Category: Delegate

Dr. Olivia Feng is Founder & CEO of ICAN Future Star ltd., a young but ambitious edtech company disrupting the international student recruitment market with innovative mobile solutions to empower universities and applicants worldwide.

Originally from China, Olivia studied in the U.K. for 10 years completing her PhD in Behavioural Accounting.

Olivia is proud to employ team members from all over the world and champion women in technology building open and honest company culture and welcoming diversity. The team have extensive experience studying or working abroad and feed their first hand challenges into product development. Our vision is to make studying abroad an easier and more rewarding experience for ambitious young people. Our long-term plan is to be a streamlined end-to-end platform for all study abroad application needs.

The company is the official provider for the University of Glasgow’s HelloUofG app and Coventry University’s HelloCoventry app for engaging and attracting its prospective applicants. ICAN is the market leader providing application and conversion solutions for universities and prospective applicants worldwide. Our HelloUni B2B2C platform is a customisable cloud-based enterprise solution which uses machine learning to connect applicants with universities and help universities optimise applicant engagement and conversion. hellouni were awarded a SMART R&D grant for a machine learning university finder app.

Kersten took up post as Chief Executive of Bradford Council in August 2015. Bradford has one of the youngest populations of any City in the UK and an ethnically diverse and entrepreneurial population. The District is enjoying a period of economic growth; growth of indigenous companies and inward investment, major capital schemes and opening of the regions 3rd largest retail centre. Her key challenges are to ensure that growth in the Bradford economy is sustained and that there is a significant uplift in levels of educational attainment within the District.

This takes place against a backdrop of dramatic reductions in central government funding for local government, devolution to City Regions and huge pressures in the delivery of social care and health.

Prior to taking up post in Bradford, Kersten was Chief Executive of York for six years. In this time the city, recovering after recession, experienced strong growth, with ‘functional full employment’ and high levels of business start up. Key highlights of the six years included the introduction of the living wage by many employers in the city, development of the first ‘gigabit city infrastructure’, designation of the city as a UNESCO ‘City of Media Arts’ and hosting of a stage start of the Grand Depart of the Tour de France in 2014.

Kersten is the lead Chief Executive for innovation and growth in the Leeds City Region, a trustee of Nesta (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts), a member of the Council of the University of Bradford and of the National Media Museum’s Advisory Board.

Kersten’s career has included work in the voluntary sector, higher education, central government as well as 21 years in local government. She is passionate about community capacity building, diversity and equality, supporting civic leadership and sustainable urban growth.

David Docherty is Chief Executive of the National Centre for Universities and Business, and Chairman of the Digital Television Group, the industry body for digital television in the UK.  He was the first BBC Director of New Media and Deputy Managing Director of BBC Television.  He led cable company Telewest’s (now Virgin’s) drive into broadband content and services as MD Broadband, and has been Chief Executive of two television and interactive media companies.  In the public sector, he was Chair of Governors of the University of Bedfordshire, and a member of various government advisory panels on new media, technology, and higher education. He serves on the Research Excellence Framework Panel and the Strategically Important and Vulnerable Subjects Committees for the Higher Education Funding Council of England (HEFCE) as well as HEFCE’s Enterprise and Skills Committee. He is on the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC’s) Digital Economy Panel, the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC’s) Creative Economy Board and the Technology Strategy Board (TSB’s) Interim Advisory Board for the Digital Economy Catapult.

Professor Guy Daly is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Health and Life Sciences) at Coventry University.

He is a member of various UK based groups and bodies including: Executive Member (International) of Council of Deans of Health (affiliated to Universities UK), West Midlands Clinical Senate, West Midlands Combined Authority Wellbeing Board, Coventry Health and Wellbeing Board, and Non-Executive Director of Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust.  He is a member of the Coventry and Warwickshire Sustainability Transformation Partnership Better Health – Better Care – Better Value Board and chairs its Clinical Design Authority Board.  He is a social policy academic and his research interests are in health policy, social care (personalisation, choice, adult social care), housing policy, local government, and the governance of public services generally. He is an active member of the Social Services Research Group and is currently Joint Editor of its journal, Research Policy and Planning. He is a trustee and current chair of the third sector social policy think-tank, The Human City Institute (HCI), as well as a trustee of Research in Specialist and Elderly Care (RESEC), a charity which aims to improve the quality of research in specialist and elderly care.

