Prof. S. Ramachandran is currently serving as Vice Chancellor at Hindustan University, Chennai. Prior to this he has served as a Vice Chancellor in University of Madras (2006 – 2009) and Vels University (2009 – 2013). He served Anna University for 20 Years in various capacities such as Professor & Director. He earned his D.Sc. in the field of Coastal Studies from the University of Madras. Prof. Ramachandran has made more than 50 academic visits to various institutions in abroad during 1990 – 2010 especially to implement several international collaborations in the field of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM), higher education and research. As a Course Director of the UK Department for International Development ICZM training and capacity building programme he has made tremendous contributions in implementing ICZM programmes in India. As an Expert Member in more than 45 National Committees he has made significant contributions in strengthening the implementation of ICZM for Indian coastal zone in all levels. He has initiated research in areas of every day application and has accorded priority to many modern disciplines such as Coastal Zone Management, Port and Harbour Management, Coastal Ocean Studies, Environmental Studies, Disaster Management etc. Prof. Ramachandran has published more than 285 research papers, edited 11 books; guided 28 Ph.D’s and completed 52 research projects. Dr. Ramachandran resuscitated the academic and research focus in the universities he served. He has more than 35 years of experience in higher education administration and research. He has established several research centres and academic departments in the universities he served. He has received more than 21 International fellowships, and 7 National and International awards including the Italian government’s highest civilian honour and medal, ‘Stella Della Solidarieta Italiana’, the Cavalliea’ award.
Category: 2017 Delegate
Dr Peet Morris
Dr Morris is a researcher and lecturer at the University of Oxford. He is also a consultant to NOHAZ (Neurons on Hybrid AlgorithmZ, www.nohaz.co). NOHAZ is an R&D laboratory that applies human and machine intelligence to innovation, problem solving, and product development. Finally, when asked, he is a sporadic lecturer here in the University of Bradford’s Faculty of Engineering & Informatics.
Peet spends most of his time thinking about thinking. His interests are broadly: Deep Learning; Computational Linguistics; Computational Neuroscience; Experimental Psychology; plus Software Engineering – because in the end, it all needs to be built fit-for-purpose. Previously, he co-founded, built, and then sold, a successful software house in the UK, and prior to that he was a Senior Developer at Microsoft.
Professor David Alfred Mfinanga
Professor David Alfred Mfinanga is an Associate Professor in Transportation Engineering and is currently the Deputy Vice Chancellor responsible for administration, resources and students affairs at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania as from 5th December 2014.
He graduated with an Honours degrees in (Civil) Engineering in 1991 and obtained his Masters degree from Miyazaki University in 1995 and a PhD degree from Kyushu University in Japan in 1998. He has held various positions at the University of Dar es Salaam and he is still involved in the core academic functions as a normal staff member in the Department of Transportation and Geotechnical Engineering.
Professor Mfinanga is committed to community service including involvement in several boards. He is recognized as a prolific African researcher in transport engineering and has published many papers in international journals. He has recently, together with other international co-authors, published a book titled “Paratransit in African Cities: Operations, Regulation and Reform” published by Earthscan. Professor Mfinanga is fluent in Kiswahili, English and Japanese (conversational).
Professor Brian MacCraith
Professor MacCraith holds a Personal Chair in Physics at DCU. He was founding Director of both the National Centre for Sensor Research (NCSR) and the Biomedical Diagnostics Institute (BDI) at DCU. He is a member of the Royal Irish Academy and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics. He was appointed President of DCU in July 2010 and will hold this position for 10 years. As President, he has advanced DCU’s mission as a research-intensive, globally-engaged University of Enterprise that emphasises innovation in teaching, learning and research.
During his time as President, DCU has been ranked among the world’s leading young universities and is included both in the QS Top 50 under 50 and the THE 100 under 50.
Professor MacCraith has a strong commitment to student entrepreneurship (both social and commercial) and recently Chaired the National Review of STEM Education in Ireland for the Irish Government.
Professor Yong Chie Heng
Professor Heng is now retired; formerly he was a vice president of NTUST. Prior to that he had served as a Director General of Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute and a Vice President of Motorola Inc. YC is a Fellow of IET in the United Kingdom.
Professor Mika Hannula
The University combines a strong tradition of research in the fields of natural sciences and engineering with research related to industry and business. Tampere University of Technology (TUT) is a sought-after partner for collaborative research and development projects with business and industry and a fertile breeding ground for innovation and new research- and knowledge-based companies.
Doctor of Science in Technology, Mika Hannula was appointed as Professor of Information and Knowledge Management at TUT in 2001. His fields of expertise include business intelligence, management and change management and performance measuring. Prior to TUT Presidency he has held the positions of Dean and Vice President for Education.
Dr Michael Hannon
Dr Michael Hannon is the Deputy President and Registrar of the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT)
Nationally he is a member of:
– Connacht Ulster Alliance (CUA) formed to merge GMIT into a Technological University with two sister institutions: LYIT and IT Sligo.
– Technological University Research Network (TURN) Steering Committee
– Technological Higher Education Apprenticeship Committee (THEAC): Inaugural Chair from 2018
– Institutes of Technology Apprenticeship Committee (ITAC): Chair from 2017
– West North-West Higher Education Cluster Steering Committee
– GRETB FET Board member
– EAIR:- The European Higher Education Society: Linking research, policy and practice
On the European stage he contributed to an EU Benchmarking Project on Higher Education with a particular focus on curriculum reform across eleven countries.
