Speakers

• Clare Marchant

  Chief Executive, UCAS

  Clare has been UCAS Chief Executive since 2017 and feels privileged to lead it through a period of
  dramatic digital transformation which puts students at the centre of all it provides, from admissions
  through to information and advice, data analysis and insights and the provision of commercial
  products and services through UCAS Media. Clare started her career within manufacturing, before
  moving to management consultancy with Deloitte, then central and local government, latterly as
  Chief Executive of Worcestershire County Council. She graduated from Hull University in 1993 and
  gained a MSc from the Open University in 1998.

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  Sally Mapstone

  Principal and Vice Chancellor, University of St Andrews

  As a lifelong advocate for diversity and inclusion, Professor Mapstone was involved in the founding of Oxford’s first women’s consciousness-raising groups, served as the National Union of Journalists trade union representative at Weidenfeld and Nicolson, and spent much of her Oxford career at St Hilda’s, Oxford’s last women’s only college. Professor Mapstone was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor … Continued

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  Anthony McClaran

  Vice Chancellor, St Mary's University Twickenham

  Anthony McClaran is the third vice chancellor of St Mary’s University Twickenham and took up the post in April 2020, returning to the UK after five years in Australia, where he served as chief executive of the  national HE regulator, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA). Prior to that  move, Anthony was chief … Continued

• Mike Nicholson

  Director of Undergraduate Admissions and Outreach, University of Bath

  Mike joined the University of Bath in October 2014, having previously worked as Director of Undergraduate Admissions and Outreach at the University of Oxford (2006-2014) and Head of Undergraduate Admissions and Student Recruitment at the University of Essex (1998-2006).
  Mike heads the team responsible for managing undergraduate student admissions, student recruitment (UK and international), funding guidance, widening access and participation, learning partnerships, and student immigration.
  He is currently a Trustee of the Council of International Schools and the AQA Exam Board (where he also sits on their Research Committee) and is a member of the Universities UK Fair Admissions Advisory Group established in October 2019 to review the need for reform of the undergraduate student recruitment and admissions process in the UK. He is also on the UUK Group established to advise the Universities’ Minister on the sector response to COVID-19. He co-Chaired the Social Mobility Practitioners’ Group established by Universities UK to advise the UK Minister for Higher Education on supporting progression from under-represented groups in society in 2016. In 2018 he joined the Evaluation Group for the Welsh Government’s Seren Gifted and Talented Programme. He was UK Chair of the Higher Education Liaison Officers’ Association from 2014-2017 and served as a member of the UCAS Council until January 2017. He represented English universities on the Welsh Qualifications Reform stakeholder group and was involved in the SPA National Expert Think Tank on UK Qualifications Reform in 2015.
  Mike graduated in 1990 from the University of Sheffield with a degree in English and History. He also attended Allegheny College, Pennsylvania for a year as an exchange student. He was the first member of his extended family to go to university, after attending state-funded comprehensive schools in Gateshead.

• David Hawkins

  Director, The University Guys

  David is one of a small number of independent counselors to hold the gold-standard international affiliation with the Council of International Schools. David holds memberships in the International Association for College Admissions Counseling, IECA, COBIS, HECA and the Council of International Schools. As Director of The University Guys, he and his team provide bespoke, individual advising to families pursuing global university options.

• Sally Armstrong

  Career leader and UCAS manager, Bishop Wordsworth's School

  Sally Armstrong is an independent career guidance professional working with a range of individual clients at all stages – young people, undergraduates, graduates and adults and in school. After starting her career with HM Customs and Excise in London she retrained, gaining an MA in Careers Guidance, the Qualification in Careers Guidance from the Institute, … Continued

• Vikki Boliver

  Professor in the Department of Sociology at Durham University

  Vikki Boliver is a Professor in the Department of Sociology at Durham University and a member of the Durham Evidence Centre for Education and the Centre for Global Higher Education. Vikki’s is an expert in the use of contextual data to promote wider and fairer access to higher education generally and to higher-tariff universities in particular.

• Nick Hillman

  Director, HEPI

  Director, Higher Education Policy Institute

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  Lee Elliot Major

  Professor of social mobility, University of Exeter

  Lee Elliot Major is the country’s first professor of social mobility. Appointed by the University of Exeter to be a global leader in the field, his work is dedicated to improving the prospects of disadvantaged young people. As a professor of practice he focuses on research that has direct impact on policy and practice, working … Continued

• Hattie Tollerson

  President, London South Bank University Students' Union

  President, London South Bank University Students’ Union