Demonstrating digital transformation: building a coalition of the willing
Join us at City St Georges, University of London as part of the demonstrating digital transformation events series.
- One day
- Free
This event will be held on
19 June 2025
- City St Georges, University of London
- 09:30 – 15:45
About
City St Georges, University of London is one of the 24 pilot institutions that has worked closely with Jisc over the last year to test, affirm and contribute to the further development of Jisc’s framework for digital transformation, including the maturity model and action planning toolkit. Their holistic cross institutional project encompassed many of the successful attributes to digital transformation and the team will be sharing experiences of how they approached this project, the successes realised so far, challenges encountered and the next steps in their transformational journey.
City St George’s University of London’s president, Professor Sir Anthony Finkelstein, joined the university in 2021 with a clear vision that higher education is in the process of being disrupted by digital transformation and the university needed to respond at scale and at pace. The first step in City St George’s transformation journey was realised as part of the university strategy in 2022, when what was then ‘City, University of London’ made a strategic commitment to invest in foundational information technologies to fix core systems and processes.
However, the university was aware that while any ambitions for digital transformation needed to be placed on a firm foundation, it was vital to keep momentum and engagement going with the future possibilities for digital technologies and engage people in conversations about what organisational changes needed to occur.
When City St George’s heard about Jisc’s digital transformation toolkit, they were keen to use the organisational digital culture element of the framework to better understand perceptions of current digital maturity, which could feed into a future digital transformation vision and strategy. They felt it could also provide them with a baseline of current perception against which to monitor future change.
The City St George’s senior leadership team will share their thinking, experience and commitment through a series of workshops and discussions during the day.
The 2024-2025 series of demonstrating digital transformation events mirrors the holistic nature of Jisc's framework for digital transformation. It brings together senior leaders with responsibility for taking forward digital transformation within their university including senior executive/director roles in digital, student experience, education, technical, digital and IT services, libraries, estates and facilities management, registry, data management, learning and teaching, research and innovation roles.
To find out more about the focus of this event, please take a look at the City St George's case study.
Each breakout session will run three times, giving delegates the opportunity to attend every session.
Programme
Registration and networking
Welcome and introduction
Sarah Knight, Director of digital transformation, Jisc
City St Georges’ digital transformation journey
Speakers:
- Professor Susannah Quinsee, Vice-President (Digital and Student Experience) at City St George’s
- Professor Baba Sheba, Director of Digital Transformation at City St George’s
- Dr Julie Voce, Head of Digital Education & Deputy Director of Learning Enhancement and Development at City St George’s
Approach:
Susannah will share the City St George's journey to date, focusing on the evolution of our digital culture and student experience, addressing the complexities and opportunities arising from the merger, the early infrastructural transformation with IT Big 6 and the more recent academic shift with DiTO, including the role Jisc has played in guiding our strategic approach.
Baba will focus on our vision, guiding principles, initiatives and the progress made in building our coalition of the willing. This will include the digital partnership model and how our digital governance structures have been refined support effective collaboration.
Julie will outline the digital education journey, focusing on our student and staff digital experience and new areas of transformation such as AI Education, Beyond Blended and other realised projects.
Breakout Session 1: Building a digital culture (Staff Focus)
Theme and objectives:
- This session will address one of City St George’s key transformation pillars (‘digital culture’) by exploring the challenges faced by universities in building and nurturing a robust digital culture among staff
- Participants will discuss what has proven effective and identify areas that require a more strategic approach
- The session aims to address urgent needs in engagement, coalition building, and upskilling
- The session aims to share best practices and explore opportunities to enhance digital engagement and capability
Resource: https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/framework-for-digital-transformation-in-higher-education
Breakout hosts:
- Professor Baba Sheba, Director of Digital Transformation at City St George’s
- Professor Susan Blake, Barrister, Associate Dean (Digital Learning), The City Law School
- Sophia Hutchinson, Director of Operations, School of Science and Technology
Breakout session 2 - Enhancing student digital engagement
Themes and objectives:
- In line with City St George’s transformation pillar of ‘education and student experience', this session will focus on the evolving role of digital in enriching the student journey
- Discussions will explore innovative digital education practices, the integration of technology in teaching and learning, and overcoming new challenges associated with digital engagement
- The session is designed to share successful initiatives and encourage collaborative discussions on future directions to boost student digital capability
Resource: https://repository.jisc.ac.uk/9646/1/DEI-2024-student-he-report.pdf
Breakout hosts:
- Dr Julie Voce, Head of Digital Education & Deputy Director of Learning Enhancement and Development at City St George’s
- Louise Doolan, Director of Library Services at City St George’s
- Lauren Regan, Senior Educational Technologist (LEaD)
Breakout Session 3: Strengthening collaboration between academic and digital teams
Theme and objectives:
- This session will explore strategies for enhancing collaboration between academic and digital teams to further our digital transformation agenda
- Key topics include aligning strategic goals, overcoming cultural and communication barriers, and developing joint initiatives that leverage the strengths of both teams
- The session will offer a platform for sharing successful models, addressing common challenges and identifying opportunities for deeper integration, a more agile and innovative environment
Resource: https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/framework-for-digital-transformation-in-higher-education
Breakout hosts:
- Nicola Woods, Director of Digital Innovation at City St George’s
- Professor Stian Reimers, Professor of Psychology and Behavioural Science
- Dr Luke Woodham, Acting Director of Digital Education, St George’s School of Health and Medical Sciences
Lunch and networking
Baselining and driving change in digital transformation
An evidence-based approach to using the Jisc framework and maturity model for digital transformation.
Panel discussion
Senior leaders from across the sector discuss challenges and solutions for digital transformation.
- Martin Whiteside PVC Digital Transformation at University of Worcester
Plenary and close
Tour of Multimedia and VR facilities (Optional activity)
Who should attend
Our 2024-2025 series of demonstrating digital transformation events will bring together senior leaders with responsibility for taking forward digital transformation within their university, including senior executive/director roles in:
- Student experience
- Education
- Digital and IT services
- Libraries, estates and facilities management
- Registry and data management
- Learning, teaching, research and innovation
Feedback from delegates who have attended our previous demonstration digital transformation events:
- “Supported by Jisc, the event featured a great agenda with a good variety of sessions."
- "The event was well-organised and efficiently run…and the content was delivered very well."
Contact us
For further information, please contact events@jisc.ac.uk.