Speakers
2025 SPEAKERS
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2025 SPEAKERS 📢
Geoff Combs currently serves as the Director of the Armstrong Student Center at Miami University (Oxford, Ohio), a position he has held since August 2024. The year prior, Geoff served as a Student Life Project Manager at the University of Limerick, Ireland. In that role, he worked alongside the Student Life team to support the planning of a new state-of-the-art, $37M student center based on the U.S. model of student unions.
Prior to working in Ireland, Geoff was the Executive Director of the Campus Center and Event Services at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. In 2004 he opened the university's new 331,000 square foot, 80 million dollar complex, the first student union on the UMass Boston campus. He also directed the strategic vision and daily operations of the center and oversaw university-wide conference and event services.
Since 1998 Geoff has been heavily involved with the Association of College Unions International (ACUI), holding various regional, national and international leadership positions. He has served as the Regional Director for ACUI Region VIII (New England) and a member of the Board of Trustees. Since 2005 he has led and/or participated in 4 international study tours, an international job exchange and helped to develop international partnerships between ACUI, sister associations and student unions in the UK and Ireland. He currently serves as the International Education Community of Practice Chair for ACUI.
Mike Day is an International Learning and Development Consultant and a Senior Associate with Coole Insight, with over forty years of experience in the student movement at a local, national, and international level. Mike served as Director of NUS Scotland from 2006 – 2011 and following that was appointed as NUS’ Director of Nations providing officer support and strategic oversight of the devolved administrations in the UK. Mike is known for his strategic expertise, specialising in leadership development, team building, influencing skills, and training delivery.
His career includes developing and coordinating training programmes for NUSUK, pioneering Students’ Union training in Ireland with USI/AMLE, and designing accredited leadership programmes. From 2014 Mike took on responsibility for co-ordinating NUSUK’s International relations and engagement, working with the European Students’ Union, the Commonwealth Students’ Association, Association of College Unions International, and the Global Students Forum—most recently leading ESU’s “Cycles of Resilience Programme” to support post-COVID recovery in student-led groups. He also volunteers with Wonkhe helping them develop their international study visits covering Scandinavia, Ireland, the Baltics, the Balkans, Central Europe, the Low Countries, Ireland and Portugal.
Since 2019 he has served as the part of the chairing team for Board Meetings of ESU – most recently he was appointed as the Chair of Trustees for Stirling University Students’ Union.
A published author and historian of the student movement, his history of NUS was published in 2012 - Mike is dedicated to amplifying the student voice and ensuring it drives meaningful change.
Dr Emily McIntosh has held a variety of leadership roles in learning, teaching and the student experience in several UK universities. She joined the University of the West of Scotland (UWS) as Director of Student Success in January 2023.
Emily is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA, 2017) and a National Teaching Fellow (NTF, 2021). She is an Executive Member & Trustee of the Heads of Educational Development (HEDG) group and an Independent Board Member of Trafford & Stockport College Group (TSCG).
Emily has published widely on a variety of topics from academic advising, personal tutoring and peer learning to integrated practice.
Sinéad has been Chief Executive of the University of the West of Scotland Students’ Union since 2019, leading a multi-campus organisation supporting students across Scotland and London.
Over the past six years, she has overseen transformational change, including a full democracy review, record-breaking student engagement, and a significant financial turnaround.
A 'First in the Family' graduate with a leadership background in the Violence Against Women and Girls sector, Sinéad is proud to work at Scotland’s leading widening participation university. Her commitment to equity and inclusion underpins her work to strengthen student voice and remove barriers to participation in democratic life.
Dr. Sabina Lawrie has worked in a Student Voice role since 2018, beginning as a Coordinator and is now Student Voice Manager at UWS Students’ Union.
She is a member of the Tertiary Advisory Group, which supports the work of SPARQS.
Her previous life as a Geographer at the University of Glasgow, from undergraduate to PhD, instilled the importance of always considering the research and the context within which you are working.
She has been breaking election turnout records since she started working at UWSSU, and hopes to continue to do so!
Phil’s work includes finance, governance, senior interim management and general management consultancy. Recent projects include being interim Chief Executive for the University of Sunderland Students’ Union, supporting the National Union of Students through a business reorganisation project, and acting as an outsourced Finance Director for several organisations including the Community Transport Association. Phil is also a pension scheme trustee and has been chair of his local primary school’s governing board.
