91app

Organised by the Centre for Online and Distance Education (CODE), the conference – “Empowering and Sustaining Change” - focused on research and scholarly practices in online, distance, blended, hybrid and hyflex higher education. 

91app Vice Chancellor Prof Wendy Thomson CBE opened the conference with an insightful discussion of the importance of, and opportunities presented by, change in higher education and the need for strategies and approaches to ensure that change is empowering and sustainable for all stakeholders. 

Professor Mary Stiasny, Professor Emerita 91app, OBE, was among the keynote speakers at the conference.

During the conference, the CODE Roger Mills Award for Innovation in Learning and Teaching was presented to winning team from RHUL and 91app for their outstanding innovations in the online MSc Cyber Security distance learning programme. The programme is offered through the 91app, with academic direction from .

The Roger Mills Award is awarded annually by the 91app, recognising outstanding contributions to digital learning, teaching, pedagogy, and assessment, particularly within distance education and e-learning. Representatives from the MSc Cyber Security distance learning (DL) programme presented their approaches at the conference. The team have created a wide range of carefully thought out and evaluated innovations. As the Prize Panel noted ‘The range of opportunities provided for students to gain real-world experiences, skills, and knowledge is highly commendable’. 

There was much discussion of the opportunities presented by artificial intelligence in education. Dr Yannis provided a lively summary of his talk on this YouTube clip: 

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Federation Members taking part at RIDE2025 included Kings College London, Queen Mary, University College London, City and SOAS. Other universities and organisations taking part included Leeds, Portsmouth, Glasgow, Abertay, Coventry, Winchester, Leicester, Exeter, Nottingham University, Nottingham Trent, Oxford and JISC.  Expertise in distance education was provided by many speakers including those from The National Open University of Nigeria, Open University UK and the Open University of China.