What makes a good education?

Event Details

Date: Thursday 22 January 2026

Time: 15:00 - 17:00

Location: Space 43 Scarman, University of Warwick, Scarman Rd, Coventry CV4 7SH

Directions: How to find us

Light refreshments will be provided on arrival.

Registration is free and essential to attend.

For any questions related to the event, please contact the Research Impact Team

The event “What Makes a Good Education?” is organised as part of the ESRC IAA Policy HubLink opens in a new window.

This event aligns with one of the University's 10+1 Big Questions of the Social Sciences and will bring together academics, policymakers, students, and members of the public to engage in a thoughtful dialogue about the future of education.

The event will include a panel discussion entitled “Is a University Degree Still Worth It?” and a session with flash talks in which panellist will respond to the question "What Makes a Good Education?", each taking a different focus. The panel will explore the value of Higher Education in relationship to social mobility, skills, employability and broader cultural enrichment in today’s world.

This session is open to everyone with curiosity about the value of education.

Registration is free and essential to attend

Light refreshments will be provided on arrival

Funding for this event has been provided by the ESRC IAA.

Speakers

Dr Hollie Chandler

Director of Policy at The Russell Group

Hollie Chandler is Director of Policy at the Russell Group, which represents 24 research-intensive universities across the UK. Hollie leads the Russell Group’s policy team, working across international, R&D and higher education policy issues. Hollie previously managed research and charity policy at Cancer Research UK and was a fellow in the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology. Hollie completed her PhD in molecular oncology at UCL following her natural sciences undergraduate at the University of Cambridge.

Jablai Saleh

Headteacher at Yenton Primary School, Birmingham

Jablai leads a 3-form entry school in a highly deprived area of Birmingham. She is passionate about education and dedicated to innovation including the profound engagement with pedagogy, Ped Tech, curriculum and research. As the headteacher, she views her role as being a great opportunity to apply her knowledge, skills and the drive she has to make a positive impact on children, families and staff.

Jablai holds various qualifications (BA Hons, MA Ed, NPQEL, NPQH and NPQSL) and is currently an NIOT NPQH coach, a writing moderator for Birmingham Local Authority and has completed the Digital Transformation Leadership Programme with Imperial College Business School.

Charlotte Harding

Head of HR Partnering - Operations at British Airways

Charlotte is a proud challenger of conventional thinking, dedicated to developing policies and practices that influence and lead change. She thrives in collaborative environments, working with partners across the organisation to design and develop impactful initiatives. As a business partner, Charlotte supports the creation of operations and approaches that drive better results while influencing and managing key stakeholders. She brings a fundamental love for her work and a positive, can-do attitude—seeing challenges as stimulating and taking great satisfaction in helping a workforce develop and thrive.

Joel Thomas

Senior Manager, UK Foundation - IBM Early Professional Programmes

Prof James Hayton

Professor of Innovation, Warwick Business School

Professor James Hayton is Vice Provost for the Social Sciences at the University of Warwick. He served as Pro Dean at Warwick Business School from 2017-2024. He is a Professor of Innovation at WBS and Senior Fellow at the Institute for the Future of Work (IFOW.org). Professor Hayton is former Dean at Rutgers University (US) School of Management and Labor Relations. His areas of expertise is the management of people and organizations to build capacity for innovation, entrepreneurship and strategic renewal. Author of over 100 articles, reports and books in both innovation and human resource management, his work has been recognized with several awards and is rated as one of the worlds top 2% of researchers by citations. In 2015, he authored the report “Leadership and Management Skills in SMEs” published by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (UK). He was a Co-Investigator on the ESRC funded Enterprise Research Centre based at WBS. From 2012 until 2018 he served as Editor in Chief of the journal, Human Resource Management (Wiley). He is currently Co-investigator of a three-year research project, funded by Nuffield Foundation, and led by Nobel Laureate Professor Sir Chris Pissarides (LSE) at the Institute for the Future of Work entitled “The Future of Work and Wellbeing: The Pissarides Review.”

Prof Christopher Moran

Professor of US National Security

Christopher Moran is Deputy Chair/Deputy Vice-Provost of the Faculty of Social Sciences (Research) and Professor of US National Security based in the Department of Politics and International Studies (PAIS). He earned his BA, MA, and PhD from Warwick and has held roles including Kluge Fellow at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow.

Christopher’s research focuses on international security, diplomatic history, and intelligence studies, specialising in the work of British and American secret services, especially the CIA. He is the author ofClassified: Secrecy and the State in Modern Britain—winner of the 2014 St Ermin’s Intelligence Book of the Year—andCompany Confessions: Secrets, Memoirs and the CIA. His current project examines Nixon, Kissinger, and the CIA.

Prof Fiona Copland

Professor of Education

Fiona Copland is a Professor and Head of Department for the School of Education, Learning and Communication Sciences. She has extensive experience of teaching English and teacher education and has worked in Nigeria, Hong Kong, Japan and the UK. Fiona has researched and published in the areas of language teacher education, teaching English to children and linguistic ethnography, including the Routledge Handbook of Teaching English to Young Learners (with Sue Garton), Linguistic Ethnography: Collecting, Analysing and Presenting Data (with Angela Creese), and Analysing Discourses in Teacher Observation Feedback Conferences (with Helen Donoghue).

Fiona is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and a National Teaching Fellow.

Sam Roseveare

Director of Regional and National Policy, University of Warwick

As Director of Regional and National Policy, Sam Roseveare’s role is to help the leaders of the University of Warwick navigate the external environment, providing intelligence and analysis to help them prepare for the months and years ahead. His background is in strategic planning and public policy, experience gained at Universities UK and Imperial College London.