Community cohesion: free speech, inclusion and the role of universities

Professor Kristin Aune is Visiting Professor of Religion and Higher Education at Loughborough University and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Religion and Gender. She has led many externally-funded research projects on religion and higher education, including by the AHRC, ESRC and the Office for Students. Her recent co-authored journal articles include ‘Multi-faith in policy only? Religion and belief inequalities at UK universities since the Equality Act’ (British Journal of Sociology of Education) and ‘How can universities support students’ interfaith learning? Findings from a longitudinal survey of students in the UK’ (Higher Education).

David is the Director of Inclusion and Governance and has led Advance HE's work on freedom of speech, academic freedom, and their interaction with equality, diversity and inclusion.

Nic is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Salford, having previously been Vice-Chancellor of Middlesex University and Vice-Principal of St Andrews. His leadership approach is to build collaborative advantage with student voice and co-design at its heart.

In line with his focus on student wellbeing, success and equities, Nic was a member of the Curriculum and Assessment Review for England and chairs The Quality Council for UK Higher Education and the National Union of Students’ Steering Group on tackling antisemitism. He is also a board member of QAA and UUK.

Andrew is a higher education regulatory, governance and policy expert, and has served as University Secretary with Royal Holloway, University of London, Kingston University, and St Mary's University Twickenham. He has overseen the effective management of university governance, legal matters, and regulatory compliance, and provided strategic advice to university boards, vice-chancellors and chief executives.

Andrew has worked in the higher education sector and on university policy for over 25 years in Canada and the UK, including within the DfE. Andrew is a published scholar, and is a regular contributor to Wonkhe and HEPI.

Head of Community Safety & Campus Security and Chair of AUCSO. A 30 year career in Policing. Retiring in 2012 he headed to Iraq as a consultant. on return he became security manager at Uni of York rebranded security into a Campus Safety Team. Now doing the same at Uni of Leeds. An active member of AUCSO becoming chair in April 2025 

Beth Cooper is a policy adviser at Universities UK. She works on topics relating to regulation and quality, including leading UUK’s work on managing campus tensions and on freedom of speech. Prior to working at UUK, Beth worked at the Office for Students, including most recently as policy lead for harassment and sexual misconduct.

As Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Global Engagement and Student Life at the University of Portsmouth, Chris utilizes his extensive higher education experience to oversee key areas including UOP Global, Recruitment, Marketing and Communications, Academic Services, UoP Sport and Recreation and Student Support Services. He provides strategic direction for student wellbeing and safeguarding, equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives and leadership for the implementation of an ambitious Global Engagement strategy which will see the University extending global partnerships and reach to make our high-quality brand of education even more accessible worldwide.

Before joining the University in September 2016, Chris served as Pro Vice-Chancellor of Corporate Marketing, International and Development Services at Anglia Ruskin University. With over 30 years in higher education and a background as a lawyer, he has the breadth of experience and knowledge to support UKCISA in his role as a trustee. Chris trained as a barrister and began his legal career as an Advocate and Solicitor in Malaysia advising major corporate clients.

Shraddha (known to many as Shades) leads the University of Exeter's activity across Wellbeing, EDI and Culture Change, overseeing the Wellbeing, Culture and Inclusion function, supporting the delivery of the University's People Strategy. Her role also supports the University’s Executive Board and Faculty and PS senior leadership teams in ensuring the diversity, differential experiences Free speech and emerging EDI issues are considered in decision-making at the highest levels.Shades has held various leadership roles in the Education sector, including the Office for Students, Exeter Students' Guild, UK Reproducibility Network, Ted Wragg Trust and recently as a non-exec member of the University of Exeter's governing body.

Louis Danker is the President of the Union of Jewish Students. For over 100 years, UJS has delivered vibrant Jewish life on campus through a network of Jewish Societies (JSocs). Louis and his team campaign tirelessly against the rise of antisemitism and intolerance on campus, and have recently published Time for Change, a landmark report into campus antisemitism.

Jon is Director of Student Affairs at University of Birmingham with responsibilities including good campus relations and the campus student experience, working with students and communities.  Jon has worked at Birmingham in this role for 7 years, and before that was Dean of Students at the University of Wolverhampton.  Going back far enough and Jon has worked as Chief Executive and in other senior roles in Students' Unions. 

