Voting is now open for the role of Deputy Chair. This is an important opportunity to help shape the future direction of ALDinHE.
Please take a few minutes to review the candidates and cast your vote before the deadline of Tuesday 19th May. All members of the Steering Group are invited to vote, including the candidates themselves. Candidates you can vote for yourself.
Ian Johnson
I wish to nominate myself for the role of Deputy Chair of ALDinHE and explain how, in that role, I can help the Association to fulfil its strategic ambitions. I have almost twelve years’ experience as a Learning Developer at Portsmouth. In this time, I have become a tenacious advocate for LD as a distinct field of professional practice and identity. I have backed this belief through my scholarship, such as writing my doctoral thesis on the framing, value and professional practice of LD, and a more recent co-authored chapter on the Conceptual Foundations of LD. I have held roles in ALDinHE since 2019, since when my most substantial contributions have been:
- to establish its Research Community of Practice in 2020 and co-lead it for three years
- to co-host the 2023 ALDCON at Portsmouth
- to lead the Research and Scholarship Development working group from 2023 to present
- achieved senior fellowship in LD in 2025
In this time, I have always sought to open doors for LD practitioners to develop, and to widen the number of voices in the vital conversations happening about LD, be those in my own institution, through scholarship, or anything in between.
With the winds of change in the Higher Education climate blowing as they are, there is no time like now to have voices present in ALDinHE’s leadership which strongly advocate for Learning Development, and I can promise that if elected I will build on my previous work to strengthen that voice.
Liv Jonassen
I am standing for Deputy Chair of ALDinHE as I am passionate about the role of Learning Development and powerful impact we can have. ALDinHE provides an inclusive, collaborative, values led space which significantly contributes to professional development, and I believe my values and experience of embedding Learning Development in my institution along with my belief that students should be at the centre of our practice will complement and enhance the strategic direction of ALDinHE.
In my role as Academic Skills Team Manager at Newcastle University, I have led and significantly expanded the Learning Development offer for students through 1:1 provision, embedded teaching and through the development of online resources on the Academic Skills Kit. I have also raised awareness of Learning Development through involvement in strategic initiatives across the university, ensuring that support and resources are embedded into curriculum development, design and training. I strongly believe that students are key stakeholders and I have developed projects which facilitated co-creation with students, ensuring that we are able to evaluate, reflect and refine outcomes.
I have significantly contributed to ALDinHE. I am Deputy Chair of the Conference Committee and have played a key role in leading and delivering the conference in 2025 and 2026. As Programme Lead on the Conference Committee, I have been instrumental in developing a dynamic, inclusive and accessible conference programme, with a rich range of sessions, aligned to ALDinHE’s values. I have been a Steering Group member without portfolio for a year and have used the opportunity to contribute to key decisions and helped shape ALDinHE strategy and as such I am familiar with how the group functions and the positive impact it can have on the wider community.
Sandie Donnelly
With HE in crisis, ALDinHE continues to facilitate a supportive community, and in Autumn 2025 I collaborated with others to provide a space to share challenges. But what has been more striking in my experience with the steering group is how ALDinHE drives forward, with the strategic leads in post, the journal being indexed in Scopus, as well as ALDCON, the busy CoPs, working groups and more, all effectively managed within budget.
Whilst a relatively new member of the steering group, I welcome this opportunity to step up and contribute to the development, interests and ambitions of our members. Having worked with Maddy Mossman as founding members of the Events Working Group (EWG) and at various points since, I would be a collaborative, hard-working and good-humoured deputy chair. I would help to coordinate and lead the Association to realise the 2026/27 priorities. For example, my communication and listening skills and leadership values would contribute to building trust, clarity, openness and engagement. I would draw on my experience as deputy chair of the EWG and commitment to student centred practice to help facilitate embedding student partnership and integrating co-creation across ALDinHE’s work.
I currently manage a team of library and academic advisors and learning developers. I support the team to deliver an effective day-to-day service whilst working with the leadership team to anticipate and prepare for university and sector developments. I would bring attention to detail, pragmatic operational management, a strategic outlook and accountability to the deputy chair role.