NEON - Key Persons
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- Head of Widening Participation and Outreach, Sheffield Hallam University
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- Fair Access Programme Lead, UCAS
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- Operations Manager, Higher Horizons
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- Director for Fair Access and Participation, Office for Students
John is the Director for Fair Access and Participation. His role is to ensure universities and colleges are doing all they can to support learners from all backgrounds, especially the most disadvantaged, to access and succeed in higher education.
John took up his position at the Office for Students (OfS) in January 2022. Prior to joining OfS, he was a senior leader and researcher in the schools sector, leading on public affairs and curriculum research and design for Ark, policy and strategy for Now Teach and History initial teacher education for the Harris Federation. He has also worked as Head of Education and Social Reform for the think tank, Policy Exchange, was a founder governor of Oak National Academy, and served as an advisor to the government on reforms to initial teacher training and continuing professional development.
Job Titles:
- NUS National President
- President of the National Union of Students
Larissa (23) is the President of the National Union of Students (NUS) which represents seven million students across further and higher education in the UK. Throughout her 2-year term in office, NUS seeks to grasp at the root of a broken system to de-marketise, democratise and decolonise education & build a new vision for education.
Larissa is also on the Board at Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK), a charity set up by students and staff at NUS in 2019 to take climate justice work further and faster in the student movement. Further to this, she is a member of the team at the Free Black University, co-creating a radical, imaginative, and transformative hub for knowledge production centred on the healing and wellbeing of Black people.
Prior to this, Larissa was Education Officer & Deputy President of Warwick Students' Union, where she founded the Warwick Decolonise Project. Larissa brings extensive experience from the youth sector, having formerly been on the Board of the British Youth Council and UK Youth Delegate to the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.
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- Professor of Social Policy, Anglia Ruskin University
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- Vice - Chancellor
- Professor
Professor Mark Ormerod is Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost of Keele University and has been in this role since 2015. He is responsible for the academic leadership of the University. Professor Ormerod was previously Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) at Keele and prior to that was Head of the Schools of Physical and Geographical Sciences, and Chemistry and Physics, and Professor of Clean Technology and Inorganic Materials Chemistry.
Professor Ormerod is also the institutional lead for Keele's internationally renowned activities in sustainability and low carbon technology, which involve embedding sustainability in all aspects of the University's operations - research and innovation, knowledge exchange, education, its external engagement and partnerships, and the campus and community. He has an international profile for his leadership, advocacy and communication of sustainability and low carbon issues. He is a member of numerous other national and international sustainability panels and advisory groups.
Professor Ormerod has a long-standing passion and commitment for Widening Participation in Higher and Further Education and has worked extensively with disadvantaged and under-represented communities. He is Chair of the Higher Horizons Uni Connect programme, which is led by Keele University.
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- Vice - Chancellor, University of West London
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- Head of Widening Participation, Manchester Metropolitan University
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- CEO of Youth Leads UK, Deputy Lieutenant of Greater Manchester and Former Social Mobility Commissioner
Saeed Atcha MBE DL is an inspiring CEO, Leader and Changemaker having worked to make the world a better place for all young people, for a decade.
He is CEO of Youth Leads UK, the Youngest Deputy Lieutenant in the UK and a Former Social Mobility Commissioner responsible for Young People and Vulnerable Groups and Saeed is Trustee, Patron and Advisor to a number of organisations across the youth, health and housing sectors.
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- Head of Widening Participation, University of Sussex
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- Head of Participation and Success ( Deputy Director, Student Support & Success ), University of Winchester
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- Commissioner for Fair Access, Scotland
Peter Scott is Commissioner for Fair Access in Scotland, and Professor of Higher Education Studies at the UCL Institute of Education. He was formerly Vice-Chancellor of Kingston University and a member of the board of the (former) Higher Education Funding Council for England, where he favoured quality assurance, learning and teaching and also widening participation strategic committees. His most recent book is ‘Retreat or Resolution? Tackling the Crisis of Mass Higher Education' (Policy Press 2021).
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- Professor of Earth Surface Science at the University of Exeter
Professor Tim Quine is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) and Professor of Earth Surface Science at the University of Exeter. Prior to taking on the Deputy Vice-Chancellor role in September 2015, Tim was the Academic Dean for Students having been the Associate Dean for Education for the College of Life and Environmental Sciences.