8:30 – 9:00
Registration and welcome coffee at Student Hub Queen’s Business School (QBS)
9:00 – 10:30
Strategic positioning of the Career Services
Career Services are expected to contribute to employability, institutional reputation, rankings, and strategic partnerships, yet they are still often perceived as operational support functions. This interactive session will challenge that perception by exploring how career professionals can demonstrate institutional value, influence strategic decisions, and strengthen their position within higher education. Through expert insights and collaborative discussions, participants will identify practical actions, evidence, and partnerships that can make Career Services a critical contributor to institutional success in the years ahead.
The session will feature an interactive roundtable with deans and directors of education and career services, bringing both perspectives together through real world examples to discuss collaboration, stakeholder needs and the strategic value of career services within business schools.
- M. N. Ravishankar, Dean, Queen’s Business School, UK
- Alan Hanna, Director of Education and Accreditation, Queen’s Business School, UK
- Claire Jollain, Dean, HIM Business School, CH
- Ulrika Bjorklud, Executive Director Industry Affairs and Career Services, Swiss Education Group – HIM Business School, CH
10:30 – 11:10
Coffee and conversation
11:10 – 12:10
Improving Student Engagement in Career and Skills Development Initiatives
In an increasingly competitive and rapidly evolving labor market, universities are investing heavily in co-curricular programs designed to strengthen students’ skills, employability, and career readiness. Yet one question remains central: how can institutions successfully engage students in these voluntary opportunities and encourage sustained participation?
This session will highlight successful undergraduate engagement programs and share practical strategies for increasing student participation. Through institutional examples and best practices, participants will explore effective approaches to enhancing students’ skill development, employability, and career readiness.
- Tuna Dağlı, Director of Career Development Center, Koç University, TR
- Erin Wood, Careers Consultant, Queen’s University Belfast, UK
- Adrian Parsadh, Lecturer, Stellenbosch Business School, ZA
12:10-12:15
Group photo
12:15 – 13:30
Lunch
13:30 – 14:30
Career Services in a Connected Ecosystem: From Partnership Strategy to Impact
In an era of AI-driven change and lifelong learning, career services play a critical role in connecting students, graduates, alumni, employers and wider stakeholders. This panel will explore how strategic partnerships can evolve into connected ecosystems that create lasting value, strengthen employability, support organisational growth and contribute to regional prosperity. Through practical examples and shared experiences, panellists will discuss how career services can move beyond transactional engagement to deliver meaningful impact for all stakeholders.
- Beverley Noye, Head of TP ICAP Belfast and EMEA Head of Operations, UK
- Stuart Hollinger, Director of NI Chamber of Commerce, UK
- Suriya Subbiah Perumal, Digital Transformation Engineer and KTP Associate, UK
Moderated by Karl Webb, Business Engagement and Employability Manager, Queen’s Business School, UK
14:30 – 15:00
Coffee and conversation
15:00 – 16:00
Redesign your workshop creatively
This interactive session invites career services professionals to rethink traditional workshop design. Moving beyond “content delivery,” participants will explore how to create engaging, learner-centered experiences through creativity, collaboration, reflection, and participation.
Using hands-on activities, redesign challenges, and practical facilitation tools, participants will experiment with methods they can immediately apply in their career workshops.
- Julia Monzel, Head of WiSo Career Service, The University of Cologne, DE
- Floortje Schouten-Dietz, Career Consultant, TIAS School for Business and Society, NL
16:10 – 17:15
Careers of the future
As AI, sustainability and shifting models of work reshape careers, preparing students for the future can no longer be about predicting the jobs and skills that will matter next. In an increasingly uncertain world, we need new ways to help people understand what matters to them, recognise opportunity and make purposeful career choices as their lives and work evolve.
Drawing on The Core Career Dials book, Dan Kiernan and Sarah Rourke will introduce a fresh approach to career development designed for a world where linear career paths and predictable destinations are giving way to more dynamic and individual journeys.
This session will explore how career services can help students and graduates develop the self-awareness, agency and adaptability to navigate uncertainty, and build careers that work for them, whatever the future brings.
- Dan Kiernan, Career Coach, UK
- Sarah Rourke, ICF Executive Coach and Trainer, UK
18:45
Coaches to the dinner venue leaving from The Malone Hotel
19:00 – 21:45
Conference dinner at Crumlin Road Gaol with local social programme
You can look forward to a truly unique experience accompanied by great music and dance. Don’t forget to wear your comfortable dancing shoes!
- Address: 53-55 Crumlin Road, Belfast, BT14 6ST
22:00
Coaches back to The Malone Hotel from the dinner venue
