Online event
The Office for Students’ (OfS) approach to regulating equality of opportunity places significant emphasis on evaluation. “We want to eliminate inequality in higher education and to this we need to be ambitious, prioritise activities, and understand what works.”
The OfS also ask universities to “strengthen their evaluation activity and then share their evaluation results publicly”.
In order to support its members NEON are holding this one day, online, Supporting Practice event to showcase outreach events with schools that have evidence of impact. The examples have been drawn from projects that have been nominated for a NEON Award or have previously formed the basis for papers presented at the NEON Summer Symposium. The aim of the event is to highlight evidence based practice that has evidence of positive outcomes, and share practice across NEON members and the higher education sector.
Confirmed speakers include:
- Higher Horizons Uni Connect – Impact Report 2026
- The University of Manchester – The Manchester Access Programme
- University of East Anglia – Make it Count
- Imperial College – Primary Maths Transition Programme
- Keynote speaker: Dr Omar Khan, Chief Executive Officer, TASO
Keynote speaker bio:
Dr Omar Khan joined TASO in June 2020 and has led TASO’s transition into an independent charity, developing its team and strategy to widen participation in higher education and eliminate equality gaps between students. His research and professional background has focused on equality and social mobility, particularly in education and the labour market, and he regularly speaks on these topics in the UK and globally.
Dr Khan holds several board advisory positions, including chair of the board of trustees of Trust for London, trustee of the Political Studies Association. He has previously been a board or advisory group member at the University of East London, the Barrow Cadbury Trust, the Financial Inclusion Commission, the Department for Work and Pensions, the 2021 REF and 2014 REF assessments, and a 2012 Clore Social Leadership Fellow.
Dr Khan joined TASO from race equality think tank the Runnymede Trust, where he had been Director since 2014, growing the organisation and increasing its profile. He completed a doctorate in political science from the University of Oxford in 2008.