Emeka Forbes leads the Secretariat of the Independent Commission on Community and Cohesion — a cross-party initiative chaired by two former Cabinet Ministers. At the Together Coalition, he convenes organisations across civil society, government and business to strengthen community life. He is a columnist for Governance and Leadership, published by Civil Society, and an Associate Member of Nuffield College, University of Oxford. He also serves as Senior Adviser to the Fairness Foundation, Chair of Z2K, and trustee of Room to Heal. His background spans policy, public affairs and strategic communications across social cohesion, child protection, mental health, online harms and AI regulation.

Jayne Flowers works as the Democracy Development Coordinator at the Students' Union, UCL. Their role involves empowering student leaders to be heard and to drive positive change through training and support for student-led democratic processes. Jayne has also co-chaired UCL's Staff Trans* Network and OUT@UCL, demonstrating a commitment to creating an academic community rooted in safety and equity. Additionally, Jayne is working towards a PhD focused on transphobia in digital spaces, aiming to understand how various platforms may facilitate transphobic language by analysing their policies and algorithmic operations.

Matthew Guest is the Head of Local and Regional Business Engagement at the University of Lancashire. He facilitates the University’s work with partners to maximise the region’s redevelopment potential through research, innovation and knowledge exchange.

Matthew was a Policy Manager for GuildHE where he led policy work on knowledge exchange, skills, international and partnerships.

Matthew holds an MSc in Voluntary Sector Management from City, University of London and an MA in Classics from the University of St Andrews. He is undertaking a PhD exploring civic leadership in universities through the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University.

Dan Hurley is Deputy Director of Policy with leadership oversight of UUK’s work on research, innovation, growth, skills, and student experience. He also helps shape the strategic direction of the Policy Group as part of the senior management team. Dan has worked in higher education policy for around a decade. Prior to this, he held roles in both the public and private sectors in research and analytical capacities, covering topics ranging from environmental issues to international trade. He is passionate about representing a world-class sector that plays a vital role in improving life chances and driving opportunity and growth for all.

Dr Maisha Islam is the Research Culture Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Southampton’s Doctoral College. Her research areas of interest and expertise centre student engagement, and racial and religious equity in higher education. She is a co-editor of the recently published book ‘Uncovering Islamophobia in Higher Education: Supporting the success of Muslim students and staff’, and co-Chair of a Research England/Office for Students Steering Group seeking to improve access and participation of racially minoritised students in postgraduate research.

Professor Tom Lawson is Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost at Northumbria University. As Deputy Vice Chancellor and Provost, Tom has strategic oversight of the University’s academic portfolio and the faculties. Tom was responsible for leading Northumbria’s submission to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and lead the University’s work towards recognition under the Race Equality Charter. 

Tom is a historian of the Holocaust and more recently of colonial genocides. He is the author and editor of several books on these subjects including The Church of England and the Holocaust (2006); with James Jordan, The Memory of the Holocaust in Australia (2008); with Stephen Parker, God and War (2010); Debates on the Holocaust (2010) and The Last Man: A British Genocide in Tasmania (2014). Tom was previously a Mid-Career Fellow of the British Academy and a co-editor of Holocaust Studies: a journal of culture and History. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Dr Shaid Mahmood MBE is Chair of the Association of Colleges and the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for EDI at Durham University. He has over three decades of leadership contributions in business, industry, education, and local government with a decade of public service as Chief Officer for Communities, Transformation and Change in local government. He has extensive experience on devolving and integrating of services, tackling poverty and inequality, leading safeguarding, conflict resolution, and management, counter extremism and community cohesion and safety. Shaid was awarded the ‘UK’s Most Inspiring Person of the Year’ in national inclusion awards and was honoured with an MBE for services to education.

Fiona is currently a member of the University Executive at the University of Edinburgh, serving as the University’s Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

Prior to joining Edinburgh in 2025, she was Director of EDI at the University of Leeds, and also Director of EDI in the Office of the President and Provost at University College London (UCL).

Before moving into higher education, Fiona worked in research and policy development for social justice organisations in Scotland and Australia, including several years at a community-controlled Indigenous organisation in Australia and also as a researcher within both the Scottish Parliament and the Parliament of South Australia.

