Announcing keynotes for UCL Education Conference 2024 – sign up now!

We’re delighted that Mouhssin Ismail OBE and Natasha Davidson will be delivering keynote presentations at this year’s conference.

They’ll share their experiences on the challenges facing students before they begin university, and how we can best support them as they move from higher education into the workplace.  

The challenges facing school pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds 

Mouhssin Ismail will be speaking about how the UK school system could support students from less privileged backgrounds flourish. 

How we educate and support students from some of the most disadvantaged communities has always been a hotly debated topic in education circles. With technology and AI playing an ever-increasing role in the education sphere, is this an opportunity to help level the playing field or another fad which will leave us disappointed and looking for new answers?  

Mouhssin is the Chief Standards Officer for the City of London Academies Trust. He is responsible for the academic performance of 10 schools in London which include both secondary and primary schools. Mouhssin is also founding Principal of the Newham Collegiate Sixth Form, City of London Academy (the NCS), in the second-most deprived borough of London. The NCS is now recognised as one of the most successful 16-19 Free Schools in the country. Mouhssin is a qualified solicitor and has worked for leading international law firms in the City of London. He is passionate about social mobility and the importance of high-quality education as vehicle to change the life chances of young people in the UK.  

Supporting our graduates into employment 

Natasha Davidson, an experienced edtech leader, will be speaking about how universities can best support students’ transition from academic life into the workplace.  

Natasha has a deep passion for delivering transformative marketing strategies to support the growth of companies who deliver access to education and lifelong learning. She currently serves as a venture partner and marketing advisor with Emerge Education, a global edtech venture capital firm dedicated to fuelling the next generation of education innovation. In this capacity, Natasha offers pro bono advisory services to edtech start-up founders on marketing topics such as strategy, organization structure, messaging, and planning. Before joining Emerge, Natasha drove growth through marketing at Coursera as the EMEA Region Chief Marketing Officer. She began her edtech career at Blackboard, where she ran global marketing. She recently served as Chief Marketing Officer at Group GTI. Before edtech, Natasha spent time in consulting, accountancy, and multi-national companies in a variety of leadership roles.  

Her presentation will explore how we can prepare students for the workplace, the mindsets of students making the transition into employment and support for students’ mental health and wellbeing.

Register your place

Find out more about this year's Education Conference and our follow-up online event on 15 May, which will explore the ideas from the conference with Sabbatical officers from the Students' Union UCL.

The conference is free and open to UCL staff and students.