Conference programme

Click below to download the full conference programme

Conference programme

Welcome to our 7th Biennial International Conference on Access, Participation and Success, taking place on 26 and 27 April 2023.  We are delighted to provide delegates with a full agenda including a selection of workshops and seminars each aligned to one or more of our conference themes:

  • Theme 1: Student engagement including co-creation, representation, and student voice
  • Theme 2: Inclusion including curriculum, assessment, tuition, and communication
  • Theme 3: Accessibility including student support, digital inclusion, and service delivery
  • Theme 4: Student outcomes including motivation, equity and employability

Please click on the session titles to view the abstracts and presenter biographies.

An accessible version of our complete conference programme can be downloaded here.

 

  1. Day one
  2. Day two 

Day one - Wednesday 26 April

 

09:00 - 09:30

Login (posters on display)

09:30 - 09:35

Welcome Address: Professor John Butcher, Professor of Inclusive Teaching in Higher Education (WELS), The Open University

09:35 – 10:05

Opening Keynote Presentation: Dr Liz Marr, Former Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Students), The Open University

10:05 - 10:10

Move to workshops (posters on display)

10:10 - 11:10

Workshops

Room 1 Room 2 Room 3 Room 4

Exploring level 5 student’s lived experiences of the barriers to their progression and attainment

Dr Emma Whewell and Lee Waters

University of Northampton, UK

Themes: Student Engagement

IDEAS for developing an inclusive curriculum

Dr Wendy Fowle and Nicola Beer

Oxford Brookes University

Themes: Inclusion

Let us work together: Working with students and staff to contribute to a whole-institutional approach to positive change for underrepresented students

Janet Lindley, Mary-Jayne Wilton, Helen Williams and Sally Storr 

The Open University 

Themes: Inclusion

Come to Test & Learn from the new Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Learning Analytics Dashboard

Miriam Fernandez, Paul Mulholland, Vaclav Bayer, Martin Hlosta and Christothea Herodotou

The Open University, UK

Themes: Inclusion, Student outcomes 

11:10 – 11:20  Break (posters on display)

11:20 - 12:20

Seminars (2 x 30 minutes)

Room 1 Room 2 Room 3 Room 4

“The bridge between school and uni, that’s the bit that’s missing”: Improving Access to Higher Education for Care-Experienced Students

Hannah Bayfield and Lena Smith 

Cardiff University

Themes: Accessibility 

Shaping the OU Websites and systems of the future with student research

Jade Matos Carew, Kirsty Baker and Paul Hambidge

The Open University

Themes: Student Engagement, Accessibility 

Introducing ‘Learn, grow, connect’: a group intervention to support students with Mental Health needs

Chrissie Farley and Harminder Kaur

The Open University

Themes: Inclusion 

The careless academy? Making space for carers and parents in higher education

Dr Rachel Spacey, Rebecca Sanderson and Amy Zile

University of Lincoln

Themes: Inclusion

 

Building a student panel to improve support for independent students

Kirstyn Kedaitis, Jon Datta and Kerrie Portman

University of Cambridge

Themes: Student Engagement, Inclusion

Inclusive Curricula and Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Bodies

Morag Duffin

The University of Law

Themes: Inclusion 

Developing a toolkit for teaching sensitive topics at a distance learning university

David Morrison

The Open University

Themes: Student engagement, Inclusion, Accessibility 

What do we know about the impact of an Access programme?

Prof John Butcher

The Open University 

Themes: Inclusion, Student outcomes

 

12:20 – 13:05  Lunch (posters on display)

13:05 – 14:05

Seminars (2 x 30 minutes)

Room 1 Room 2 Room 3 Room 4

Supporting Disabled Students Journeys: Transition into Higher Education (HE)

Tahera Mayat and John Hague 

Go Higher West Yorkshire

Themes: Student engagement, Accessibility 

Making online synchronous collaborative learning more accessible for students with sensory impairments

Jo Buxton

The Open University

Themes: Student engagement, Accessibility 

A view through the looking glass: co-creation and innovation - a recipe for success