Michael has widespread leadership and quality assurance experience both inside and outside the organisation, externally with HETAC now QQI, the Teaching Council, the NCCA and the State Examinations Commission.
His education philosophy places the student at the centre of the learning experience, a philosophy he enacted throughout his teaching career. He is an advocate of the “spiral curriculum” (Bruner, 1977) and believes the learning experience should be grounded in “active learning”.
He has published a range of textbooks and graduated from the University of Bath in 2017 with a DBA in Higher Education Management.
Mr Mark Garratt
Mark has spent over 30 years in Marketing, CRM and Business Development in a variety of high-profile private and public sector organisations worldwide.
In his early years he was Marketing Director for Principality Building Society in Wales and Head of Customer Management for Royal & Sun Alliance (responsible for leading Customer Management for the launch of MORETH>N), before running his own CRM consultancy, helping over 30 companies worldwide to develop effective customer management practices and training programmes.
He was instrumental in setting up Confused.com, before taking up a senior interim management career with organisations such as Open University, Royal Bank of Scotland Plc, Yell Group Plc, British Airways and Barnardos.
Latterly he has been Director of Marketing, Communications and Student Recruitment for City University London and the University of West London, where he was responsible for developing and leading the marketing and communications as well as UK and International recruitment strategies for both institutions. He was appointed as Director of External Affairs, as a member of the Executive Board at the University of Bradford, in June 2013.
He is also a Governor of Leeds City College; Board Member City of Bradford UNESCO City of Film; Member of Advisory Board, Bradford Literature Festival; Board Member of Active Bradford and the Chair of Advisory Board, Theatre in the Mill.
Professor John Davies
Professor Davies has a career which includes senior institutional management and international research, consultancy and teaching in the field of higher education policy and management. He is currently an international consultant in higher education, Visiting Professor of Higher Education Management at the International Centre for Higher Education Management at the University of Bath where he was the first Director of the doctoral programme in Higher Education Management, and an International Associate of the Leadership Foundation. His previous positions have included Foundation Dean of the Anglia Business School, Dean of the Graduate School, Pro Vice-Chancellor at Anglia Ruskin University for Research and Enterprise and Pro Vice-Chancellor at La Trobe University, Australia for Quality Assurance and Organisation Development. He is also a University Governor. Since 1970 he has been one of the leading commentators on European higher education management and has been a principal consultant with the IMHE programme of OECD, the European Association of Universities (EUA) – formerly the European Rectors Conference, UNESCO, Soros Foundation, World Bank and the European Commission.
He has been a leader nationally and internationally in establishing higher education management as a field of study in universities in UK and Europe. He was Academic Director of the EUA/OECD programme for New Rectors since its inception (1979 – 2002); Director of the Southern Universities Management Programme (1977 – 1993); Director of the Australia Vice-Chancellors’ Committee Leadership Programme (1991 – 1995); Academic Director of the Latin American Rectors programme (1994 – 1998); Chair of the Faculty of the Russian Universities Project of the Salzburg Seminar (1997 – 2005); and Academic Director of various Leadership Foundation International Programmes (2005 – present), including Iraq, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Malaysia, and co-Director of the Global Programme for Rectors of Catholic Universities.
He has directed numerous strategic consultancy projects in higher education in 59 countries globally, and most recently in Ireland, Sweden, Canada, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Wales and Russia and for the Vatican, on themes as indicated below.
His principal interests at the present are concerned with the development and implementation of new technological universities, and he is Policy Adviser to the Connacht Ulster Alliance which is developing a T.U. for the north west of Ireland. He has held similar roles in Finland, Ireland and Sweden and with national governmental HE agencies.
He is sought after as a leader and team member of strategic reviews/audits especially the CRE/EUA Quality Audit project; the Salzburg Global Seminar’s Visiting Advisor Programme in Russia and Central/Eastern Europe; and by national Quality Agencies in Finland, Ireland, Australia, Lithuania and Bahrain. He has also led strategic reviews, and led country reviews of national systems of higher education for OECD. He is an international monitor on issues of academic freedom and institutional autonomy for the Magna Charta Observatory.
His main publications and research interests, and related consultancy activities for international, intergovernmental, national, government and HE organisations have been focused on
- the concept and practice of entrepreneurialism in higher education
- the internationalisation of the university
- the management of financial reduction
- university strategic planning and institutional transformation
- institutional evaluation and quality enhancement
- globalisation and higher education
- university governance and organisation (also as a university governor)
- university leadership and the operation of senior management teams
- research policy and management
- the regional role of the university
- institutional mergers and larger entities
- conceptualisation and design of technological universities
- evolving doctorates
- research strategy
- the balance between public accountability and institutional autonomy and academic freedom and the design of relevant instruments to achieve this in specific settings
Dr Harriet Dunbar-Morris
Harriet is responsible for providing operational and strategic leadership in the enhancement and evaluation of the student experience. She will be ensuring that the student voice is heard, and will facilitate partnership working, ensuring that student engagement is central to all of the University’s activities. After completing her DPhil via the universities of Sussex and Toulouse, and following a postdoc in Psycholinguistics, Harriet returned from France to join first the Oxford Learning Institute, and then Wolfson College and Oxford’s Department of Education as a Research Fellow. Post-Oxford, Harriet worked at UCAS, the 1994 Group, and the University of Bath in senior research and policy positions. Harriet’s most recent position was at the University of Bradford where she was a Director and the Strategic Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor.