Heads of University Management & Administration Network in Europe

HUMANE Annual Conference

Building Strength – Sharing Resilience Strategies for Universities

Conference Chair: Leon van de Zande, Secretary General, University of Amsterdam, NL

All times BST

Wednesday, 10 June 2026

TIME

SESSION

SPEAKERS

14:00

Residential School Alumni SC meeting (14:00-16:00) 

HUMANE Board meeting (14:00 – 15:30)

HUMANE General Assembly meeting (16:00 – 17:00)

These meetings are by invitation only

16:30

Registration (coffee available) 

17:00

HUMANE Welcome and Introduction

Leon van de Zande, Conference Chair; Secretary General, University of Amsterdam, NL;  Alex Pellacani, HUMANE President; Director General University of Trento, IT; Nadine Burquel, HUMANE Director General, BE

17:10

Welcome to the University of Edinburgh

Leigh Chalmers, Vice-Principal and University Secretary, The University of Edinburgh, UK

17:20

Keynote: The World Today: Global perspectives – political, social and economic factors impacting resilience in Higher Education

Chris Carter, Chair in Strategy and Organisation, The University of Edinburgh Business School, UK

18:20

Icebreaking Session

Tiina Kosunen, Head of Conferences & Events, Communications & Community Relations, University of Helsinki, FI; Neil McGillivray, Chief Operating Officer, Bayes Centre, The University of Edinburgh, UK

19:00

Networking reception

Thursday, 11 June 2026

TIME

SESSION

SPEAKERS

Coffee available from 08:30 onwards

Strengthening institutional resilience through collaboration

09:00

Keynote: Universities in a Transforming EU – Building Resilience through Collaboration, Innovation and Cohesion

Marco Gilli, Chair, Compagnia di San Paolo (international philanphropic foundation working on innovation and sustainable development); former Rector of Politecnico di Torino, IT  

10:00

Coffee break

10:30

Workshops: 

 

  • Workshop 1: Linking university values with civil society impact
    • Flora Laszlo, Director of Civic Engagement, Arts and Culture, Central European University, AT

Moderated by by Norbert Sabic, Chief Operating Officer, Central European University, AT

 

  • Workshop 2: Designing a campus collaboration charter for collaborative resilience on campus 
    • Andrea Silvestri, Director General, Turin University, IT

Moderated by Mahée Ferlini, Director General, Università del Piemonte Orientale, IT

 

Masterclass: Navigating the storms – Building institutional resilience in universities (restricted to HUMANE Heads of Administration):

 

Moderated by Alex Pellacani, HUMANE President, Director General, University of Trento, IT and Ulf Richter, HUMANE Board member, Kanzler University Duisburg-Essen, DE 

12:00

Lunch

Organisational resilience through proactive risk management

13:00

Panel: Safeguarding mission and reputation: proactive risk management for institutional resilience in universities

Moderated by Geoff Green, Registrar & Secretary, University of Leicester, UK  

Speakers: 

Julie Mercer, Principal, Nous Group, UK; Kathleen Maetens, Enterprise Risk Management & Internal Audit, Antwerp University, BE; Kstina Noormets, Director of Administration, University of Tartu, EE; Helen Galbraith, Senior Pro Vice-Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer, University of Chester, Incoming AHUA Chair, UK

14:15

Workshops:

Workshop 1: Success and Failure in Change Leadership: Can You Have One Without the Other? (for Residential School Alumni Network only)

 

Moderated by Alumni Network SC members: Will Chicken, Director of Professional Services, University of Edinburgh Business School, UK; Erkki Raulo, Head of Services for Doctoral Education,University of Helsinki, FI

 

Workshop 2: Proactive risk management for robust research security in universities

  • Alexandra Rosenbach, Acting Director of Communication and External Affairs, Helmholtz Research Association, DE
  • Remco Kouwenhoven, Program Manager, University of Groningen, NL

Moderated by Klaus Rümmele, Head of International Affairs Business Unit (INTL), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), DE

 

Workshop 3: Organisational resilience through proactive risk management

15:45

Coffee break

16:15

The University of Edinburgh co-creating a vibrant community with the Edinburgh festivals

Peter Mathieson, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, University of Edinburgh; Jenny Niven, Director, Edinburgh Book Festival Director); Lorna Brain, University of Edinburgh Head of Festivals, UK

17:00

Key takeaways of the day

Leon van de Zande, Conference Chair; Secretary General, University of Amsterdam, NL

18:00

Departure for hotels

19:30

Conference Dinner

Friday, 12 June 2026

TIME

SESSION

SPEAKERS

Embracing technology: institutional resilience through Technology and Artificial Intelligence for sustainable growth. From experimentation to adoption

Coffee available from 8:30 onwards

09:00

From experimentation with Artificial Intelligence to full adoption at Technical University Munich

Alex Braun, Vice-President IT and Systems, Chief Information officer, Technical University Munich, DE

09:45

Embracing Artificial Intelligence with confidence: Sharing strategic frameworks

Michael Webb, Director of Artificial Intelligence, JISC UK digital technology body for tertiary education and research), UK

10:30

Coffee break

11:00

From experimentation to Artificial Intelligence adoption at the University of Edinburgh

Stuart King, Lecturer in Mathematics; Member of the Applied & Computational Mathematics research group; Heather Lawrence, College Registrar, The University of Edinburgh, UK

12:00

Closing remarks

Leon van de Zande, Conference Chair; Secretary General, University of Amsterdam, NL; Nadine Burquel, HUMANE Director General, BE

12:30

Closing lunch

Important information:

HUMANE and The University of Edinburgh fully intend to deliver the Annual Conference in Edinburgh. If however, restrictions require it to be postponed, participants will be notified with as much notice as possible.

Neither HUMANE or The University of Edinburgh are liable for any losses, accidents or damage to persons or objects during the Annual Conference in Edinburgh. Participants attending the Annual Conference in Edinburgh do so at their own risk and responsibility.