Before joining Counterculture, Phil had a long career in the charity sector as a Chief Executive in Students’ Unions, including sixteen years as Chief Executive at the University of Salford Students’ Union. He has a BA in Modern History and Politics from the University of Sheffield, a postgraduate diploma in Human Resource Management from the University of Leicester, and an MBA with distinction from the University of Bolton, where his final research dissertation focused on performance management approaches for charitable trustee boards.
Eilidh is a second-year student midwife studying on the Pre-Registration BSc Midwifery programme.
In addition to her academic pursuits, she serves as a Class Representative and is the current President of the multi-award-winning UWS Midwifery Society.
Eilidh is passionate about student leadership and midwifery advocacy and brings a wealth of experience representing and empowering her peers.
James is an expert in public policy and higher education, an experienced practitioner in business and strategy development, and interested in working with organisations who believe their work makes their places better.
He is the former Head of Sustainability, Policy, and Civic Engagement, at the University of Liverpool where he was responsible for their sustainability strategy, advising on issues across higher education, and leading the University’s civic engagement work. Throughout his career he has worked with a range of clients on business development, strategy, and stakeholder engagement.
Previously, James worked at NUS where he oversaw their governance reform, he has published a book on universities and their communities, and holds a Masters of Public Administration where he specialised in the economic resilience of the public sector after Covid, for which he was awarded a Distinction.
James specialises in developing civic projects through stakeholder engagement, policy development, and place-based analyses. His work has included working with regional authorities on their sustainability and research strategies, engagement with local authorities on their arts and cultural offer, advising higher education bodies on policy issues, and as a writer for a number of publications including Wonkhe where he is their current Associate Editor for Research and Innovation.
Alan specialises in membership services management, governance, and organisational development. With a career spanning students’ unions, higher education, and arts organisations, Alan is known for his ability to lead complex reviews and drive strategic improvements in governance, business processes, and senior management structures.
Alan is a trained coach and project manager, combining these skills with extensive leadership experience to mentor individuals and teams across the sector. He is recognised as a specialist in Europe and North American students organisations and has a deep understanding of the international landscape, co-delivering annual tours of European students’ unions and universities to foster cross-cultural learning and collaboration.
Alan’s services include public speaking, bespoke training and facilitation, strategic and operational diagnostics, research and policy analysis, interim management and events management.
As the architect of the annual Membership Services Conference, now in its tenth year, Alan has established the UK’s largest professional development event for students’ union staff. He also co-hosts the popular podcast ‘How to Run a Students’ Union’ in partnership with Wonkhe, providing thought leadership and practical guidance to the sector.
Alan is a co-editor of the Student Support Handbook, published by CPAG, and is a regular contributor to sector publications. His work often focuses on enhancing student engagement, policy development, and innovative approaches to delivering member services.
A trustee of Aberystwyth University Students’ Union, Alan is deeply committed to improving student representation and support at all levels. Alan is also a keen linguist, cyclist, and musician, with over 20 years of experience playing and promoting live music in Liverpool and London.
SPONSORS
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SPONSORS 🤝
Counterculture: Supporting students’ unions and universities to lead, adapt and thrive
Counterculture is a leading consultancy working across higher education, students’ unions, and sector institutions. We are a specialist team within a wider partnership that also works in the arts, heritage, and charitable sectors — giving us a broad perspective and deep organisational insight.
Our higher education team works with students’ unions and universities on governance and democracy reviews, strategic and commercial development, interim and turnaround leadership, officer and staff coaching, financial and compliance reviews, and outsourced finance director services. We bring hands-on experience, a practical mindset, and a deep understanding of sector complexity to every project.
We are committed to supporting the continued development of students’ unionism and higher education, and to helping unions and institutions evolve in ways that are ambitious, effective, and sustainable.
You can find out more about our team and wider work at counterculturellp.com
Rubric
Rubric is a comprehensive membership platform designed to streamline administrative tasks and enhance student engagement across campuses. Rubric are long established and work with over 100 student organisations in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US. More recently Rubric have been working with UK Students’ Unions with the first partners taking up the benefits of the platform here.
Rubric offers a suite of tools that simplify membership management, elections, event coordination, case management, funding processes, and communication - all within a single, user-friendly interface. By integrating seamlessly with existing systems, Rubric empowers Students Unions’ to operate more efficiently and effectively helping to deliver for their membership.
You can find out more about Rubric by visiting hellorubric.com