Sarah Mander, Amber Fensham-Smith, Nichola Connolly and Yasmin Reeve

The Open University 

Themes: Student engagement

Digital inclusion beyond the pandemic: call to action for a sector-wide strategy

Freddie Quek

Times Higher Education

Laila Burton

The Open University

Themes: Inclusion, Accessibility, Student outcomes

 

Moving into a new socially just and equal ‘normal’- the lessons Higher Education must learn from its disabled students

Dr Suanne Gibson

University of Plymouth

Dr Zeta Williams-Brown

University of Wolverhampton

Themes: Student engagement, Inclusion 

Embedding accessibility into the curriculum: an Accessibility Tool as a checklist

Rhiannon Edwards

University of Bath

Vanessa Moore

The Open University

Themes: Accessibility

The ‘Learning pathways for carers’ programme

Dr Nichola Kentzer, Dr Chris Kubiak and Prof Mary Larkin

The Open University

Themes: Student engagement, Accessibility 

Joining the Dots: Learnings from a university transition programme

Hannah Thomson and Sarah Zukernain

The Brilliant Club 

Themes: Student outcomes 

14:05 -

14:15

Break (posters on display)

14:15 - 15:15

Seminars (2 x 30 minutes)

Room 1 Room 2 Room 3 Room 4

The non-negotiable: how student-led academic spaces foster adaptable, accessible and inclusive learning within the shifting landscape of HE

Joshua Manning, Cara Baer, Liz Staples and writing mentors (TBC)

University of Plymouth

Themes: Accessibility 

Value, Motivate, Support, Inspire - Enhancing Undergraduate Student Success at the University of Birmingham

Leanne B.M. Campbell, Pete Collins, Jenny Mullins-White and Polly Harper

University of Birmingham

Themes: Student outcomes 

The Extended Project Qualification and Widening Participation Students: Creating Equity, Improving Awarding Gaps, and Developing Research Skills

Dr Victoria Yuskaitis

University of Southampton

Themes: Accessibility, Student outcomes 

Building communities and helping students to succeed: Early interventions for student success

Dr Scott McKenzie, Alayla Castle-Herbert, Anne Verries-Wade and Hanna Silk 

The Open University in Wales

Themes: Student engagement, Student outcomes 

 

Value, visibility and belonging: exploring the impact of staff/student reverse mentoring within higher education

Steve Gleadall and Associate Prof Rachael O’Connor 

University of Leeds

Themes: Student engagement

Employability and student success: Virtual internships for underrepresented students

Catherine Comfort, Andrew Potter, Diane Butler, Flavia Ranzolin Navas, Kristen Reid and Trinny Western

The Open University

Themes: Student outcomes 

Attracting under-represented groups to train to teach in Wales

Sarah Stewart and Catherine Bleasdale

The Open University

Themes: Inclusion, Student outcomes 

Collaborating to Increase Inclusion in Graduate Recruitment and Success

Angela Scanlon, Ursula McTaggart and Shauna McCloy

Ulster University

Themes: Student outcomes 

15:15 –

15:25

Break (posters on display)

15:25 – 16:25

Panel Discussion

Host: Prof Ian Pickup, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Students), The Open University

Panel members:

  • Rehana Awan, Staff Tutor - STEM,Computing & Communication, The Open University
  • Natalie Baker, Vice President, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, The Open University Student’s Association
  • Prof Eva Cendon, Professor of Adult and Continuing Education: FernUniversität in Hagen, Germany
  • Prof John McKendrick, Commissioner for Fair Access to Higher Education for Scotland, Glasgow Caledonian University
  • Adaora Nwaka, BAME Advocate, University of Hertfordshire

16:25 –

16:30

Close – Chair: Shona Littlejohn, Deputy Director (Student Experience & Widening Access), The OU in Scotland

 

Back to top

Day two - Thursday 27 April

09:00 - 09:30

Login (posters on display)

09:30 - 09:35

Welcome Address: Mychelle Pride, Associate Dean, Teaching Excellence (WELS), The Open University

09:35 – 10:05

Opening Keynote Presentation: Professor Ross Renton, Principal, Anglia Ruskin University, Peterborough

10:05 - 10:10

Move to seminars (posters on display)

10:10 – 11:10

Seminars (2 x 30 minutes)

Room 1 Room 2 Room 3 Room 4

Towards Accessibility in Digital Electronics for the Visually Impaired. A b-learning experience