Robin is Deputy COO at King’s College London, with operational oversight of professional services teams. He reports to both COO and Provost and line manages the professional services teams embedded in Faculties. Robin’s responsibilities include operations, faculty finances and business planning, and strategy including transformation of professional services. He leads for the Executive Team on issues relating to free expression. Robin has worked at King’s for 14 years, previously as Director of Strategy, and before King’s had a career in management consulting.

Amy Norton is Head of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at the London School of Economics. As well as overseeing the implementation of LSE’s Public Sector Equality Duty objectives, EDI strategy and action plan, she leads on work to advance equity for students and staff with protected characteristics, including their Race, Gender, LGBTQ+ and Disability Action Plans. Amy is also leading LSE’s strategic programme of work to address all forms of sexual misconduct and harassment, violence and hate crime. Prior to joining the LSE, Amy was Head of EDI at the Office for Students, where she held the equalities, harassment and sexual misconduct and student mental health/wellbeing policy briefs. She worked in the OfS since its start in 2018 and before that had a long career leading EDI and HE workforce policy at the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

Professor Mark O'Brien is Professor of Law and Society and currently the Deputy Dean of The City Law School, City St George's, University of London. Previously, he was Head of the School of Law at Oxford Brookes University, Director of Law at the University of the West of England, Bristol, and has also held university EDI and global engagement roles. His research focuses on legal and sociological aspects of moral panics, including free speech and hate speech, police discretion, the regulation of counter-cultural groups, and digital regulation. He is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and has also published on higher education cultures and management.

Mark is the current Chair of the Association of Law Teachers, the learned society for legal education. Recent sectoral contributions include membership of the QAA Law Benchmark Statement panel, and contributing to the 2025 Advance HE guidance, ‘Embedding Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

As Pro Vice-Chancellor (Social Justice and Equity) at the University of Salford, Dr Pradeep Passi provides strategic leadership in institutional efforts to embed social justice and equity across its domains of education, research, enterprise, and people. Over the past eighteen years, Dr Passi has occupied a number of academic leadership positions at the Universities of Lancashire and Salford with areas of expertise relating to student experience, success, equality, diversity, inclusion (EDI), and pedagogical advancement.

His scholarly interests centre on the development and implementation of intentionally inclusive frameworks within higher education, leveraging co-creation methodologies to advance organisational transformation, mitigate inequity and advance social justice. Dr Passi’s research focusses on a long-standing commitment to the eradication of degree awarding gaps, exemplified by his co-leadership of the UK Higher Education Awards Gap Group from 2019 to 2023.

Currently, Dr Passi is a member of Advance HE’s EDI committee and serves as co-chair of the Race Equality Charter Governance Committee, contributing to the formulation and oversight of sector-wide race equality frameworks within UK higher education. His expertise is further informed by extensive cross-sector experience, including senior roles within the National Health Service and work with criminal justice agencies, and local government, which underpin his holistic approach to advancing social justice in academic and public sector settings.

Saranya Thambirajah is the Vice President of Liberation and Equality at the National Union of Students, representing and advocating for students across on the country on issues of equality, inclusion and access. Before this she was a sabbatical officer at Bristol Students’ Union.
 

Morgan Smith is a Senior Inclusion Coordinator at the University of Manchester Students' Union, working on wellbeing and inclusion focused programmes for students. They have a law degree from Queen Mary University of London, and previously worked in the QMUL Students Union on student voice and education.

Alex has been Vice President of Higher Education at the National Union of Students since July 2024. His main role is to represent students in Higher Education and to advocate and campaign for their best interests. Prior to NUS, he spent a year as the Education Officer at Exeter Students’ Guild.
 

Professor Verma is a leading voice in building intersectional, inclusive and accountable cultures across education and the public sector. His work transforms governance, policy and organisational systems into structures that enable equity, agility and purposeful mpact. A strategic leader in sector-wide and institutional change, he turns complexity into clarity through rigorous evaluation, culture audits and leadership development. He equips institutions to champion communities, strengthen their integrity and deliver sustainable and systemic change. A dynamic keynote speaker and ethical innovator, he blends systems thinking, design thinking and intersectional insight to help organisations rethink how they lead, act and create connectedness and social impact.

Luqmaan Waqar is the incoming President of the King's College London Students' Union (KCLSU). He recently earned his PhD from King's College London, focusing on loneliness and mental health among young adults and university students.