UKAT offers conferences, webinars and other events throughout the year, both online and in various locations around the UK. These events provide professional development opportunities for personal tutors and academic advisors who are invested in helping students achieve academic success.
The UKAT Annual Conference is the major event of the year and provides an opportunity to learn in general sessions from experts in the field, gain knowledge and review best practices with colleagues in concurrent sessions, and participate in interactive workshops. The variety of learning formats also may include poster sessions, exhibitor presentations, and formal and informal networking opportunities.
Upcoming Events
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Academic Tutoring in Practice: Reflections, Impact and Lessons Learned One Year On
Thursday 17 September 2026, 14:00 - Thursday 17 September 2026, 15:30
OnlineDr Dionne Barton and Erick Morataya, De Montfort University
One year after launching a new Academic Tutoring model, De Montfort University reflects on its journey from design and implementation to embedding and evaluation.
In this follow-up webinar, we share key insights from the first year of practice, exploring how the shift from personal tutoring to academic tutoring has influenced the student and staff experience. We will examine what has worked well, the challenges encountered, and the adaptations made in response to student and staff feedback.
Drawing on institutional data, evaluation findings, and practitioner experiences, presenters will discuss how academic tutoring has contributed to a more proactive, developmental, and learning-focused approach to student support. The session will also explore the ongoing balance between pedagogic and pastoral responsibilities, highlighting how clear referral pathways and partnership working can enable tutors to focus on supporting students' academic growth while ensuring appropriate wellbeing support remains accessible.
Participants will gain practical insights into leading and sustaining tutoring transformation, measuring impact, supporting staff through change, and building a culture of meaningful student engagement. -
When Capable Students Still Struggle: Using Behavioural Self-Awareness in Academic Tutoring
Thursday 15 October 2026, 14:00 - Thursday 15 October 2026, 15:30
OnlineCharles Vaughan, MindPilot Ltd
Many students enter Higher Education with the ability to succeed, but still find the transition to more independent learning difficult. Challenges with planning, prioritisation, task initiation, workload, focus and confidence can affect engagement long before they appear as missed submissions, poor attainment or requests for support.
Academic tutoring and advising conversations can play a powerful role in helping students make sense of these challenges. However, students are often given advice before they have fully understood their own learning behaviours. This can make support feel generic, reactive or difficult to act on.
This webinar explores how behavioural self-awareness can provide a more useful starting point for academic tutoring conversations. Drawing on research linked to executive function, self-regulated learning, cognitive load, flow and chronobiology, the session will consider how students can be helped to reflect on three practical questions: how they organise their work, how they manage workload and momentum, and how they protect focus and use their energy effectively.
The session will draw on the development and early use of the StudySMART Profile as a practical example of how structured behavioural reflection can support students and tutors. Early feedback suggests that this approach can help students describe their study habits more clearly, recognise unhelpful patterns earlier, and arrive at conversations with greater clarity about what might need to change. Tutors and advisers can also gain a more consistent, focused and developmental starting point for discussion.
Participants will leave with practical ideas for using behavioural reflection to support transition, strengthen academic tutoring conversations, and help students move from general study advice towards more personalised and deliberate action.If you would like to try the StudySMART Profile for free before this webinar, please use the following link and enter the code: UKAT26W
https://studysmart.mindpilotconsulting.com -
Students Success UK & IE - Preparing students, staff and systems for the changing world
Wednesday 4 November 2026 - Thursday 5 November 2026
Bath, UKTimes Higher Education (THE), the global authority on university leadership and performance data, is pleased to announce Student Success UK&IE 2026, taking place on 4–5 November 2026 in Bath, UK. The two-day event will bring together higher education professionals from across the United Kingdom and Ireland to tackle the critical structural, economic and regulatory shifts reshaping the student in the sector.
Student Success UK&IE 2026 will welcome more than 450 senior higher education leaders, policymakers and student experience experts representing over 200 organisations. The forum will move past high-level theory to focus on improving real-world student outcomes through innovative pedagogical practices, scalable support services and the predictive data that underpin them.
The programme will deliver actionable strategies through a dynamic mix of interactive conference sessions, practical workshops, collaborative roundtables and a dedicated exhibition space. Through peer-led discussions and institutional case studies, attendees will explore how to turn sector-wide disruptions into opportunities for sustained student and institutional growth.
The agenda will focus on three core strategic areas:
- Teaching and learning
- Student support
- Retention, engagement and impact
UKAT are proud to partner with Times Higher Education in delivering this event. UKAT members can benefit from a 30% discount on registration fees; see the September-October 2026 Member Newsletter for further details.
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UKAT Conference 2027
Monday 5 April 2027, 13:00 - Wednesday 7 April 2027, 14:30
DundeeAdvising through the Transitions: Enabling Student Success through Shared Understanding
The conference focuses on advising students through transitions in further and higher education, highlighting how our institutions can use integrated approaches that combine curriculum and professional services to enable this ambition. The conference will bring together college and university staff and students to explore how, through advising, our curriculum and support services can improve the transition for students moving from schools and colleges to university and beyond. Are universities aware of student expectations from school and college, and do those in the schools and colleges really know what is required at university? How do we advise and support students through new challenges that they face? How do we advise students who are moving on to prepare them for the next stage of their journey? And how do we prepare our staff to think differently to address issues with which they may be unfamiliar?
Events in italic typeface are not provided by UKAT but are 3rd party events which may be of interest to UKAT members