Staff Engagement Forum

Our Staff Engagement Forum is a place where staff can come together with senior leaders, and help us to shape our people and culture, and to ensure our campus spaces are inclusive and welcoming.

Hosted by our Interim Chief People Officer, Umar Zamman, and our Chief Finance and Resources Officer – Matt Higgins, along with the Assistant Directors of People and Culture, Sarah Mackintosh (HR Operations) and Angela Johnson (OD, Culture and Inclusion) we will hold our Staff Engagement Forum online, once per month. Each session is themed around a particular issue which affects all colleagues at the University of Bedfordshire. We also invite one other member of our Executive Group (EG) to join us according to the topic we are discussing.

We might start with a summary of the topic as we see it, and then split into smaller breakout groups and invite discussion and feedback.

At our first meeting, held in May 2025, colleagues told us they wanted the Staff Engagement Forum to:

• Be inclusive, for everyone to be respectful of each others’ views
• Feel safe, and be fairly informal: we agreed we would all bring a cuppa and a biscuit
• Support those who don’t like to speak in big groups (so, we agreed we would use break out rooms and the chat function as ways to help)
• Feel collaborative and constructive, respectful and supportive of each other, all views welcome, and no wrong answers
• Be well attended by colleagues from all parts of the university
• Not just be a talking shop: we agreed a “You Said, We Did” element would be important.
• Topics to focus on would be agreed together, it will be important for topics to focus on current issues and for colleagues to have a say.

You can watch any of our previous sessions through the 'Previous section' tab on the left hand side of this page.