CUBO Summer Conference 2025
I wanted to say once again a huge thanks to you and your
team at Northumbria for the seamless organisation and delivery of the CUBO
Conference. This event has been a long-time in the making and through all the
planning calls we’ve had it was wonderful to see the event come together so
wonderfully, with verbal feedback from members and partners being very
positive. From day 1, the organisation, warmth, and friendliness of your team
has been nothing short of brilliant – from the tour, to the conference/exhibition
space, the food, and the awards night, everything was well executed. Thank you
for all the support to the CUBO team, especially Sarah during these past few
days and being flexible and accommodation to any changes during these days.
Nysa Pradhanm, Executive Director, College and University
Business Officers (CUBO)
CSL 2025
Venue management & comms - Ailsa was our main point of
contact from Northumbria and she was amazing! Very detailed, great at
communicating changes and updates to us and very solution driven.
Onsite team - The team were so helpful, fast at getting
changes sorted and very proactive! Special thank you to Ailsa, Faye, Riannon,
Jonny and Phil.
Security - The security were great, clearly communicated how
the security will work on the day and adapted where needed. E.g. when it
started raining and queues were huge, they spoke with us first and then changed
how the queueing was working during the rain.
Venue and facilities - The breakout rooms and expo space
worked well.
Isobel Appleby, Project Manager, LiveGroup
Physiology in Focus 2024
For a conference size of 300 - 400 people, the CCE building
was ideal. It has plenty of options for breakout spaces and a great space on
the ground floor for exhibition and/or posters. Faye and her team were a
fantastic support throughout; dealing with any last minute changes/requests in
the run up to the conference and on the day they ensured they were well versed
in the schedule enabling to adapt to our needs as well as being efficient with any
support if any issues. With regards to the catering, the Masters Package was a
great option and some of the best conference food we have ever had! We would
like to thank the team for making it a fun and smooth experience for us.
Caitlin Oates, Event
and Marketing Manager, The Physiological Society
Researching War and Conflict through Ephemera
The service was brilliant from start to finish. I had two
meetings with event staff to discuss my ideas and requirements, one a few weeks
before the conference and one about ten days before the conference date. Event
staff (Rachael and Ailsa) were super knowledgeable and gave great advice,
catching things I had not considered such as providing a coat rack and secure
storage for luggage. Everything was taken care of, from the complicated
business of registration to tech support on the day, and I was able to really
focus on the event itself, not the technical and practical bits. On top of
this, the event team on the day (Ailsa, Riannon, Ruth, and the student helper
whose name unfortunately escapes me) couldn't have been lovelier - everyone was
so impressed, and the conference left all the attendees with a top impression
of Northumbria University.
Ann-Marie Einhaus, Associate Professor, Northumbria
University
BSA Sociology of Religion Conference 2024
We had a great time hosting the BSA SocRel Conference at
Northumbria. Faye and the team were so friendly and helpful, nothing was ever
too much for them. We are due to return in 2025 for another conference, and I
am already looking forward to it after a great experience this year.
Georgina Sailes, Events Officer, British Sociological
Society
Digital Civics Exchange 2024
Thank you so much to Ailsa Ingham [Conference and Events
Manager] and Jonny Hurrell [Catering & Hospitality Service] for their
excellent service and professional excellence. We all highly appreciated them.
I've been working with Jonny for many years and he & his great Team have
never failed our expectations. THANK YOU!
Tanya Vlasova, DCitizens Project Manager, Northumbria
University
BIOPOLE Annual Science Meeting, March 2023
It was pleasure liaising with Venues at Northumbria. The team is super helpful and friendly. They made us feel welcome and took the best care of us. Thank you very much for making our meeting at Northumbria a success!
Ruta Hamilton, Programme Support Officer, BAS
The National Youth Orchestra Summer School, July - August 2022
I wanted to
drop you all an email now that we have returned and recovered from our concert tour
to say an absolutely enormous thank you for everything over the last two weeks.
You all worked
tirelessly to make sure that we had everything that we needed. No job was
too big or too small for any of you and you were all happy to jump in to make
sure that our days ran smoothly, from helping to queue and serve musicians at
meal times, to finding extra rooms at short notice and looking into infinite
lighting and chair options for us. It was also really great to see how
often members of the staff were up in the balcony and having a listen.
It's so great for us and the musicians to see people interested and engaged in
what they are doing, so thank you for spreading the word and coming to listen
during rehearsal - I hope you enjoyed having us there for the 10 days.
