Broadcast: News items

Professor Kate O'Riordan

Professor Kate O’Riordan, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education & Students) has been made a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA). This is the highest level of professional recognition from the Higher Education Academy (now awarded through Advance HE). The Principal Fellowship award is for the sustained and effective strategic leadership of higher education practice, with extensive impact on high-quality learning. It demonstrates application of the highest standards in the Professional Standards Framework, a globally recognised framework for benchmarking success within HE teaching and learning support. 

Kate has also been appointed as one of two co-convenors for the Advance HE DVC/PVC Educational Excellence Network. This is a highly valued and influential community of Deputy Vice-Chancellors, Pro-Vice-Chancellors and equivalent senior leaders with the brief for education, or the student experience at Advance HE member institutions.

Advance HE is a member-led charity of and for the sector promoting excellence in HE, working with partners across the globe to improve higher education for staff, students and society. 

Kate said: "I am honoured to have been awarded Principal Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. This has not happened in isolation. It reflects collaborative work across many teams at Sussex. It speaks to genuine commitment within the University to the quality of the student experience and to the importance of learning and teaching as a driver of institutional success.”

“I am also very much looking forward to my role as co-convenor of the network, working with Deputy and Pro-Vice-Chancellors from across the sector to share knowledge, shape thinking and collectively raise the bar for educational excellence in higher education."

Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sasha Roseneil said: “I warmly congratulate Kate on being awarded Principal Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. This is testament to Kate's sustained and impactful strategic leadership of the Education and Students portfolio as Pro-Vice-Chancellor, and in her more than two decades at Sussex as a forward looking, open, and compassionate educator and leader. The Principal Fellowship award places Kate amongst a small group of educators who have demonstrated the very highest standards and who have made transformational contributions to their universities and to higher education nationally or globally”.

“It is also wonderful news that Kate has been appointed as co-convenor of the Advance HE DVC/PVC Educational Excellence Network, a role that will see her shaping the future of learning and teaching alongside the most senior education leaders across the sector. With her co-convenor, Professor Josie Fraser (Open University) – also from a ResearchPlus university – she will provide the network with the creative leadership that is so needed during these challenging times.”