University of Greater Manchester
Deane Road, Bolton, BL3 5AB.
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The University of Greater Manchester is proudly a Teaching Intensive, Research Informed and Assessment Enabled institution, shaping an outstanding academic and student experience.
The TIRIAE Conference brings together educators, researchers, industry professionals and academic leaders to explore evidence-based teaching and celebrate excellence in pedagogy.
Ranked 1st in the North West for Teaching Quality and consistently leading the region for student satisfaction over five years, these achievements reflect the dedication of our entire university community.
It's with immense pleasure that I welcome you to TIRIAE 2026 — Our Conference as the University of Greater Manchester. I'm confident the next two days will powerfully showcase the incredible breadth of our collective achievements and aspirations in delivering on our TIRIAE vision.
Welcome! If this is your first TIRIAE conference, you are in for a treat. For those more seasoned attendees, we assume you are back to savour another two days of everything that is good in higher education.
We started planning for this year by listening to your feedback from 2025. In our call for abstracts we dispensed with set sub-themes and asked you what your peers and colleagues would most want to see and hear. Our aim was to be as inclusive as possible, and we hope that is reflected in the final programme.
Welcome to TIRIAE 2026, I’m really pleased that you are joining us. The annual TIRIAE conference is a fantastic time to discuss research, share good practice and propose new ideas. It’s also a great opportunity to form new collaborations and develop relationships. I really hope you enjoy everything that the conference has to offer.
Abstract submissions for the TIRIAE 2026 Conference are open until 10am (BST) on Monday 8 June 2026.
Key themes:
- Innovation & Inclusive Pedagogy
- Human-Centred Learning & Digital Technologies
- Research-Informed Practice & Professional Growth
- Research for REF 2029
We also welcome submissions on related topics.
Submit via the conference website by registering with EasyChair and uploading your abstract.
Submit your Abstract
World-class academics bringing perspectives on leadership, forensic science, educational technology,
AI, gaming and higher education policy.
Cognitive Compassion: Credit-bearing in the HE Factory at last
Professor of Compassion-focused Pedagogy
Professor Theo Gilbert’s applied research is on the cognitive – not emotion-dependent – nature of compassion and its vital communications-centred role in enhancing whole-team social and learning experiences. Students - and public and private sector teams too - are finding the evidence-based micro skills involved surprisingly easy to learn and apply.
How our species evolved these skills is fascinating. They include a vigilance to distress and/or disadvantaging of team members when they meet, and discerning what wise action to take, at once, to reduce or prevent such burdens on the team’s criticality and resilience. When assessed, the impact of these accessible skills, so far, on team experiences – and outputs – mean they are now credit-bearing on degrees in Law, Health and Medical sciences, Business, Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Hertfordshire alone, as well as on its PG Certificate.
You will witness what these skills look and sound like in action and why they are reducing staff marking workloads; awarding gaps (with statistical significance); plagiarism and inappropriate use of AI; as well as addressing employers’ priorities for team work effectiveness, while increasing both staff and student-reported interculturalisation and belonging. Above all, you will see exactly why these impacts are inevitable.
You’ll learn how straightforward are data collection and analysis around this authentic groupwork/team assessment initiative. In a world in deep conflict with itself, you’ll realise too that you can confidently launch this initiative for the public good - HEs core remit – with lasting effect, in your own classrooms, right now.
Fine Artist/Educator
Andrea Hvistendahl (Fine Artist/Educator) will be presenting a short keynote and running a series of workshop games at the TIRIAE 2026 conference.
Andrea is the creator of a board game (developed from a Fine Art installation) called ‘Our Move’ which is designed to stimulate progressive discussions as mediation method through game play. Since its conception in 2012 it has been used by the UN on multiple occasions, not least, as part of peace talks in Syria and Iraq.
Andrea and the TIRIAE conference team will be organising a series of games with students, educators, and managers over two days of the conference. We would like to invite all delegates to be players, representing respective disciplines across the university, along with education specialist and resident storyteller Dr Sarah Telfer.
Andrea Hvistendahl is an artist, educator and creative method developer working at the intersection of art, design and sustainability transitions. Trained as a visual artist (MFA, Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm + Glasgow School of Arts), Hvistendahl’s practice has evolved into a multidisciplinary field where artistic inquiry is used to explore and operationalise social, ecological and cultural transformation.
Her work spans participatory art, systems mapping, public installations and large-scale cross-sector collaborations. She is the creator of Our Move, an arts-based dialogue and systemic mapping methodology applied in higher education, policy and international contexts, including collaborations with the state conflict management agency FBA (peace negotiations in Iraq and Syria), Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, UNECE and as well as in Favelas in Rio de Janeiro.
Hvistendahl is a lecturer at Mälardalen University, where she teaches within Spatial Design and Innovation & Design. Her teaching and research engage with creativity, futures thinking, systems perspectives and art-based approaches to complex societal challenges, with a particular emphasis on sustainability and human- and life-centred design.
Across her practice, Hvistendahl investigates how creative methods can support collective sense-making, interdisciplinary dialogue and the imagination of alternative futures in times of uncertainty.
Cognitive Compassion: Credit-bearing in the HE Factory at last
Professor of Compassion-focused Pedagogy
Professor Theo Gilbert’s applied research is on the cognitive – not emotion-dependent – nature of compassion and its vital communications-centred role in enhancing whole-team social and learning experiences. Students - and public and private sector teams too - are finding the evidence-based micro skills involved surprisingly easy to learn and apply.
