University training day - December 2025
Inspiring, insightful and interactive training for student recruitment, widening participation, and outreach professionals who deliver talks, activities, and events for schools and colleges.
Inspiring, insightful and interactive training for student recruitment, widening participation, and outreach professionals who deliver talks, activities, and events for schools and colleges.
Tuesday 16, December 2025
9:30am to 5pm
STEAMhouse
Birmingham
£300 + VAT
40 spaces available
We are pleased to share our next in-person training day with you.
These popular events are created specifically for university staff who deliver talks, activities, and events for schools and colleges. This includes staff working in student recruitment, widening participation, school liaison, and outreach roles.
You will hear from leading experts from inside and outside the sector on a diverse range of topics, all designed to help you perform in your role and inspire prospective students to see all the opportunities higher education offers.
Join us for an event designed to help you engage students and their supporters. You'll discover how to:
Your speakers will include Nifty Fox Creative founder and director Laura Evans-Hill, Schools Should Be podcaster and author of Creating Belonging in the Classroom Zahara Chowdhury, The Study of Men founder Omar Junior, and HE veteran Simon Fairbanks.
This content is especially relevant for those working closely with prospective students, their supporters, teachers, careers advisers, schools, and colleges.
Networking is a key focus, so the event will feature regular breaks, with optional post-event networking drinks included too!
Watch this video from a previous training day for a taster of what to expect:
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 09:30 | Registration and refreshments |
| 09:45 | Welcome and introduction Jon Cheek, Director of UniTasterDays |
| 09:50 | How to use drawing and illustration to break down barriers to higher education
Laura Evans-Hill, Founder and Director of Nifty Fox Creative |
| 10:50 | Morning refreshments |
| 11:10 | How to celebrate your outreach success: inwards, outwards, upwards Simon Fairbanks, Head of Community Engagement at UniTasterDays |
| 12:45 | Lunch |
| 13:30 | Equitable classrooms: designing accessible and inclusive sessions for every student
Zahara Chowdhury, Founder of Schools Should Be and author of Creating Belonging in the Classroom |
| 14:30 | Afternoon refreshments |
| 14:50 | Encouraging boys on free school meals to engage with university outreach
Omar Junior, Founder of The Study of Men |
| 15:45 | Christmas quiz Christmas quiz Jon Cheek, Director of UniTasterDays |
| 16:00 | Networking drinks Complimentary festive drinks at BCU Students’ Union |
| 17:00 | Finish |
Laura Evans-Hill, Founder and Director of Nifty Fox Creative
Higher education is a complex topic to explain to prospective students. It’s a jumble of jargon that forms an inaccessible barrier to first-in-family applicants. The degree classifications, the application process, the funding options… Hard to understand. Harder to explain. How can we help students access higher education when our words fail us?
Simple. Stop talking. Start drawing!
Enter Laura Evans-Hill, founder of award-winning research communications agency Nifty Fox Creative, ex-social researcher and widening participation professional, and CPD certificated trainer. Laura specialises in translating complex topics into simple illustrations, infographics, and posters, working with over 3000 researchers across 50 universities internationally to do the same. Laura often live-scribes these visuals in the moment to help academic staff explain their research to wider audiences, winning four impact awards for this work.
Drawing is a superpower. And it’s yours to wield too. In this session, Laura will get you drawing immediately, showing that everyone can flourish a pencil in pursuit of clarity and understanding. She will also draw (!) upon her experience as a university outreach professional to show how you can use your newfound power in your next classroom session to remove barriers to understanding.
A picture speaks a thousand words. Let’s put the V into VARK and start visualising higher education and the opportunities it offers. Ready, set, draw!
Zahara Chowdhury, Founder of Schools Should Be and author of Creating Belonging in the Classroom
Equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) is at the core of every widening participation strategy. After all, we can’t widen access without understanding the diverse, underrepresented, and hidden students, often from marginalised communities across the education sector. Therefore, equitable sessions, inclusive activities, and universal design must be central to any conversation about higher education.
However, how often do we review our workshops, our slides resources, and our words through an EDI lens? Are we certain that all students are represented and included in classroom dynamics? Or are we unintentionally excluding specific demographics due to deep-rooted, systemic, and structural inequalities?
In this session, teacher, author, and inclusive education lead, Zahara Chowdhury, will share how you can embed equity and inclusion into the fabric of our learning spaces. In doing so, you will learn how to review and redesign your outreach activities to ensure they resonate with every student in the classroom.
Zahara will share knowledge and experience as an education practitioner in both the school and university sectors. She’ll also offer insights from a range of experts that have featured on her popular blog and podcast, School Should Be. You’ll rediscover that our education spaces, learning, and outreach activities can easily be inclusive and accessible for all, ensuring that higher education is an attractive option for every student.
Omar Junior, Founder of The Study of Men
Boys on free school meals (FSM) is a growing priority area for student recruitment and widening participation teams. Only 13% of boys who received FSM at age 15 progressed to higher education by age 19, compared to over 40% of their non-FSM peers. Too many working-class boys are struggling to find the confidence to apply. Linked to this is the growing shadow of the manosphere and toxic masculinity, which pressures boys to either showboat or withdraw entirely.
As outreach professionals, how do we encourage these boys to open up, express their ambitions, and engage with discussions about their future? How do we help them recognise their self-worth, and have the vulnerability to express their self-doubt? Equally, how do they convince their family members that university is a worthy investment when those families are struggling through the cost-of-living crisis?
