The annual web content-themed conference for higher education professionals is happening in Liverpool this year, from 8 to 9 October. Lauren and I are contributing sessions, and we’re looking forward to a couple of days of learning and networking with colleagues across the sector.

Yesterday I had the chance to provide an update about our project to deliver a new website for prospective students, at the University’s Web Publishers Community. Slides and video are available.

Last week we hosted the second unconference organised by UKEducamp. Some of the team have been part of the organising committee throughout, and most of us took part on the day. We all took something from this fantastic volunteer-led free event and recommend more higher education digital colleagues get involved.

UK EduCamp is a volunteer-run organisation who run unconferences to bring together digital professionals in higher education. We’re hosting the upcoming event on Friday 12 January. It’s free and open to book a place.

I gave a presentation recently at the Communications and Marketing department all-staff meeting, in which I shared some of our team working practices. We use regularly scheduled sessions to ensure good communication and support within the team, and to ensure we deliver a steady stream of updates to our stakeholders across the University.

We’re running an open invite event on Microsoft Teams to share what we learned through the user research conducted during the summer of 2023. Join us to better understand the experience of prospective postgraduate research students, with the majority focus on PhD.

Last week we launched a preview of what undergraduate degree profiles will look like when the new system goes live. We call this a beta.

The annual web content-themed conference for higher education professionals is happening in Manchester this year, from 16 to 17 October. Lauren and I are contributing sessions, and the team are looking forward to a couple of days of learning and networking with colleagues across the sector.

Last month I attended a one-day UK EduCamp unconference at the University of Sheffield. The relaxed format provided lots of opportunity to discuss and learn about burning topics for digital teams in the sector, and to connect with colleagues old and new.

Listening to a podcast by journalist and author Jon Ronson, I was struck by what he had to say about social media echo chambers and feedback loops. It made me think about the parallels between his observations and findings, and how we run user-centred projects. In particular, the importance of working in the open.