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The third Neurodiversity in Higher Education Conference The third Neurodiversity in Higher Education Conference took place at the University of Warwick on 15th September 2025, bringing together 110 attendees including higher education professionals, students, and community members. The event explored neurodiversity in university settings through a dynamic programme of research presentations, posters, interactive seminars, panel discussions, and creative workshops.

Professor Gina Rippon (Professor Emeritus of Cognitive Neuroimaging, Aston University) opened the conference with a keynote based on her latest book, The Lost Girls of Autism: How Science Failed Autistic Women – and the New Research that's Changing the Story. Closing the event, Dr Brian Irvine (UCL Centre for Research in Autism and Education) delivered an inspiring keynote titled Hopeful Optimism.

The conference was generously supported by the Warwick International Higher Education Academy (WHEA), Warwick Inclusive Education, and the Warwick Dean of Students. Special thanks go to ASD@Warwick, the Warwick ADHD Society, and the Scientific and Organising Committees for their vital contributions.

The event was led by Alumni Dr Jagjeet Jutley-Neilson (Department of Psychology) and Professor Olympia Palikara(Education Studies, SELCS), alongside a dedicated team of colleagues, researchers and students, reflecting a truly collaborative effort to advance understanding and inclusion in higher education.

We are pleased to share that Warwick students and staff in all roles are invited to participate in focus groups and co-design workshops to inform development of trauma-informed practice in higher education. Trauma-informed practice acknowledges the commonplace nature of traumatic experiences and their impacts on individuals and communities. It aims to ensure that these experiences are accommodated in individual and organisational practices, to create safe, engaging, and collaborative learning environments and promote inclusion for all students and staff. Further to initial funding from the MWA Education Exchange Scheme in 2024 (formerly managed by WIHEA/MEA), this cross-institutional project, funded by the Monash Warwick Alliance, aims to develop trauma-informed practice in higher education settings. Click here to find out more and get involved.

WIHEA’s Compassionate Pedagogies Learning Circle has released a series of podcasts. This is a more informal way to catch up with the Learning Circle activities, so if you are new to WIHEA and interested in compassion, this is a great place to start! In this series, what is compassion and the role of compassion across our university spaces and what’s coming next for the Compassionate Pedagogy Learning Circle.

Led by Dr Thomas Greenaway, Amy Stickles and Dr Mujthaba Ahtamad, WIHEA’s (Open) Designing and Assessing Groupwork Learning Circle has created a new interactive guide to support staff with designing assessed group work tasks. The guide offers design principles, examples and links to relevant academic literature to enable staff to design group work to achieve the outcome that you desire for your students. To view the guide or if you are interested in finding out more about the Learning Circle's plans Link opens in a new windowfor the next academic year, please do visit their web page.

Led by Sam Grierson (EPQ) and supported through funding from both WIHEA and the Inclusive Education Programme, over the last two years, key members of WIHEA’s Inclusive STEM Assessments Learning Circle (open subgroup) have been exploring inclusive assessment in STEM disciplines, with a view to identifying sector-wide evidence, issues, and effective practices. Read the final report and contribute your inclusive assessment practice to the Showcase.

This new centre aims to connect individuals from across the sector who have an interest in supporting Belonging in Higher Education. Find out more and express your interest - if you would like to help shape this new initiative.

Selected by the WIHEA Advisory Group during a competitive annual selection process consisting of application and nomination in July 2025, the new 25 staff and 9 student Fellows will join WIHEA’s collaborative community on 1 September.

WIHEA fellows showcased a range of learning circles and small fund projects at the education conference this year. We were proud to see the impact and scope of our fellows' work that continues to push boundaries for teaching, learning and belonging at Warwick.

Fellows from the Warwick International Higher Education Academy (WIHEA) and the Leeds Institute for Teaching Excellence (LITE) came together for a vibrant, engaging, and collaborative event that celebrated educational innovation, shared practice, and built new bridges across institutions on Thursday 12th June.