Omar Junior is here to help. He specialises in helping boys and men participate in self-reflection and open discussions. Omar spent his life grappling with traditional notions of masculinity. Growing up in inner-city Birmingham, he often saw masculinity represented through crime and violence. After experiencing numerous setbacks, he decided to create a space for men to openly discuss their struggles, starting from his own living room.
Omar will help you do the same in a classroom. Taking insights from his life-changing programme, The Study of Men, he will help you foster a deeper understanding of the complexities of male identity. You’ll discover the value of an individualistic approach, language, and openness. And you’ll learn the importance of early intervention, rather than damage control. In doing so, you’ll create space for all masculinities in your outreach work.
Simon Fairbanks, Head of Community Engagement at UniTasterDays
Our senior stakeholders are busy. Their resources are in high demand. But we need their time, focus, and interest to celebrate our successful outreach projects. How do we get their attention? How do we enlist them as a cheerleader for our triumphs?
This session will offer practical ways to engage your senior stakeholders. You’ll learn tips, tools, and tactics, including the concept of strategic alignment. You’ll discover how empathy-mapping can help you better relate to your stakeholders. Finally, you’ll explore the critical balance of what you say and how you say it and where you say it.
We’ll also reflect on the importance of celebrating success… and why sometimes we keep quiet about our wins. Through interactive exercises, you'll gain the confidence to be loud and proud about your success. In doing so, you’ll maximise the credibility and visibility of your outreach team across (and beyond) your university.
Laura is a trained social researcher, ex-WP Manager and founder and director of Nifty Fox Creative. Nifty is an award-winning research communications agency. Laura worked in the university sector for ten years communicating research beyond the academy, before rebelling to set up Nifty in 2017 to revolutionise the way we drive impact with lay audiences.
Nifty has worked with over 50 universities internationally, 3000+ researchers and 80 public sector organisations like the NHS, UK Government, the UN, and international parliaments to help them tell their stories visually so audiences listen. Nifty won Best Visual Communications Agency UK 2024, UK Enterprise Award for Social Impact 2024, and SME News Animation Agency of the Year 2025 for its innovative use of visual storytelling and graphic facilitation to democratise research hierarchies and increase public involvement in research.
Laura also won the Top 42 Under 42 Directors award from Insider Media in 2025. Nifty regularly supports the NIHR and NHS on their public engagement in research initiatives, and Laura teaches at universities around the world on knowledge mobilisation and public engagement in research impact.
Zahara has over a decade’s experience working in mainstream and higher education. She has led the English curriculum, staff well-being and also equality, diversity, and inclusion in secondary schools and HE. Zahara is also founder of the blog and podcast, School Should Be. Zahara has featured in Schools Week, WonkHE, and the TES. She is also author of the book, Creating Belonging in the Classroom.
Omar Junior is the founder of The Study of Men, a platform dedicated to exploring masculinity, emotional intelligence, and male identity in today’s world. Growing up in inner-city Birmingham, Omar witnessed firsthand how traditional ideas of masculinity, often shaped by violence, silence, or bravado, can limit young men’s potential. His lived experience, combined with his passion for reflection and open dialogue, inspired him to create safe spaces where boys and men can express vulnerability, develop self-belief, and challenge unhelpful stereotypes.
Simon has almost 20 years of experience in the higher education sector. This includes student recruitment, marketing, and events roles at four different universities in the UK: Nottingham, Birmingham, Warwick, and Coventry. Simon has also worked as a content strategy consultant for the international education sector.
Simon has a particular flair for designing engaging training sessions. Currently, he leads the training portfolio for UniTasterDays, including their quarterly training days in Birmingham, on-campus training for staff, on-campus training for ambassadors, 6-week leadership course, and 6-week manager course.
Past recipients of Simon’s training include AccessHE, LiNCHigher, Liverpool Hope University, London Higher, Queen Mary University of London, St Mary’s University, Study Higher, the University of Aberdeen, the University of Bristol, the University of Essex, the University of Salford, the University of Sunderland, and various HELOA regional groups.
Simon is an international speaker. He has spoken at a variety of conferences, including CASE, ContentEd, EFMD, IDPE, FindAUniversity, HELOA, HighEdWeb, PSEWeb, SU Digital, SU Marketing Conference, Utterly Content, and the UK Ghost Story Festival. He was Chair of the Newcomers Track at CASE Europe Annual Conference from 2020 to 2023.
As a published author, Simon is particularly interested in storytelling in the education sector. He spends his free time reading, writing, running, and finding new ways to make his children laugh.
Today reignited why I do what I do, and gave me some great ideas to use moving forward. Thank you for such an insightful training day. The venue was great, and the speakers were inspirational.
Clear concise sessions that target exactly what you need, and leave you wanting to put new strategies into action. I want to say a massive thank you to UniTasterDays for your in-depth and inspiring day!
I had a great experience attending the UniTasterDays training in Birmingham. Huge thank you to UniTasterDays for bringing together professionals from universities all over the UK, and providing the opportunity to brainstorm, engage, and inspire one another.
Our programme is designed to meet the specific needs of university practitioners working in student recruitment, outreach, and widening participation event delivery roles. Expect audience-focused sessions to help you address the challenges you may encounter in your role.
Our event allows multiple opportunities for networking. This includes morning and afternoon refreshments, lunch, and a complimentary drinks reception after the event. You will leave with a wide range of new connections across the sector.
Our training days are designed as in-person events, so the sessions won’t be recorded. It is a unique opportunity for you to gain insights from experienced and expert speakers, whilst learning alongside your peers in a delightful location.