22 April 2021 
Martin Higgs, Communications Officer
With so many options available at UHR’s 2021 Conference, ‘Refreshing HR’, we know it isn’t easy to prioritise. We really want to encourage you to pull up a coffee, grab ten minutes, and check out the programme, perhaps with the following “Conference Pathways” information to guide you. It’s entirely your choice as to which sessions to attend, so please take time to build your own personal programme, and perhaps confer with colleagues on what they’d like to do too, so that as a whole team you get the best possible advantage and value for your Team Ticket.
So although in the suggested Pathways below we’ve steered you by your level of seniority and by your specialism, in practice it’s entirely your choice as to how you experience the conference. We really hope you’ll enjoy the programme and making your selections. Search through the daily tabs on our website and add sessions to your diary using the green cross button.
Does your institution have a Team Ticket? If not head here.
Once you have secured your university's Team Ticket, you can Register as an individual - it is this activity that will generate your own personal login to the Hopin conference platform, so it's a vital step.
While we’d never suggest just joining conference for the plenary sessions alone, we do think they are a great mix, and it would be a rewarding experience if you saw no other sessions but the following. On Tuesday, don’t miss an inspirational and refreshing opening plenary from Martine Wright MBE, Paralympian and 7/7 survivor, and find time for Professor Katie Bailey in Plenary 2 – “How can we find meaning in times of crisis?”? Wednesday’s plenaries are both ‘don’t miss’: Professor Beverly Alimo-Metcalfe will be helping us think about “Leading well in the ‘New Work Order’” while business psychologist Clive Lewis leads his session “Building Respect and Tolerance in a Hostile Workplace”. Thursday’s plenary sessions are from HEPI’s Nick Hillman on horizon scanning for HE and John Amaechi OBE on “Inclusive Leaders: moving beyond the rhetoric to create the change that matters”.
The networking and social aspect of conference provides vital aspects to catch-up with colleagues near and far. End Tuesday with our interactive social quiz - UHR's quizzes are always competitive and this year you'll want your smartphone to be fully charged! Meet your peers at the networking roulette on Wednesday lunchtime. After hours on Wednesday, there’s the UHR awards at 4pm and 5pm social options including an all-age magic show for everyone in your household, a wellbeing workshop or cocktail-making masterclass! Bookend the content with planning and reflection sessions with your HR team at 4pm on Monday and some point on Friday and watch recordings of any sessions you missed or need to see again. And try at some point to drop into the exhibition and see some of our sponsors: they subsidise UHR’s conference and other activity, and provide services that you might find useful, including some new ones.
Your diary is already packed, so here are a few suggestions of sessions that might be especially relevant for you. Start with the Senior HR Forum on Monday afternoon, led by Professor Veronica Hope-Hailey of the University of Bath, sharing thinking with your peers on “Trust and resilience: Responsible business in times of crisis”, followed by networking with others at the 5pm welcome session. On Tuesday, if you’ve time for a workshop, maybe B5: Leadership Lessons of Covid; and Legal Session 3: New modern workplaces – any time, any place, anywhere? On Wednesday workshop wise, maybe C4: Building Resilience & Agility in a post-pandemic world, or Legal Session 7: Planning for a more agile HE workforce. Thursday’s picks for you might be workshop E1: Planning to Thrive: Strategic Workforce Planning in HEIs.
The smorgasbord is hard to choose from, with over 30 workshops, 10 legal sessions, 6 plenaries and so much more. Start with the career workshop from McLean on Monday afternoon (learn what search agents and recruiters do and want, how pandemic has affected this, CV skills and more), followed by networking with others at the 5pm welcome session. On Tuesday, there are two blocks of workshops. You could try session A3: Springing back: fuelling change with energy from resistance and B3: Designing and launching a highly-impactful Women’s Network during Covid-19 and Lockdown.. Specialist simultaneous legal sessions mean tough choices: how about Legal Session 4 - Whistleblowing: Understanding and managing whistleblowing concerns: a legal update for universities? For your Wednesday workshops, maybe C3: Entrepreneurial leadership: to thrive in challenging times, and D5: Every decision matters, every person counts; and Legal Session 5: Reshaping Hiring Strategies After Brexit. Thursday’s picks for you might be Legal Session 9: Brave New World; workshops E5: Employee relations: challenges and opportunities over the next year and beyond and F4: A Cooler Kind of Kindness – creating water cooler connections remotely.
