After a break of eight years, I have stepped forward again to join the Board at the AGM in January, and at our last meeting I was elected Chair, taking over from Aydin Kurt-Elli after his significant spell in the role.

The Board of CHE has recently been working hard on two fronts. A group of graduates is evolving the Masters programme, while others are developing a ‘community of practice’ – a structured group with a shared concern or passion, whose members interact regularly to learn from each other to enhance their practice. In many ways, each MSc "learning community" has acted as a community of practice for students, so we hope to build on this model to develop the significant potential of the CHE community as a whole.

Would you like to help in the early stages of this process? If so, contact Adam Howard ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ), who is undertaking a short-term contract for the Board to develop funding partnerships to secure support for the MSc, which will also contribute to the foundations of the emerging community of practice.

I will be working closely with Adam and the rest of the CHE Board to progress MSc development over the coming months, supporting Verene as she continues to steer the MSc with incredible dedication and passion, and helping the many energetic community of practice advocates to establish the new initiative.

I'm also delighted to welcome Ewen Hardie as a new Director, and to wish Chloe Smee all the best as she makes space in her life to become a mother after supporting CHE as a Director for two years.