The musicians
had an absolutely fantastic time. They were all comfortable and well
looked after in the university, with great food. The rehearsal rooms were
fantastic for us as well. This all lead to an immensely positive
experience that allowed the musicians to relax and focus on their music making.
Alfie Whitbread, Residency Manager, The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain
The National Women's Register Conference, September 2022
I just wanted to say a huge thank you from all of us to you and
the rest of your team, including the accommodation team. You were all
amazing and we could not have done it without your help and patience throughout
it all! A special thank you too, to the team in Domain who helped me to
get one of our members out the back way to her taxi after the dinner - it was
much appreciated! Please pass on our thanks to everyone involved.
Your constant support with the booking system was particularly
welcome and Sam and I are very grateful for your work on this.
The whole team pulled together to help make Newcastle 2022 a successful
conference.
Sam Bushell &
Sharon Gibson (NWR Membership Administration Team)
Schools North East: Northern Celebration of Education, 11 - 12 July 2019
Many
thanks for your personal support in the run up to the event and on the day
itself, it truly was an amazing day and we could not have made it such a
success without that support. Barry and the University staff were
outstanding in the run up to the event and on the day. The staff that
supported the set up on both mornings were amazing; nothing was too much
trouble. Please pass on my thanks to all of them and to your catering
team for the excellent BBQ.
The
feedback from delegates has been amazing, among the best, we have had for any event
to date, and none of this would have been possible without the support of you
and the University. All of the partners and programme steering group felt
that the event was a tremendous success, with just under 300 delegates
attending over the two days.
The
venue itself was perfect. Delegates, speakers and exhibitors all commented on
the outstanding facilities, and how different they were from the usual school
environments; giving delegates the space to relax, engage with each other and
the speakers, and truly celebrate the outstanding jobs that they do for
children across the region, which is exactly the feel we were aiming for.
Chris Zarraga MBA, Director of Operations &
Development, Schools North East
Blackboard Europe, Teaching & Learning Conference (TLC), 13 - 16 May 2019
Thank you for a fantastic event and for an even better
partnership. When we set out on this journey all those many months ago,
we all took a few gambles on each other. Although we are not at end of
job, I come away from this week feeling very happy with our decision to partner
with Northumbria and very confident about our future success.
You were right to call out your team as you have a fantastic
team. I spend a lot of time
travelling the world meeting with teams and so please don’t take this lightly,
you have pulled together a top notch team and as much as I will want to let the
Ultra product get credit for our future success, we all really know that we
will be successful in large part due to the fantastic teams we have working on
this project, both within Northumbria and Blackboard.
One of your objects at the onset of the journey was to become the
institution that your peers looked to for leadership and best practice.
The event this week certainly accomplished that objective.
I know we have a lot of work to do but thank you for your leadership,
the partnership to date and for being a great host.
Lee Blakemore, Chief Client Officer and President, Global Client
Operations & Success | Blackboard Inc.
I’m just writing to express my appreciation to you and your
amazing team for hosting us at Northumbria University this week. I have
mentioned in my closing remarks that this is my fifth TLC Europe and clearly
the best one so far largely to you and your team. We couldn’t have wished for a
better venue and your keynote presentation was spot on and set a tone for the
entire week. It clearly made many client think “Northumbria University set a
clear vision and were able to bring it to life, perhaps it’s time we do it
too”.
I was really impressed about the passion and energy in your
team, with this attitude sky is a limit. I am also grateful for letting
us being part of your journey and for a strong partnership that has been
cemented over the last couple of years. I know that it wouldn’t be possible
without having the right people on both sides.
Thanks again for amazing week, for your partnership and
looking forward to getting closer engaged with Northumbria University going
forward.
Oleg
Figlin, Vice
President Europe | Blackboard Inc.
What came
through was passion for the university, your students and your team. It was
really a powerful message.
Your wider
team are totally amazing – I was so impressed by their speaking and networking
and being ambassadors for Northumbria both to other clients and to my many Bb
colleagues. .
Finally and
most importantly to you as the host university from the executive right through
to academic colleagues who attended, the Norman team, the venue team and the
heart of the facilities team who fed us it was a superb experience and we have
all gone home with many ideas and impressed by Newcastle the city but
especially the Northumbria University team. Thank you.
