EDEN Digital Education Leadership Academy (DELA)
November 5 @ 08:00 – November 7 @ 17:00
Who should join?
- Leaders, middle managers and emerging leaders leading or supporting digital transformation in their institution
- Experienced senior leaders with strategic planning responsibilities for digital education
- Teams of leaders and emerging leaders from the same institution responsible for implementing a digital education strategy
What does it include?
- 3 days intensive days of strategic thinking workshops to help envision the future of digital learning
- Inspiring talks by renown educational leaders
- Real-life dilemmas, case examples and future scenarios of real institutions
- Active problem-solving to develop research informed responses to the digital challenges and opportunities confronting organisations
- A highly engaging social programme for networking and professional learning
- A lasting access to the presented training materials
- A small group of up to 30 participants for hands-on learning from the best trainers and each other
- The workshop includes onsite catered coffee breaks and 3 lunches as well as 1 dinner in the central Barcelona alongside with a thematic visit to one of the attractions of Barcelona
Challenge yourself and future-proof your institution by becoming a graduate of the EDEN Digital Education Leadership Academy!
What is the EDEN Digital Education Leadership Academy?
- A place to learn from others
- A place to experience different strategies for digital education leadership
- A place to tackle challenges and create solutions together
- A place for professional networking
- A place to envision the future of digital education
Why participate?
- To connect with other European colleagues
- To find effective ways of realising the potential of digital transformation
- To help develop new strategies which tackle the challenges of digitalization
- To refine your leadership toolbox and find solutions together
- To envision the future of digital education
What will you learn?
- How other higher education institutions are responding to their challenges of digital transformation
- How to undertake a horizon scan of future trends and the impact they may have on your organisation
- What factors need to be considered when developing a successful digital transformation strategy
- Effective strategies other educational leaders are using to harness the potential of digital education
- How to challenge yourself and future-proof your institution by becoming a graduate of the EDEN Digital Education Leadership Academy.
EDEN DELA Graduates 2023
EDEN DELA Graduates 2024
Day 1 – November 5, Wednesday
“Vision-Making and Strategy”
| 8:30 – 11:00 Official Welcome by EDEN DLE President (Wim van Petegem) / Presentation of EDEN DELA Seminar / Getting to Know Each Other (Albert Sangrà, EDEN) / The Digital Education Leader’s Toolkit (Deborah Arnold, EDEN) |
| 11:00 – 11:30 Coffee Break |
| 11:30 – 12:30 Keynote Opening Speech, by Dr. Josep M. Garrell, President, European University Association (EUA), Belgium |
| 12:30 – 13:30 Networking Lunch |
| 13:30 – 14:30 Real Life Case Example: Vision Making and Strategy (Albert Sangrà; Josep M. Duart, EDEN) 14:30 – 15:30 Strategic Thinking Workshop (Susannah Quinsee, VP Digital and Student Experience, City University London, UK) |
| 15:30 – 16:00 Coffee Break |
| 16:00 – 17:00 Action Plans: Vision and strategy (Albert Sangrà, EDEN) 17:00 – 17:30 Feedback from the Workshop and Wrap-Up (Christian-Andreas Schumann + Albert Sangrà, EDEN) |
Day 2 – November 6, Thursday
“Tackling Digital Transformation Challenges”
| 08:30 – 08:45 Introduction to Day 2: Tackling Digital Transformation Challenges 08:45 – 10:45 CTRL+ALT+DEL: We’ve upgraded everything except the mindset (Ale Armellini, Dean of Education and Digital Innovation, University of Portsmouth, UK) |
| 10:45 – 11:15 Coffee break |
| 11:15 – 12:15 Leading digital transformation (Denise Whitelock, Director, Institute of Educational Technology at The Open University) 12:15 – 13:15 Problem-solving workshop: Ethical leadership for the responsible use of GenAI in HE – Part 1 (Deborah Arnold, EDEN) |
| 13:15 – 14:15 Networking lunch |
| 14:15 – 15:30 Problem-solving workshop: Ethical leadership for the responsible use of GenAI in HE – Part 2 (Deborah Arnold, EDEN) 15:30 – 16:00 Break 16:00 – 17:00 Action Plans: Tackling digital transformation challenges (Josep M. Duart, EDEN) 17:00 – 17.30 Feedback from the workshop and Wrap-up (Christian-Andreas Schumann + Albert Sangrà, EDEN) |
