Keynote Speakers

Dr Michelle Morgan is Dean of Students at the University of East London. She was previously associate professor and associate dean of the student experience at Bournemouth University.

Michelle is extensively published in the area of supporting student diversity and improving the student learning experience at undergraduate and postgraduate taught level in, through and out of the student study journey. Her two edited books that revolve around her Student Experience Transitions Model (SET) are designed to help academic and professional service colleagues support students. She has developed a free portal for staff which provides a range of information and links for anyone interested in improving the student experience in higher education www.improvingthestudentexperience.com

During her varied career, Michelle has been a faculty manager, lecturer, researcher and academic manager. She describes herself as a ‘Third Space Professional’ student experience practitioner who develops initiatives based on pragmatic and practical research. Michelle has over 50 publications and has presented over 100 national and international conference papers (including 45 keynotes and 30 invited papers). She co-wrote and co-presented a 5 part Radio series for BBC China in 2011 on the student learning experience.

Michelle was creator and PI/Project Lead of an innovative, £2.7 million, 11 university collaborative HEFCE grant, looking at the study expectations and attitudes of postgraduate taught (PGT) students. The project report received praise from across the sector including UKCGE, OFFA, the HEA and the Engineering Professor’s Council. http://www.improvingthestudentexperience.com/library/PG_documents/Postgraduate_Experience_Report_Final.pdf

Michelle is a Principal Fellow of the HEA, Fellow of the AUA , an elected council member of UKCGE and for a second year, a judge on The Guardian University awards panel. She is an NTF Reviewer and Student Minds Mental Health Charter Assessor.

Dr Thomas Lancaster is a leading academic integrity practitioner, an area he regularly speaks about with students, at events and to the media. A Computer Scientist by background, Thomas works in a student-focused role as a Senior Teaching Fellow at Imperial College London. Thomas began his research career completing a PhD in plagiarism detection in 2003. In 2006, he collaborated with the late Robert Clarke to publish the first paper referring to contract cheating, an area of concern that continues to occupy much of his research time. Thomas' recent publications, many written alongside student partners, have considered such areas as the use of Chegg by students to obtain exam answers, academic integrity challenges during Covid-19, contract cheating advertising and marketing through social media, and the language used to discuss academic misconduct and academic integrity. Thomas authored the book "Avoid Plagiarism" for Sage, is a member of the Quality Assurance Agency advisory group on academic integrity and recently organised an undergraduate student research conference on academic integrity, the first of its type in the world. Thomas is delighted to be delivering the opening keynote address for the authentic assessment portion of the Bioscience Education Summit.