change using Jisc’s framework and maturity model for digital transformation

An opportunity to hear outcomes from the Jisc framework for digital transformation pilot research project.

Find out how Jisc can help you to build the capacity of your organisation to be accessible, innovative and growth-focused. Rapidly changing technology presents huge opportunities to create more inclusive environments for disabled or neurodivergent learners. However, these changes can also introduce complex issues to consider. In this session, Jisc specialists will explore how organisations can become truly digitally inclusive while navigating the risks and opportunities of emergent tech.Highlighting evolving regulatory influences at home and abroad, we’ll explore how collaboration across the sector and beyond is providing sustainable solutions to the need for continual and joined-up staff development.Participants will learn about the many Jisc-supported pathways to becoming confident, accessible and innovation-focused organisations. Prepare to be inspired and get directly involved in shaping our ambition to create a world leading, digitally accessible education ecosystem. This session is supported by the training team at Jisc.

Accessible, innovative and safe: opportunities for growth in complex times

Find out how Jisc can help you to build the capacity of your organisation to be accessible, innovative and growth-focused. 

A lively panel discussion on the current uses, potential benefits and concerns associated with generative AI in education.What happens when generative AI moves from buzzword to reality? This session brings together a panel of educators who will share their experiences with generative AI including its practical applications, challenges, and potential. We’ll explore real-world lessons learned, opportunities and concerns. Join us as we cut through the hype to discover what it takes to move from promise to practice.

Generative AI in education: from hype to impact – staff voices and real-world lessons

A lively panel discussion on the current uses, potential benefits and concerns associated with generative AI in education.

This session will explore how institutions can make their budgets stretch further through smarter software licensing strategies.With the constant pressure on budgets, this talk will highlight how educational institutions can access leading software tools at a reduced cost, leveraging Jisc licensing’s negotiated agreements with vendors such as Microsoft, Adobe, Lumivero and Esri. It will also discuss how collaborations with Jisc’s licensing team help ensure compliance and reduce costs whilst also enhancing student experience.

Maximising budget efficiency through strategic vendor partnerships in education

This session will explore how institutions can make their budgets stretch further through smarter software licensing strategies.

Afternoon break

Sana Khareghani will bring day one to a close by giving a keynote focusing on artificial intelligence.With her background in computer science and a career spanning over two decades from software engineer to strategic leader, she is an ethical voice in the AI space and has a deep-rooted commitment to societal improvement through technology.

Keynote

Sana Khareghani will bring day one to a close by giving a keynote focusing on artificial intelligence.

Jisc's managing director of higher education and research closes day one of Digifest.

Day one close

Jisc's managing director of higher education and research closes day one of Digifest.

Networking reception

Day one closes

Wednesday 12 March 2025 - Day two opens

Jisc's chief executive officer Heidi Fraser-Krauss welcomes delegates to day two of Digifest.

Welcome to day two of Digifest

Jisc's chief executive officer Heidi Fraser-Krauss welcomes delegates to day two of Digifest.

Hear from senior leaders about how they are facing the current challenges of the sector while continuing to provide world-class teaching, learning and innovation environments.As the education sector faces challenges that threaten the sustainability of many institutions, we’ll hear from senior leaders in HE and FE about how they are navigating these complexities while still driving positive change. With increasing financial pressures, changing student expectations and a rapidly evolving technological environment, we will explore how digital technologies and data-driven decision-making can support efforts to secure long-term sustainability in education.Additionally, we will reflect on how the current financially challenging environment, despite its difficulties, presents an opportunity for creativity, innovation and better collaboration both within and outside the sector.

Where today meets tomorrow

Hear from senior leaders about how they are facing the current challenges of the sector while continuing to provide world-class teaching, learning and innovation environments.

A dive into HESA and other sector data to gauge how influential UK-educated people have become and how to share that good news more widely.There have been many gloomy sector-related headings in the news over the last twelve months, starting with international students then feeding into fees, loans and financial sustainability. One might be forgiven for thinking the UK HE and FE sectors are in terminal decline on the world stage. Without wishing to make light of genuine and serious challenges being faced, does the data give us any cause for optimism?By cross-referencing HESA and other sector data to global open data sources available globally, we can gauge how influential UK-educated people have become right around the world, and in more detail than has been done before: whether it be government leaders and other high-ranking officials, intellectual property and patent generators, Nobel prize winners, or otherwise, we see the 'soft power' of our sectors on the world stage is actually getting even stronger; and we discuss how to share that good news more widely.

Spread the good news: sector data and UK soft power

A dive into HESA and other sector data to gauge how influential UK-educated people have become and how to share that good news more widely.

This workshop will offer participants insights into how they can use the beyond blended resources to support their practice.In this session, you will hear from universities who are redesigning their curiculum with digital in mind and developing their strategies for blended learning. This will be a practical workshop where you will be able to explore the beyond blended materials and how these can support your own practice.

Designing blended learning for all

This workshop will offer participants insights into how they can use the beyond blended resources to support their practice.

Hear from our champions alumni about how they encourage collaboration, engage communities and make shared learning happen.By working together we can achieve more. We learn from each other, collectively solve challenges and innovate. It's not always easy, and it's important to understand the practices that can support collaboration, particularly when working across institutions and disciplines.Now in its fifth year, the Jisc community champions programme celebrates people working tirelessly behind the scenes to make collaboration happen. In this session we hear from our champions alumni about how they encourage collaboration, engage communities and make shared learning happen.