| 18.00 Visit to Gaudi Casa Vicens and DELA Dinner in restaurant “Balthazar” |
Day 3 – November 7, Friday
“Ensuring Your Institution Is Future-Ready”
| 08:30 – 08:45 Introduction to Day 3 – Ensuring your institution is future-ready 08:45 -10:45 Real Life Case Example: A Networked Structure for Digital Education (Tine Baelmans, Former Vice-Rector for Educational Policy, KU Leuven, Belgium) |
| 10:45 – 11:15 Coffee break |
| 11:15 – 12:15 Problem-solving workshop: Change Management (António Teixeira, Former Pro-rector and current Scientific Coordinator of the Distance Education and eLearning Laboratory – LE@D, Universidade Aberta, Portugal) 12:15 – 13:15 Action plans: ensuring your institution is future ready (Deborah Arnold, NTT DATA / EDEN) 13:15 – 13:30 Group photo |
| 13:30 – 14:30 Networking Lunch |
| 14:30 – 16:00 Group work to consolidate Action Plans: Future Development (Deborah Arnold, EDEN) 16.00 – 16:30 Conclusions, Feedback and Follow-Up (Christian-Andreas Schumann + Albert/Josep M., EDEN) |
| 16:30 – 16:45 Coffee Break |
| 16:45 – 17:30 Diploma Delivering Ceremony |
EDEN DELA 2025 Speakers
Susannah Quinsee
Ale Armellini
Tine Baelmans
Vice President For Digital and Student Experience
Dean of Education and Digital Innovation
Vice Rector For Educational Policy
City University of London, UK
University of Portsmouth, UK
KU Leuven, Belgium
EDEN DELA 2025 sessions will also feature speakers, such as prof. Albert Sangrà (EDEN Vice President for Strategic Thinking and Networking; Director for the UNESCO Chair in Education and Technology for Social Change), prof. Josep M. Duart (EDEN DLE Management Board member).
Albert Sangrà
Josep Maria Garrell
Josep M. Duart
EDEN Vice President for Strategic Thinking and Networking; Director for the UNESCO Chair in Education and Technology for Social Change
President of the European University Association
EDEN DLE Management Board member
More Information about the Speakers
Susannah Quinsee
Professor Susannah Quinsee is Vice-President (Digital and Student Experience) at City St George’s, University of London. As Vice-President, she is the strategic lead for digital transformation as well as leading institutional projects and strategy to support student experience. She is an EMCC accredited coach, a National Teaching Fellow, a SEDA Senior Fellow and AdvanceHE HEA Principal Fellow, and was an AdvanceHE Learning and Teaching Excellence Ambassador. She researches on university digital futures and playful practice and leadership and is a Lego Serious Play practitioner.
Alejandro (Ale) Armellini
Alejandro (Ale) Armellini (Dean of Education and Digital Innovation) leads digital learning, learning innovation and pedagogic transformation, including on-campus and online provision, across all Faculties at the University of Portsmouth. He wrote and embedded the Digital Success Plan for Learning and Teaching in 2021, which became the centrepiece of the University’s new Education Strategy, co-developed by Ale in 2023. Before joining Portsmouth, Ale was Dean of Learning and Teaching at the University of Northampton, where he was the strategic lead for the redesign of all programmes for active blended learning (ABL). His work shaped Northampton’s flagship Waterside campus, which opened in 2018 – without lecture theatres, among other radical features. He publishes widely and is a reference point in areas including large-scale institutional transformation, ABL, learning design and innovative teaching practices. Ale is a National Teaching Fellow, a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce in the UK. He holds visiting professorships at several universities and is active in external examining and consultancy globally.
Tine Baelmans
Martine Baelmans is a full professor in thermodynamics and thermal-fluid sciences at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, KU Leuven, where she is the head of the research group on thermal-fluid engineering. She was vice rector for Education Policy at the KU Leuven in Belgium from August 2017 to July 2025 and as such member of the KU Leuven Executive Board. From 2009 to 2013 she was vice rector for Student Policy and Diversity and chaired the Educational Council at the same university from 2007 to 2009. She is member of the board of Melexis NV, ACCO CV. She is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Belgium (KVAB).