Recently, he has been developing partnerships with Indonesia’s government and universities in relation to nursing workforce and assisting with the evaluation of Indonesia’s recently introduced social insurance health system (BJPS).

Andrea Cullen has had a number of years industrial experience as a computer programmer and systems analyst working on projects throughout the UK where she has been responsible for the development and implementation of many software systems. She later received a 1st class degree in Computing with Management here at the University of Bradford in the Department of Computing and PG Diploma in Research methods at the School of Management; a PG Certificate in Higher Education and a PG Certificate in Management and Leadership. Her PhD studies were conducted at the University of Bradford School of Management where she investigated technology within the pharmaceutical supply chain of the National Health Service (NHS). 

Andrea joined the Department of Computing in 2003 as a Lecturer in Computing. She is a founder member and Director of the Cyber Security Interdisciplinary Centre (CSIC) at the University of Bradford and continues to work on joint projects with colleagues within Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Peace Studies, Management, Law and Social Science. Her main research areas are the security of business systems, ISO27001, social engineering and the implications of security for organisations. She is a certified ISO/IEC 27001 Lead Implementer (Information Security Management Systems) and an ISO/IEC 27001 certified trainer. 

Andrea is currently an external examiner at the University of Derby and has previous experience at Huddersfield University Business School and the University of Manchester. She is currently the British Computer Society (BCS) departmental contact. Andrea is an MBTI practitioner and a trained workplace mediator.

Felician is a Professor in Automotive Reliability Engineering and Director of the Automotive Research Centre. He holds a PhD in Reliability from Brunel University (1998) and a Mechanical / Manufacturing Engineering Degree from Transilvania University (1990). Worked in the bearings industry before joining Academia as a lecturer in manufacturing automation. Has joined University of Bradford in 1998 as a Research Fellow, and progressed to Senior Research Fellow (2000), Senior Lecturer in Competitive Design (2005), and Professor in 2011. Has led the Bradford Engineering Quality Improvement Centre (since 2000) which is a major hub for collaborative applied research and knowledge transfer. Has led several major programmes of workplace based research and postgraduate development including the MSC by research / MPhil / PhD in Engineering Quality Improvement (partnership with Ford Motor Company) and the MSc in Engineering and Process Excellence (partnership with Jaguar Land Rover – Technical Accreditation Scheme) – underpinned by a programme of research led short courses.

Felician has extensive track record of leading research and knowledge transfer collaboration with the global automotive industry, including companies like Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Motors, Honda, Cummins Turbo Technologies, Webasto, and Gates Corporation.
Current research interests revolve around modelling complex systems, including model based methods for reliability and robustness of complex systems design, multi-disciplinary design optimization applied to complex systems, modelling complex product development processes.
Major recent research projects have focused on engine and powertrain modelling and optimisation, and automotive systems engineering design based on Failure Mode Avoidance.

Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, Member of the Design Society, Committee member of the MMEP DS SIG.

Professor Alec Cameron commenced as Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive of Aston University in September 2016. He previously held the position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) at the University of Western Australia from January, 2013 to August 2016. In this role, he led the University’s academic programs and the institution’s education mission. He oversaw the use of information technology, course structures, international activities, student recruitment and engagement, and relationships with key education partners. Prior to joining UWA, Professor Cameron was President of the Australian Business Deans Council. He was the driving force behind the Australian School of Business, after being appointed the School’s inaugural Dean in 2006, and overseeing its emergence from the integration of academic units at the University of New South Wales. Professor Cameron has also previously held the position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Resources and Infrastructure) at UNSW, and several senior corporate positions in the IT and telecommunications industry – including at Sun Microsystems Australia, Alcatel Australia, COMindico, and Telstra. A Rhodes Scholar, Professor Cameron holds a Bachelor of Science degree and a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering with First Class Honours. He also holds a University Medal from the University of Sydney, a Doctor of Philosophy degree in robotics from Oxford University, and a Master of Science degree in the Management of Technology from Polytechnic Institute, New York University. In December 2012, The Professor Alec Cameron Prize for Excellence was established at UNSW in recognition of his significant contribution to the institution and community.