16 October 2026 
Emma Walton-Pond, Communications Officer
Whether you are reading this as a potential applicant or current member of Trailblazers I urge you to take the opportunity, attend CUPA-HR, and jump in with both feet to what will be one of the most memorable opportunities you will get in your professional career.
The 2026 conference was being held in Philadelphia, somewhere I've personally never visited but after attending CUPA you can absolutely count on the fact I will go back, such was the warm welcome we received from both the city and the conference attendees.
On day one Ian Wright from the University of Sheffield and I registered and we were at once aware of the scale of the conference. 1400 attendees with 300 people exhibiting in the Expo. (You know those lit beacons ground staff in an airport use to direct planes with in the dark? That is how they were directing people at the expo!)
Having said that and despite the volume of people, everyone was taking the time to meet someone new. It wasn’t a case where people stood with their institutions and I really liked that. Whether you were on the way to a session, in the lift, or walking between rooms everyone was connecting with someone they hadn’t met before.
The opening keynote from Jenn Lim was a fantastic way to kick off the theme, (which permeated the entire conference I felt) of hitting a reset button for yourself while navigating non-stop change, and it offered a different lens for how to show up and lead in ways which support culture, resilience and impact. There are a million quotes I could have pulled out but I really liked this one as I feel many of us in HR are guilty of falling victim to it:
“Care but don’t carry. Make people feel heard but don’t carry everyone else’s luggage.”
After this it was time to head to the opening reception, and Ian and I got the opportunity to meet Andy Brantley, President and CEO of CUPA with some colleagues from the New York chapter. Again, I could see a lot of thought had gone into making sure people could connect with others, even if they were on their own. CUPA had organised a ‘Solo Social’ immediately before the reception for those who were the only member of their institution attending. I ended up getting pulled into a conversation with Jenn Lim and I missed it, but Ian attended and said the atmosphere was very welcoming.
On Day 2 I took some time before the keynote to get myself into a presenting headspace and don my tartan trousers. I couldn’t very well attend an international conference and leave people in any doubt about where I was from! The day’s keynote was from Colin Fisher, a jazz musician and Professor at University College London. This was an excellent session and provided practical strategies to structure, launch and coach teams more effectively. With many of our institutions restructuring, and new teams being established at pace this quote in particular resonated:
“When it comes to teamwork, we don’t always need to trust each other before we collaborate. We come to trust people through collaboration.”
As someone who has just joined a new team myself, I felt this provided a more optimistic take on what might otherwise seem like a daunting prospect.
Ian and I then headed to our own session on ‘Navigating the HE Horizon – HR’s Role in Delivering Institutional Resilience and Workforce Agility: A UK Perspective’. I won’t lie, every time I’ve written that down I feel impressive. The session went so well, we had brilliant engagement (someone even came 40 minutes early so they could be assured of a seat), and we had loads of people stay afterwards to ask more questions. Ian gave a fantastic scene-setting opener on the sector in the UK to outline some of the challenges we are facing. I took the middle part to talk through HR’s role in meeting these challenges and we ended by sharing some specifics from our own institutions about how we are ‘walking the walk’ in this space.
The conference had organised a ‘helping hour’ which Ian and I joined to stuff bears for a local children’s hospital. They were aiming to have 120 bears ready to be distributed, and even though Ian and I were a bit later getting started because questions from our session had run over, I know for a fact they hit their target! Once again an inspiring way to bring colleagues together to network while making a difference at the same time.
On Day 3 I attended two other concurrent sessions before heading to the closing keynote in the afternoon. I know I keep saying it but I couldn’t get my head around how easy it was to get to make new connections. I don’t think I walked into any session (including the keynotes which had 1000 attendees) where I didn’t know someone – either because we had chatted over breakfast or met in the corridor.
The closing keynote from Marc Brackett was an incredible way to finish. I honestly don’t know how you consolidate ten years of work in emotional intelligence into an hour let alone make it funny, but he managed it. From navigating difficult conversations, improving decision-making and avoiding burnout it was a phenomenal way to close. He emphasized that ignoring or suppressing emotions makes them stronger, comparing unexpressed emotions to a debt that eventually comes due, while emotional intelligence restores balance to our thoughts rather than interfering with them.
My mind was honestly still reeling from everything I had heard over the three days and had I not been so excited to get home to start a new role I don’t think I would have wanted to leave.
My closing thoughts are these.
Opportunities like this don't come around often. Travel and development experiences are usually the first things constrained by budgets, which is why this opportunity meant so much to me and I'm incredibly grateful to UHR and CUPA for making it possible.
I also want to speak directly to those of you in the early and middle stages of your HR career. Step outside your bubble. Put yourself forward. Apply for Trailblazers. Say yes to the opportunities that come from it.
I don't know if I'll ever have the chance to do something quite like this again, but I sincerely hope it wasn't the last. Too often, we're consumed by the day job. We're busy dealing with competing priorities, carrying the weight of challenging casework, and supporting everyone else. In the process, we rarely take the time to invest in ourselves.
CUPA gave me that opportunity, I will never forget it, and I will always be thankful for it.
If you see me speaking at an event in the future, please know that the confident person standing in front of you wasn't always there. Trailblazers helped me discover a level of self-belief I hadn't fully tapped into, and CUPA cemented that confidence by giving me the chance to put those lessons into practice, and be a bit silly at the same time.
So, if you've ever doubted yourself, questioned whether you're ready, or wondered if you belong in the room, my advice is simple: apply. Invest in yourself. Give yourself the opportunity to grow. The skills and experiences matter, but the greatest thing you may gain is the confidence to see what you're truly capable of.
Emma McDougall