The community champions alumni - how to make collaboration happen

Hear from our champions alumni about how they encourage collaboration, engage communities and make shared learning happen.

Discover how the University of Leeds and University of Northampton enable a more inclusive digital experience for all.In this session, the University of Leeds and University of Northampton will discuss how they used Jisc's international students’ digital experience research, building digital capability and digital experience insights student survey data to inform and shape the support they have put in place to support international students and enable a more inclusive digital experience.

How are universities enabling a more inclusive digital environment for their international students?

Discover how the University of Leeds and University of Northampton enable a more inclusive digital experience for all.

Explore authentic AI integration journeys at Hills Road Sixth Form College and the University of Birmingham as they share strategies, challenges, and successes to enhance AI literacy in education.This session offers a comparative narrative on the AI journey of Hills Road Sixth Form College (FE) and the University of Birmingham (HE), focusing on authenticity, integration, and future-readiness. Highlighting shared challenges and divergent approaches to AI literacy, the session explores practical strategies and cultural shifts needed to make AI work effectively in education.Attendees will see demonstrations of key initiatives, including the University of Birmingham’s generative AI educator course, designed to upskill staff, and Hills Road’s custom AI tools, such as the virtual EPQ mentor, which supports students with project development. Through these examples, the session underscores how collaboration, realism, and innovation can foster confident AI adoption.

Post-hype AI literacy: empowering staff and students in education

Explore authentic AI integration journeys at Hills Road Sixth Form College and the University of Birmingham as they share strategies, challenges, and successes to enhance AI literacy in education.

Learn how Milton Keynes College Group’s collaborative culture drives digital transformation through innovative partnerships.Milton Keynes College Group has an embedded culture of 'collaborating beyond boundaries', working with a variety of stakeholders including employers, other educational institutions and students to shape its digital transformation. Hear how collaborative working and sharing expertise in AI, emerging technologies and digital skills development helps foster innovation and allows an agile and research-led approach to digital transformation. This has resulted in the development of a number of student and staff digital programmes as well as supporting digital development in AI, automation and digital pedagogies.

Innovate together: harnessing partnerships and collaboration for digital transformation 

Learn how Milton Keynes College Group’s collaborative culture drives digital transformation through innovative partnerships.

This keynote offers valuable insights into emerging technologies, enabling professionals in digital infrastructure to anticipate trends, innovate systems, and adapt to evolving societal and user needs.The human-computer interface has been relatively static since the early years of the PC, but a new range of digital interfaces are promising to transform how we think, act, and relate to one another. This keynote examines what neurological implants, gesture control, eye tracking, and wearable technologies have to do with your digital lives and how a new era of embodied technology is shaping the next phase of human evolution.Attendees will discover the technology trends shaping the next 20 years, the societal conversations that are responding to these shifts, and what they mean for emerging learners and our wider information society. This presentation will take you on a journey from the high performance world of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games to the forthcoming Enhanced Games and Olympic Esports Games, which set the scene for our phygital - physical and digital - futures.

Humanity+

This keynote offers valuable insights into emerging technologies, enabling professionals in digital infrastructure to anticipate trends, innovate systems, and adapt to evolving societal and user needs.

In this panel in partnership with UKCISA, hear about the digital issues faced by international students when studying in UK higher education.In this student experience panel in partnership with the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA), we will hear about the digital issues faced by international students when they come to study in UK higher education. We will explore the nature of ‘digital shocks’ on crossing digital borders and what higher education providers can do to help smooth their transitions.This builds on our researching international students' digital experience work over the past two years and the growing importance of ensuring international students have an equitable experience whilst studying in the UK. The panel comprises a range of international voices, highlighting global regional differences in prior digital experience.

Understanding international students' digital experience

In this panel in partnership with UKCISA, hear about the digital issues faced by international students when studying in UK higher education.

Hear from colleges that have made use of the digital elevation tool to drive digital transformation.In this panel discussion, several colleges will feedback how they have made use of the digital elevation tool to efficiently kickstart their own digital transformation journeys and digital strategies.

The speed of simple: how colleges drive digital transformation using the elevation tool

Hear from colleges that have made use of the digital elevation tool to drive digital transformation.

Discover how strategic foresight can anticipate disruptions, aid informed decisions, and foster collaborative innovation, leaving with practical techniques to apply.In today's fast-changing digital world, universities and colleges must anticipate and prepare for future challenges to stay resilient and relevant. But how can we plan without a crystal ball? The session starts with two lightning talks exploring different approaches.Charles will present the GÉANT Foresight 2030 study, highlighting key opportunities and challenges for the National Research and Education Network (NREN) community, and Gül will share insights from the Dutch education and research ecosystem and how strategic foresight is applied in the Netherlands. Participants will then work together with a tool (futures triangle) to get a feeling for how to navigate the digital transformation.

Strategic foresight: how might we prepare for the unknown?

Discover how strategic foresight can anticipate disruptions, aid informed decisions, and foster collaborative innovation, leaving with practical techniques to apply.

Jisc's chief executive officer Heidi Fraser-Krauss closes this year's Digifest.

Event close

Jisc's chief executive officer Heidi Fraser-Krauss closes this year's Digifest.

Day two closes

Digifest 2025 programme

About Digifest 2025

Digifest 2025 tickets and booking information

Accommodation for Digifest 2025

Digifest 2025 exhibitors

Digifest's programme will feature over 60 sessions including keynote speakers, panels, workshops and breakout sessions looking at the future landscape of the education sector.