REF 2029 Conference

Stephanie Smith is Deputy Director of Policy at the Russell Group and is primarily responsible for policy relating to research and innovation.

She joined the organisation from Universities UK International in 2014, where she helped to found UUKi’s outward mobility policy programme. Before this she worked at the Council of Deans of Health, the representative body for university faculties engaged in education and training for the nursing, midwifery and the allied health professions. Stephanie began her career working in think tanks including the Royal Society of Arts and Institute for Citizenship.

Stephanie holds an MSc in European Politics and a BSc in Political Science, both from the London School of Economics.

Morag Campbell is Assistant Director, Research and Innovation, at the Scottish Funding Council (SFC). She has over 20 years’ experience in research funding and policy, starting her career at the ESRC and moving to the other side of dual support when she joined the SFC’s predecessor, SHEFC. On secondment, she was part of the team that drafted the Scottish Government’s first Science Strategy.  She has been part of the development, management or use of three Research Assessment Exercises and three Research Excellence Frameworks. She was a board member for the Future Research Assessment Programme and is a member of the UK REF Steering Group for REF 2029.

June is currently Head of Higher Education Research and Knowledge Exchange at the Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland, and is a member of the UK REF Steering Group for REF2029.
With almost 20 years in the public sector, in various NI government departments and ALBs, she has worked in a variety of policy areas including public finance and budget sustainability, fiscal devolution, medical and health technology, renewable energy, and community and social care policy.

She has a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the Nanotechnology and Integrated Bioengineering Centre (NIBEC) at Ulster University.

Justin Lewis is Professor of Communication and Creative Industries at the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Culture.

Professor Lewis is Director of Clwstwr, an AHRC and Welsh Governemnt funded R&D innovation centre for the Screen and News sectors. He is also Director of media.cymru, a £50 million, 23 partner consortium, funded by UKRI, Cardiff Capital Region and Welsh Government, designed to boost inclusive and sustainable media sector innovation in Wales.

During his time as Head of School and Dean of Research he established the Centre for Community Journalism and Creative Cardiff. From 2019 to to 2022, he Chaired the UK Research Excellence Framework Panel on Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management.

He has written widely about media, culture and politics. His books, since 2000, include Constructing Public Opinion (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001), Citizens or Consumers: What the media tell us about political participation (Open University Press, 2005), Shoot First and Ask Questions Later: Media Coverage of the War in Iraq (Peter Lang, 2006), Climate Change and the Media (Peter Lang, 2009), The world of 24 hour news (Peter Lang, 2010) and Beyond Consumer Capitalism: Media and the Limits to Imagination (Polity, 2013). He has also written books on media audiences, cultural policy and media and race.

Susan Hodgett is the founding Professor of Area Studies at the University of East Anglia (UEA). She was Principal Investigator of the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Blurring Genres Network: Recovering the Humanities for Political Science and Area Studies; Chair of the 2021 Research Excellence Framework Sub-panel 25, Area Studies; and President of the UK Council for Area Studies Associations (2011-14) currently, Secretary. She served on the Council of Research England 2017-2021. Her recent books on the future of Area Studies are Necessary Travel: New Area Studies and Canada in Comparative Perspective (2018, with Patrick James, Lexington Press); What Political Science Can Learn from the Humanities: Blurring Genres (2021, with RAW Rhodes, Palgrave); and New Area Studies, Capabilities, Well-Being and Health: The State of Play After the Pandemic (forthcoming, Routledge, 2025).

She is founding co-editor of the open access journal New Area Studies and Director of the New Area Studies Research Centre at UEA.

Tim Newton  is committed to ensuring that research is of the highest scientific and ethical standards in protection of the rights of research participants and the wider public served by the research community. In pursuance of this he is Dean of Research Culture for King’s College London. This incorporates Research Ethics, Integrity, Governance and Culture, working in three broad areas: Creating an inclusive community; Recognising everyone’s contribution, Promoting good research practice.

Dr Ayris is Pro-Vice-Provost (LCCOS – Library, Culture, Collections, Open Science) in UCL (University College London). He joined UCL in 1997.

Dr Ayris was the President of LIBER (Association of European Research Libraries) 2010-14. He was also, for 10 years, Chair of the LERU (League of European Research Universities) INFO Community. He also chairs the OAI Organizing Committee for the Geneva Workshops on Innovations in Scholarly Communication (OAI4-OAI13). He is a member of the UUK High-Level Strategy Group on E-Resource purchasing for the Jisc community. On 1 August 2013, Dr Ayris became Chief Executive of UCL Press. He served two terms as a member of the Provost’s and President’s Senior Management Team in UCL. On 1 October 2020, Dr Ayris launched the UCL Office for Open Science and Scholarship, of which he is the CEO. He also founded the UCL Research Institute for Collections.

He has a Ph.D. in Ecclesiastical History and publishes on English Reformation Studies. In 2019, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Dr. Bernadine Idowu is a King’s College London graduate, she went on to do her PhD at QMUL. Currently Bernadine is an  Professor of Biomedical Science at the University of West London. She is the Founder and Chair of the BME Early Career Researcher (ECR) Network. The network runs an annual conference, now in its 8th year, that attracts an international audience, which aims to empower ECRs to remain in academia, by providing them with mentors and various tools and resources.

Bernadine is an award-winning Scientist, a recipient of the Roger Cotton Prize, she has published in peer-reviewed journals. She sits on various Advisory Boards including being the Co-Chair of Black in Biomedical Research Advisory Group for the Medical Research Council, who recently committed £3.7 million to fund initiatives to address the underrepresentation of people from Black heritage backgrounds in Biomedical research.

Peris is responsible for the delivery and management of the ECR Network.

Before joining the British Academy, she worked in the global health sector, administering and managing grants between international health partnerships in a charity.

Peris has an LLM in Human Rights Law from Birkbeck, University of London and a BA (Hons) in Sociology and Politics from Goldsmiths, University of London

Professor Fiona Ross CBE is Professor Emerita in Health and Social Care at Kingston University, Deputy Chair of the Court of Governors at Westminster University and a trustee at Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity. With a background in community nursing and social policy, she has had leadership positions at King’s College London, St George’s, University of London, and was Dean at Kingston University, Director of Research at the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education (now Advance HE) and was a former member of the REF2021 Equality and Diversity Advisory Panel. Fiona is experienced in governance having had Board positions in the NHS, charities and universities. Recent publications include a British Academy paper on how AI and digital technology can enable ageing in place and the fifth edition of her textbook “Nursing Older People”. She volunteers for Nightstop London and hosts young people, at risk of homelessness, for overnight stays.

Stephanie Smith is Deputy Director of Policy at the Russell Group and is primarily responsible for policy relating to research and innovation.

She joined the organisation from Universities UK International in 2014, where she helped to found UUKi’s outward mobility policy programme. Before this she worked at the Council of Deans of Health, the representative body for university faculties engaged in education and training for the nursing, midwifery and the allied health professions. Stephanie began her career working in think tanks including the Royal Society of Arts and Institute for Citizenship.

Stephanie holds an MSc in European Politics and a BSc in Political Science, both from the London School of Economics.