We are excited to invite university internal audit professionals from across the higher education sector to join us in September for the CHEIA Annual Conference 2025, which will take place online on Wednesday 17th and Thursday18th September. Our annual conference is designed to provide exceptional value, ensuring that every internal audit colleague from our member universities can access high-quality, professional development.

Programme

The full programme will be released shortly, but for now we are pleased to be able confirm the following speakers and topics for the event.

• Annie Bell, Director at Public First, will open the conference with a thought-provoking session exploring the emerging trends shaping UK higher education. Against a backdrop of regulatory reform, financial constraint, and shifting public expectations, this talk will examine the key risks and strategic opportunities facing the sector. With a focus on what these developments mean for internal audit, Annie will offer insights into how audit functions can evolve to remain agile, add value, and support institutional resilience in an increasingly complex and uncertain environment.
  
  
• David Becker, Chief Operating Officer at SUMS, will lead a session on Driving growth and cutting costs: the role of the operating model in future proofing our universities.  David is one of the sector’s leading experts in organisation design and will share insights from his extensive experience developing and implementing target operating models and leading transformation across politically complex institutions.
  
  
• Alex Hall, General Counsel at City St George’s, University of London, will provide an update on Freedom of Speech in Higher Education. This session will address the new OfS guidance on freedom of speech and will include an in-depth look at the recent University of Sussex case, including any learning points for universities, as well as an update on the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023. Alex is an expert in education law with ten years’ experience in the Higher Education Sector, including leading legal teams at two large institutions. He is the current Chair of the Association of University Legal Practitioners (AULP) and a former legal adviser to University Alliance.
  
  
• Paul Kelly, Head of Cyber and Data Privacy Services at Azets, will join us to take a fresh look at the evolving Cyber Security landscape. Drawing on lessons from recent high-profile cyber-attacks, Paul will explore emerging threats, vulnerabilities, and the implications for institutional resilience, and explain what internal auditors should be looking for when assessing cyber risk, governance, and response readiness. Paul has over 20 years of experience providing technology and digital assurance services to a wide range of clients across all market sectors.
  
  
• Pauline Muya, Director at Research Management, will present a session on REF Readiness 2029. Her talk will offer practical guidance for internal auditors on how to assess institutional preparedness, identify key risks and opportunities, and understand the systems and processes that underpin a successful submission. Pauline has over 30 years of experience in the HE research management and has overseen institutional and departmental submissions to four prior REF exercises. For REF2021 she was seconded to Research England to work directly with the assessment panels and the REF team as a Panel Adviser.
  
  
• Steve Hall, Director of Student Experience at the University of Bristol, will lead a practical session on the implementation of the new OfS condition of registration (Condition E6) to prevent and address harassment and sexual misconduct, explaining what universities need to think about in terms of their institutional policies and processes. Steve has over 10 years' of experience in the higher education sector, including roles at the Office for Students and the Higher Education Funding Council for England.
  
  
• Sayaz Miah, Director of International at the University of Hertfordshire, will share insights into the changing landscape of International student recruitment in higher education. This session will focus on a lifecycle model for managing recruitment agents, addressing both compliance and performance across key stages of the recruitment process, with practical strategies for mitigating risk, enhancing oversight, and ensuring value. 

The conference will also feature interactive breakout discussions, giving delegates the opportunity to explore key topics in greater depth. These sessions will include a chance to reflect on Ethical decision-making in times of uncertainty, and a closer look at the recent Gillies Report and its implications for internal audit practice.

Venue

To keep our costs and the environmental impact down, and to make it as accessible to as many CHEIA Members as possible, the conference will again be held online using the ‘Ring Central’ platform (formerly known as Hopin) for speaker sessions, combined with facilitated breakout sessions via Microsoft Teams at the end of each day to follow up on some of the themes raised in earlier sessions.

Delegate Rates & Discounts

In order to keep the conference accessible to as many of our members as possible, we have chosen to keep 2025 ticket prices the same as last year. The delegate rate for the first booking per organisation is £285 plus VAT. For all other bookings from the same organisation the delegate rate is £235 plus VAT.

The first delegate from each organisation will receive a discount code with their booking confirmation which additional delegates can use in order to be charged the lower rate of £235 plus VAT when they book. More  information about how to book your tickets can be found on the booking page here.

All delegates will have access to recordings of all the sessions at the conference after the event via the CHEIA website.

We hope you will be able to join us in September for what promises to be a fantastic couple of days. With an inspiring programme of speakers featuring leading experts and practitioners from both in and outside the sector, #CHEIA25 will be an incredible professional development opportunity for all.

If you have any questions about the conference or require any further information, please contact Claire Farrell, the CHEIA Membership Officer, at claire@cheia.ac.uk.