Albert Sangrà
Albert Sangra, one of the founders of DELA, is EDENs Chair of Fellows’ Council and a member of the Management Board, Director for the UNESCO Chair in Education and Technology for Social Change, Professor and researcher at the Open University of Catalonia, Department of Psychology and Education. Former Vice-president, European Foundation of Quality on E-Learning (EFQUEL), and member of the Executive Committee of EDEN (2003-2009). Recipient of the 2015 Award for Excellence in eLearning awarded by the World Education Congress. Albert Sangra is Current Director of the Industrial Doctorates Programme, Government of Catalonia, a consulting trainer in Europe, America, Asia, and Australia.
Josep M. Duart
Josep Duart, one of the founders of DELA, has served as EDEN’s president and is a member of Management Board, research professor in Educational Sciences and Technology department at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), is a former vice president for Postgraduate Studies and Lifelong Learning, and former director of the International Graduate Institute and has played an active role in the development of UOC educational model as an open university. Josep Duart was the founder and director of the UNESCO Chair in e-Learning (2002-2009) and academic director of the I International Seminar “Leading Universities in the Knowledge Society”, currently also an active consultant across South and North Americas.
Josep Maria Garrell
Prof. Josep M. Garrell is former Rector of Ramon Llull University (Universitat Ramon Llull), Spain. He was elected EUA President in 2023, having served on the Association’s Board since 2019. In 2012, Professor Garrell was appointed Rector of Ramon Llull University, where he went on to serve a second four-year term in (2016-2020) and a third two-year term (2020-2022). In 2015, he was appointed as a member of the Standing Committee of the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE), whom he also at the EUA Council and General Assembly from 2016 to 2019. Prior to his terms as rector, he held several leadership positions at Ramon Llull University, such as Secretary of the Research Commission (1998-2002), Delegate of the Rector for ICT (2000-2002), Vice-Rector for
Research and Innovation (2002- 2010), Secretary General (2006-2010) and Vice-Rector for University Policy (2010- 2012).
Professor Garrell holds a Doctorate in Electronic Engineering from Ramon Llull University. As a faculty member and researcher at Ramon Llull University (URL), he specialised in artificial intelligence and machine learning. He co-founded the Intelligent Systems Investigation Group at the university’s La Salle campus and conducted research at Carnegie’s Mellon University’s Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center.
Professor Garrell was formerly President of the Strategic Alliance of Catholic Universities (SACRU). From 2014 to 2018, he was a member of the Catalan Parliament’s Advisory Council on Science and Technology (CAPCIT), as the representative of Catalan private non-profit universities.
Important Dates
| Early bird registration deadline | September 7, 2025 |
| Registration and payment deadline | October 19, 2025 |
| Arrivals | November 4, 2025 |
| DELA 2025 | November 5-7, 2025 |
| Departures | Evening November 7 or November 8, 2025 |
Fees*
| Early Bird EDEN members | 400 eur |
| Early Bird non-members | 500 eur |
| Late EDEN members | 490 eur |
| Late non-members | 550 eur |
*The fee includes participation in 3 day hands-on seminar in Barcelona, access to training materials in Moodle, a participant goodies bag, 3 days coffee break and lunch catering, 1 dinner in the city with a cultural visit (most probably one of the Gaudi’s buildings).
The venue for EDEN Digital Education Academy has been purposefully chosen to be Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. The UOC was created in 1995 as the world’s first university with a virtual campus, which allowed its students to study at any time from any location. The University continually uses cutting-edge e-learning research and innovation to refine the UOC methodology. This is possible thanks to UOC R&I and its 50 plus research groups, as well as the eLearning Innovation Center, which drives educational innovation at the UOC. With more than 100,000 graduates, it is now one of the biggest universities in Spain.
EDEN Digital Education Leadership Academy will be organized in a modern UOC campus located in an ex-industrial creative and cultural Poblenou area allowing an easy reach to the Barcelona central attractions and a walking distance to the beach.
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, The U building Carrer del Perú, 52, 08018 Barcelona. See the location on Google Maps, in Room U1.1
Plan Your Stay in Barcelona
As Barcelona is such a travel destination hotels are not interested in prebooking rooms for participants. There are many different hotels and other types of accomodation around the venue. Therefore, we advise prebooking yourself a most convenient type of accomodation as soon as you plan your trip to DELA.
EDEN DELA Social Programme – November 6
18:00 Visit to Gaudi Casa Vicens and dinner in a restaurant
EDEN DELA participants are invited to experience one of Gaudi‘s masterpieces in Barcelona – Casa Vicens tour and a glass of bubbly Cava.
EDEN DELA 2024 Visit to Gaudi Casa Vicens
EDEN DELA 2023 Visit to Casa Milà from Gaudí
