The ALIGN HE concluded with a clear call to action, empowering attendees to champion a more equitable leadership within Higher Education. 

The one-day event, held at the University of Leeds on Thursday 24 April, brought together a diverse range of university leaders, academics and professional services staff, all united by a common goal: to foster greater equity and inclusion within leadership in Higher Education. 

The conference programme was packed with insightful panel discussions, interactive workshops and inspiring keynote speeches. Panellists delved into topics such as the challenges facing global majority staff, imposter syndrome, and widespread lack of visibly diverse leadership.

Workshop hosts shared insights into new ways of increasing diversity in staff recruitment and research funding as well as discussion topics on community and belonging.  

Key highlights from the conference include:  

• Dr Faith Uwadiae, Research Culture & Communities Specialist at the Wellcome Trust gave an overview of her career and how she has developed her own leadership style and values through self-leadership and awareness.  

• Masud Khokhar (University of Leeds), chaired a panel on ‘shaping a more inclusive future’. Programme leads from HE institutions across the UK shared insights from sector leading programmes developing global majority leaders: B-MEentor (UCL), IMPACT (Imperial College London), Aditi (University of Birmingham), and VC programme (University of Greater Manchester).  

• The event concluded with a panel discussion on inspiring leaders chaired by Dr Maria Hussain (University of Leeds). Speakers included Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost Prof Hai Su-Yu and Prof Lisa Dionne-Morris (University of Leeds) and Izzie Kpobie-Mensah (Royal College of Art) who shared their own leadership journeys with insights on navigating the system to end the day on an inspirational note.  

Feedback from attendees has been overwhelmingly positive, with many highlighting the inspiring sense of collective commitment.  

The conference was organised and led by Nilisha Vashist and Sameera Rafiq (University of Leeds) and supported by the White Rose University Consortium team. The event was funded by the UKRI Research England / University of Leeds Enhancing Research Culture fund.  

Nilisha Vashist said: “There is a lot of good practice and willingness in sector to innovate and diversify leadership. The level of engagement from the participants was a powerful reminder of why diverse leadership matters.

“I am glad ALIGN H.E. was able to bring together leaders and practitioners contributing to this movement and act as a beacon of our shared collective vision to reimagine leadership.”

Sameera Rafiq said: “ALIGN HE created space for real conversations—unfiltered, bold, and deeply necessary. It brought together people who are often navigating leadership in isolation and reminded us that collective insight is one of our strongest tools for change.

“This wasn’t just about representation—it was about redefining what leadership can look and feel like in Higher Education.”

Karen Hinxman, Head of White Rose University Consortium said: “We are thrilled with the level of engagement and the insightful discussions that took place at the ALIGN HE conference. 

“The passion and commitment demonstrated by everyone involved underscores the urgent need and collective will to make Higher Education a more equitable and inclusive space for all global majority staff.”

View the full programme