Jason Boulter of the Students at the Heart Conference writes a guest blog about how staff members can get involved

The Students at the Heart Conference team is working to deliver a cross-university event that will bring together the best of the LJMU Teaching & Learning Conference and Professional Services Conference.  Apart from the keynote sessions, the whole event will be in the Student Life Building, providing a great opportunity to see what a fantastic resource that our new building provides for students and staff.  In addition to sessions delivered by LJMU staff, students and partners, we are planning a number of additional activities.  These will include exhibition and demonstration stands where teams can explain their services or showcase new approaches, as well as a range of International Student related stalls. In fact, if you have any ideas of something that you’d like to see at the Conference, please drop us a line at SATHConf22@ljmu.ac.uk and we’d be happy to see what we can do.

The Conference is themed around the four new LJMU Values, which potential contributors should use as a guide to focus their sessions.  This will provide the opportunity for the Conference to address issues that matter to everyone in the LJMU community.  So, if you have any innovative practice, success stories or initiatives that may be of interest to the wider LJMU community, please consider submitting a proposal.

Possible examples of work that might link to the new values includes:

• Student Focused - student-centred approaches to teaching or assessment, as well as services and initiatives that are student facing;
• Inclusive – collaborative work across departments, or that champion diversity in teaching, curriculum or the wider university experience
• Community – projects that link with external partners/agencies and the wider local community;
• Courageous - examples of bold and independent thinking and application of new ideas

Submissions are welcome from all staff across all Academic and Professional Service departments, including those who are in non-student facing roles. The submission form can be found here: https://ljmu.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/students-at-the-heart-conference-submissions-2022-2. If you have not presented at a conference before and would like some guidance and support on this, then the team is available to provide one to one development. If you have any ideas or questions that you would like to discuss further, please email the Conference team directly at: SATHConf22@ljmu.ac.uk