Jorge Pérez Martín , Alejandro Rodriguez Ascaso and Félix de la Paz López

Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Spain

Themes: Accessibility 

Exploring the experiences of students of minoritised ethnicities through a longitudinal community of enquiry

Prof Samantha Broadhead and Dr Laura da Costa

Leeds Arts University

Themes: Student engagement, Inclusion

Empowering minoritised students through scholarship: A staff-student collaborative approach to understanding the experience of Black distance learning students

Jim Lusted, Shannon Martin and Ola Fadoju (with additional input from OU students Denise Hamilton-Mace and Ola Omotosho)

The Open University

Themes: Student engagement, Inclusion

Understanding the BAME awarding gap at The Open University by means of quantitative and qualitative data analytics

Miriam Fernandez, Martin Hlosta, Tracie Farrell, Vaclav Bayer and Fidèle Mutwarasibo

Knowledge Media Institute, The Open University

Themes: Inclusion, Student outcomes 

 

ONCE Foundation Channel at UNED - an Open Training Resource in Design for All

Cecile Finat, Antonio Juano, Elisa Molanes-López, Jorge Pérez-Martín,  Miguel Ángel Artaso, Emilio Letón and Alejandro Rodriguez-Ascaso

Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED)

Themes: Accessibility 

Students Supporting Students – improving student outcomes through peer mentoring

Catherine Comfort

The Open University

Themes: Student engagement, Student outcomes 

Conversations of Creating Change: Widening Participation to Higher Education through working-class voices

Dr Abigail O'Brien

University of Plymouth

Themes: Inclusion, Accessibility 

Language Technology in the workplace: an A.I. student co-creation project 

Dr Andrew Gargett, Dr Mirjam Hauck, Joseph Kwarteng, Mychelle Pride and Tracey Inverary

The Open University

Themes: Inclusion 

11:10 – 11:20 Break (posters on display)

11:20 – 12:20

Workshops 

Room 1 Room 2 Room 3 Room 4

Not all Inclusive Curriculum Reviews are Equal: Findings from the OU’s Inclusive Curriculum Student Consultant Pilot Project

Dr Caroline Derry, Steph Dunne and Dr Sukaina Haider

The Open University

Themes: Inclusion 

Sharing insights from reverse mentoring in HE: the power of listening and learning for developing authentic staff/student relationships

Associate Prof Rachael O’Connor

University of Leeds

Prof John E. Goldring, Liz Cain, Adam Westall and Dr Helen Smith

Manchester Metropolitan University

Themes: Student engagement

Going beyond Consultation: Co-Production with Widening Participation students across the student lifecycle

Emma Hall, Abigail Cattlin and Mazvita Kadzirange

Edge Hill University

Themes: Student engagement

How can we maximise equity and diversity in student partnerships?

Lorna Sibbett and Renu Bhandari 

The Open University

Themes: Student engagement, Inclusion 

12:20: - 12:25 Return to main session 

12:25 – 12:30

Keynote introduction: Diane Butler, Associate Dean (Academic Excellence) (STEM), The Open University

12.30 - 13:00

Keynote: Mette Anwar-Westander, Founder and CEO of Disabled Students UK

13.00 - 13:05

Conference close: Diane Butler, Associate Dean (Academic Excellence) (STEM), The Open University

13:05 – 13:30 Break (posters on display)
13:30 – 14:15

Stay in the main conference room to be placed in a breakout room for an informal discussion on matters raised in the conference

14:15 – 15:00 Poster discussion rooms open: click to join a meeting below with poster authors

Discussion room 1

Discussion room 2

Discussion room 3

Discussion room 4

Closing the awarding gap - listening to our Black students

Louise MacBrayne and Jennie Bellamy

The Open University

Creating flexible accessibility for distance-learning students while developing a remote coaching and mentoring service

Enya-Marie Clay and Richard Peat

The Open University

Working Towards a More Inclusive Learning Journey

Tracey Inverary

The Open University

‘Towards Inclusivity’ – A practical, community-based approach to enhancing inclusive design, using data and learning design’

Jannah Aljafri and Rafael Hidalgo

The Open University  

15:00

Conference end