Connecting Through Learning
Early June 2026
Hosted at The University of Technology Sydney
We are excited to announce our 2026 conference: Connecting Through Learning to be held at UTS in early June 2026 (exact date tbc).
Higher education stands at a crossroads and 2026 is the year we choose a new direction. Join national and global leaders as we rethink, redesign, and renew the promise we make to every learner. This is a call to courage, collaboration and reinvention. And it starts with you.
To remain globally relevant and socially responsible, universities must move beyond incremental change and embrace bold transformation. Connecting through Learning brings together visionary leaders, employers, innovators, and—critically—students to co‑design the future of learning. Student voices will shape every conversation, ensuring solutions are not only for learners but with them.
Our next program explores five urgent priorities that emerged from last time:
- Recentering the Student Experience – Co-designing flexible, learning and operating models that put learners first.
- Forging a New Social Compact – Rebuilding trust through serving the community and prioritising value and lifelong learning partnerships.
- Co‑Creating the Future of Learning – Embracing AI and authentic, work‑integrated experiences with students and employers as partners.
- Redefining Online and Flexible Learning – Delivering integrated, stigma‑free digital experiences for all learners.
- Leading with Urgency and Courage – Driving systemic change with bold leadership and risk‑tolerant innovation.
Join us to co‑create a higher education ecosystem that meets global demand, partners with employers, embraces technology, amplifies student voices, and remains unapologetically learner‑centric and socially relevant.
View the highlights video from our November 2025 conference and explore the themes and lead speakers confirmed for June 2026 below.
Additional speakers will be added in the coming months. To keep up-to-date, bookmark this page, follow us on LinkedIn or sign up to our newsletter.
Re-centre student experience
To address the crisis of student poverty and well-being, this must go beyond expanding support services to a fundamental redesign of the academic experience itself. It means embedding true flexibility through models like longer, less intense semesters that allow students to balance work and study without sacrificing their health. This requires moving from a system that students must navigate to one that is genuinely and unapologetically learner-centric.
Professor Lisa Brodie
Executive Dean
ASU-London
Forge a new social compact
In direct response to the crisis of public trust and the perception of profit-seeking, we must proactively rebuild our social license demonstrating community value. This involves co-designing regional economic futures, offering accessible lifelong learning pathways that meet the needs of a transitioning workforce, and championing cross-sector collaboration. It is a commitment to proving our worth not through rankings, but through our service to society.
Professor Amanda Broderick
VC and President
University of East London
Co-create the future of learning
In an age of AI, the era of top-down curriculum design is over. The future requires a partnership model where educators act as “mentors and facilitators,” working with students and industry to develop relevant skills and authentic assessments. This means embracing student calls for practical, real-world experiences, such as making work-integrated learning a compulsory component of all degrees, and treating learners as active co-creators of their educational journey.
Professor Rose Luckin
AI and Education Thought Leader
EDUCATE Ventures Research
Redefine online and flexible learning
Leadership around online education has matured, moving beyond a simple on-campus versus online binary. The focus for leaders now requires designing a truly integrated and supportive experience for all learners, regardless of modality, and dispelling the stigma that online learning is a “lesser than” experience. As we migrate towards more omni-channel experiences the chance for transformation by disruptors will become more evident as will the need for innovation by incumbents.
Sasha Thackberry-Voinovich
Founder and President
Newstate University
Lead with urgency and courage
To navigate our Napier Moment, we must adopt what Ann Kirschner calls “urgency as an operating system.” This requires leaders to create “protected spaces” for innovation and empower staff with the professional development needed to thrive amidst change. This is not a call for incremental improvement, but for a fundamental shift in institutional risk tolerance and a willingness to dismantle legacy systems that no longer serve the modern learner.
Scott Pulsipher
President
Western Governors University
”“The event is really amazing. The energy in the room is really strong, the presentations have been fantastic, I've met wonderful people and I've come away with ten new ideas and new ways of looking at the issues in higher education."
Professor Ann KirshnerAdvisor at ASU and UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
”It's great to be a part of HEDx. It's a massive community of practice where we can share our ideas, share our thinking, we can be inspired by the thinking and ideas of others and hopefully some of our ideas can inspire our colleagues to think differently about how they are working and they are thinking"
Professor Simon BiggsVC, James Cook University
”Our economy needs a deeply skilled workforce that can only be delivered with strong pathways from TAFE to Universities and Universities to TAFE. AI and green technologies are shifting the economic foundations and consequently the challenges for all educational institutions. "
Sharan burrowChair, Bendigo Kangan Institute
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