Choices, choices, choices. Join the networking and welcome reception on Monday at 5pm or find “We're Not Really Strangers” at 5.30pm. On Tuesday, there are two blocks of workshops. How about A4: What makes a ‘best place to work’? and B2: Leveraging the latest digital technology to improve Employee Experience. Each day has 3 simultaneous legal sessions so choose to suit you, depending on your area of work. For Wednesday’s workshops, maybe C6: Resilience and mental wellbeing in an ‘always on’ digital world, and D3: Ambassador of Hope: A Company Wide Approach to Mental Health Education; and a legal session to suit. Thursday’s picks for you might be a legal session; workshops E4: How we are Revitalising Wellbeing Post Covid in Higher Education and F5: Differing Approaches to Conflict. Recordings and slides of sessions will be available on the UHR website within 24 hours so you’ll have ample opportunity to catch up on sessions that you miss, or which colleagues recommend.
Why not join a career workshop from McLean on Monday afternoon (learn what search agents and recruiters do and want, how pandemic has affected this, CV skills and more), then network with others at the 5pm welcome session. On Tuesday, there are two blocks of workshops. You could try B4: Digital Recruitment – Improving Diversity and EVP or B3: Designing and launching a highly-impactful Women’s Network during Covid-19 and Lockdown. Recordings and slides from sessions will be available on the UHR website – we’ll be certain to share a link with delegates as soon as it is live. Each day has three simultaneous legal sessions: how about Legal Session 1: EDI issues in HE? For Wednesday’s workshops, any of the following might suit. C2: Diverse recruitment strategies in a Post-Covid world; and C5: If not now, WHEN. Driving gender equity within HE; and D2: Engineer your recruitment processes & employer brand to recruit more diverse candidates; and D4: How To Be An Active Bystander; and Legal Session 6: Sexual harassment, safeguarding and the OfS. Thursday’s picks for you include Legal Session 8: Race Equality Charter – A platform for advancing equality and tackling racism; workshops E3: Developing Psychological Safety with Conversional Integrity and F3: Delivering deep and meaningful D&I.
You’ll be in your element at #UHR21, with many of the workshops, legal sessions, plenaries and other options geared for you. Start with the career workshop from McLean on Monday afternoon (learn what search agents and recruiters do and want, how pandemic has affected this, CV skills and more), followed by networking with others at the 5pm welcome session. On Tuesday, there are two blocks of workshops including A2: Our journey to enabling a progressive, compassionate, and responsible culture during uncertain times; and B1: The Imposter Phenomenon – how it differs from self-doubt and how to overcome it; and B2: Leveraging the latest digital technology to improve Employee Experience. Each day has 3 simultaneous legal sessions: how about Legal Session 3: New modern workplaces – any time, any place, anywhere? Wednesday’s workshops include C1: A new approach to employee engagement and wellbeing; C6: Resilience and mental wellbeing in an ‘always on’ digital world; D1: Building Resilience in UK HE; and Legal Session 7: Planning for a more agile HE workforce. Thursday’s picks for you might be Legal Session 9: Brave New World; workshops E5: Employee relations: challenges and opportunities over the next year and beyond and F1: The Conversation Compass, to promote wellbeing and working differently or F2: Trust and Consequences: the role of HR in building organisational culture.
Many of the workshops, legal sessions, plenaries and other options at #UHR21 have specialists like you in mind. Start with the career workshop from McLean on Monday afternoon (learn what search agents and recruiters do and want, how pandemic has affected this, CV skills and more), followed by networking with others at the 5pm welcome session. On Tuesday, there are two blocks of workshops including A4: What makes a ‘best place to work’? and B4: Digital Recruitment – Improving Diversity and EVP. Each day has 3 simultaneous legal sessions - how about Legal Session 2: Managing Global Mobility? Wednesday’s workshops include C1: A new approach to employee engagement and wellbeing; C2: Diverse recruitment strategies in a Post-Covid world; D6: Pensions Reform and Financial Wellbeing – are your staff financially literate enough to deal with further change; and Legal Session 5: Reshaping Hiring Strategies After Brexit. Thursday’s picks for you might be Legal Session 10: Attracting, Managing and Retaining a Thriving and Diverse International Workforce; workshops E5: Employee relations: challenges and opportunities over the next year and beyond and F1: The Conversation Compass, to promote wellbeing and working differently.
In truth we know everyone will find their own way through the programme, watching sessions that suit them and their busy diaries, and catching up with sessions that colleagues recommend when they can. No two delegates need make the same choices or experience UHR21 in exactly the same way, but for all, there will be no need for Netflix with such a UHR back catalogue to search through. Have a great conference.
