05 May 2026 - UCISA26 Gareth Roberts Reflections
Moving to another institution is a major decision. When I made mine recently, I knew the UCISA 2026 Leadership Summit in Liverpool would present an excellent opportunity to accelerate my transition into a new role. For those who’ve never attended, this annual conference is one of Higher Education’s premier networking events.
When you shift institution the old Mark Twain adage “History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme” is ever true. The sector is facing a common set of headwinds, but every institution is different. Different technology landscapes. Different levels of maturity. Different cultures. You can take your leadership playbook with you, but real success comes from being able to adapt it to your new environment.
So, coming a couple of months after my move, the conference timing could not have been better, and I set out with enthusiasm to achieve a few things that would help me settle in my new role:
- Building relationships with a different portfolio of suppliers and partners. The scale and pace of digital transformation across the sector is breathtaking. It’s not possible to do this without leaning on external support. To make new connections, update familiar faces and reboot old relationships is invaluable. The supplier exhibition and networking events facilitate this brilliantly. It’s far more efficient and engaging than finding slots in a busy calendar.
- The other side of the coin is extending your network with peers at other institutions. Looking beyond the slick marketing pitches is an essential part of any evaluation, and the best way to do that is to speak to people who trod the path before you. Very few projects and supplier relationships go totally smoothly. The sector is riddled with complexity, and this will generate challenges you didn’t foresee. Understanding how other institutions dealt with these problems or learning how adaptable their suppliers are, provides valuable insight.
- People coming from outside the sector are often surprised by just how collaborative universities are and how open they are to sharing best practice. Attending the leadership conference, you’ll quickly build a network of contacts with similar interests and challenges.
- Finally, there are common themes that many of us are facing. The IT gender imbalance, the CFO’s unrequited desire for more shared services or finding AI use cases that have a genuine return on investment. The main stage and breakout sessions tackled these and many other hot topics. The University of Southampton’s approach to recruiting underrepresented groups is inspiring. The common data model for student systems looks promising. If professional services can agree common processes for core functions, then shared services could become a reality. AI? Still looking, but a few seeds have been planted that may bear fruit in the future.
Did the UCISA 2026 Leadership Conference deliver on my expectations? 100%! Conversations started at UCISA are ongoing, spurring new and radical thinking, and coalescing into action.
If you’ve recently joined the sector or moved to another institution, then I highly recommend adding it to your calendar.
Gareth Roberts
Director of Technology & Architecture
University of Bath