How our species evolved these skills is fascinating. They include a vigilance to distress and/or disadvantaging of team members when they meet, and discerning what wise action to take, at once, to reduce or prevent such burdens on the team’s criticality and resilience. When assessed, the impact of these accessible skills, so far, on team experiences – and outputs – mean they are now credit-bearing on degrees in Law, Health and Medical sciences, Business, Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Hertfordshire alone, as well as on its PG Certificate.
You will witness what these skills look and sound like in action and why they are reducing staff marking workloads; awarding gaps (with statistical significance); plagiarism and inappropriate use of AI; as well as addressing employers’ priorities for team work effectiveness, while increasing both staff and student-reported interculturalisation and belonging. Above all, you will see exactly why these impacts are inevitable.
You’ll learn how straightforward are data collection and analysis around this authentic groupwork/team assessment initiative. In a world in deep conflict with itself, you’ll realise too that you can confidently launch this initiative for the public good - HEs core remit – with lasting effect, in your own classrooms, right now.
Head of Psychology, University of Chester
Dr Kevin Hochard completed his PhD in Psychology at the University of Nottingham in 2014. He is currently Head of Psychology at the University of Chester.
His research focuses on the links between sleep disorders, particularly insomnia and nightmares, and suicidal behaviours, with an emphasis on the development and evaluation of brief behavioural interventions, including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based approaches. Alongside his academic research, Kevin collaborates with Cheshire and Wirral Partnership (CWP) NHS Foundation Trust, providing statistical analysis and evaluation support for service development and quality improvement projects across mental health and Intellectual Disabilities services.
Kevin is committed to applying psychological science beyond academia. Since 2020, he has served as a trustee of Chapter, a mental health charity dedicated to improving access to psychological support and promoting mental wellbeing within the community. He is also a member of the Hummingbird Project, which delivers positive psychology interventions in schools to support the wellbeing and resilience of young people, where he primarily contributes expertise in research design, statistical analysis, and programme evaluation.
Kevin teaches across the undergraduate psychology curriculum, with particular responsibility for research methods and statistics. He is passionate about developing students’ confidence in scientific thinking and evidence-based practice, and has extensive experience supervising undergraduate and postgraduate research projects.
Fine Artist/Educator
Andrea Hvistendahl (Fine Artist/Educator) will be presenting a short keynote and running a series of workshop games at the TIRIAE 2026 conference.
Andrea is the creator of a board game (developed from a Fine Art installation) called ‘Our Move’ which is designed to stimulate progressive discussions as mediation method through game play. Since its conception in 2012 it has been used by the UN on multiple occasions, not least, as part of peace talks in Syria and Iraq.
Andrea and the TIRIAE conference team will be organising a series of games with students, educators, and managers over two days of the conference. We would like to invite all delegates to be players, representing respective disciplines across the university, along with education specialist and resident storyteller Dr Sarah Telfer.
Andrea Hvistendahl is an artist, educator and creative method developer working at the intersection of art, design and sustainability transitions. Trained as a visual artist (MFA, Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm + Glasgow School of Arts), Hvistendahl’s practice has evolved into a multidisciplinary field where artistic inquiry is used to explore and operationalise social, ecological and cultural transformation.
Her work spans participatory art, systems mapping, public installations and large-scale cross-sector collaborations. She is the creator of Our Move, an arts-based dialogue and systemic mapping methodology applied in higher education, policy and international contexts, including collaborations with the state conflict management agency FBA (peace negotiations in Iraq and Syria), Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, UNECE and as well as in Favelas in Rio de Janeiro.
Hvistendahl is a lecturer at Mälardalen University, where she teaches within Spatial Design and Innovation & Design. Her teaching and research engage with creativity, futures thinking, systems perspectives and art-based approaches to complex societal challenges, with a particular emphasis on sustainability and human- and life-centred design.
Across her practice, Hvistendahl investigates how creative methods can support collective sense-making, interdisciplinary dialogue and the imagination of alternative futures in times of uncertainty.
The University of Greater Manchester is proudly situated in the heart of Bolton, a vibrant and welcoming town in the North West of England.
University of Greater Manchester,
Deane Road Campus, Deane Road,
Bolton, BL3 5AB
TIRIAE Enquiries
University of Greater Manchester
tiriaeconference@greatermanchester.ac.uk
+44 (0)1204 900600
Yes, TIRIAE is open to all academic staff, professional services colleagues, and student interns across the University of Greater Manchester. We welcome colleagues from partner institutions too.
Absolutely. You are welcome to attend one or both days. Each day has its own distinct keynote programme and breakout sessions, so both days stand alone as valuable experiences.
TIRIAE 2026 is free to attend for University of Greater Manchester staff and students. Please contact us for information about attendance from external institutions.
The call for abstracts is communicated via internal University channels. If you missed the deadline or would like to discuss a late submission, please contact the organising team directly.
Yes, the University of Greater Manchester Bolton campus is fully accessible. If you have specific accessibility requirements, please contact us in advance so we can make appropriate arrangements.
Selected keynote sessions may be recorded subject to speaker consent. A Book of Abstracts will be made available following the conference. Please contact us for more details.
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