Anne
Cross, Account
Executive, Blackboard
International
NewcastleGateshead Initiative (NGI) Annual General Meeting, 6 December 2018
Many thanks
from all the NGI Team including our Chair, John Marshall, for hosting our AGM
in the Great Hall last night. The room looked magnificent and the festive
decorations certainly helped to dispel the gloom of the wintry cold outside.
We’ve had great feedback from the event with many attendees commenting on the
magnificence of the setting!
The words of
welcome at the start of the meeting were also very well received, providing as
they did a glimpse of recent achievements and the ambition of the University.
Thanks also to
Rachel in the Events Team for working with us to organise the event – Anne and
Sarah L were very grateful for your help.
Sarah Stewart OBE, Chief Executive, NGI
International Glaucoma Association, 30 November 2018
I just wanted to say a huge thank you for your support in
organising our first North East conference. Unlike other venues who often
just provide a room and a buffet, you were on hand through the planning stages
and on the day to really make sure our event ran smoothly. All of the
university staff we encountered, from the IT support to the food and drink
servers were friendly and helpful and you all contributed to making our event
professional and welcoming.
The great hall looked beautiful, we all loved the
tree!
I hope to have future events at your venue.
Hannah Morrow, Development Manager for the North East of England
Trans Lives North East Conference, November 2018
I am really just reiterating
what everyone else has said, but genuinely the events team were brilliant and
a great support to me.
The event was a great success
and your team were instrumental in ensuring that happened.
Sharon Stewart, Organisational Development Manager
NICE Network Conference, June 2018

"Thank you for your contribution to a great success in the 28th NICE Network Annual Conference, hosted for the first time at Northumbria University. Over 50 delegates from international institutions spent a few days with us, including 3 triple-accredited business schools, 7 AACSB accredited/members and several in the Top 500 ranking.
Comments from the participants were overwhelmingly positive, with everyone made to feel welcome, a great tour of Northumberland, brilliant food and accommodation and worthwhile activities. It was a great performance by a university-wide team.
Thanks again to everyone who worked over 6 months to make it happen."
BASES Student Conference, April 2018
The 2018 British Association of Sports and Exercise Sciences (BASES) Conference attracted students and professional from all over the UK, with over 200 attendees, we received great feedback from many of the delegates:
‘Just
a quick email to say thank you for organising the conference. I thought it was
engaging, inspiring and it definitely gave me a better idea of what area of
sport and exercise science I want to specialise in’.
‘I just wanted to
say thank you for organising such a wonderful BASES conference - I had a great
experience’.
‘Having spent the last couple of days
reflecting upon it, I can honestly say it was the best experience of my three
years at university (and that's not detracting from the great time I have had
at university!). The opportunity to openly discuss my research idea with
fellow undergraduate students and more experienced researchers was extremely
useful going forward. In addition, I was inspired by each of the guest talks
and workshops, and will certainly use the advice I attained to shape my career
and "make it happen"’.
‘Just a quick email to say well done and thank you for
your efforts in the student conference. I thoroughly enjoyed the event, the
city and keynotes. The students were lucky to have such good practitioners on
site’.
‘Looks like the conference was a huge
success! I've enjoyed following it all on Twitter’.
‘Excellent job with the conference - I doff
my cap’.
‘Many congratulations to everyone in
the conference team for putting on an excellent show. The conference was
overflowing with happy delegates, the presentations were outstanding and highly
relevant to up-and-coming sport and exercise scientists, and the venues were
all excellent for purpose’.
‘I know that members of the BASES Board were
very impressed with what you achieved! Northumbria University, the Department
and all of you have much to be proud of’.
‘What a fantastic event. Thank you all very
much for contributing to the success of the conference feedback has been
outstanding and is reflection to the work gone in to the event organisation and
quality of the programme’.
‘Just a quick email to say a personal
thanks for all of the noticeable effort that you and your team made to make the
Student Conference run as smooth as it did. The opportunity to present my
findings and listen to inspirational keynote speakers has really given me the
last push I need to complete this dissertation and get excited about my future’.
University Forum for Human Resource Development (UFHRD) Conference, June 2018
We hosted an international conference on Human Resource Development in our City Campus East venue with over 200 guests utilising our various lecture theatres, classrooms and breakout space for their keynote addresses and parallel sessions.
“Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the conference and how well it all worked. Such a wonderful experience, such good memories.”
“Such a great event with a really lovely team of helpers. It’s just been so good from before the start to finish”
“It was so nice to see so many of the Northumbria staff team so actively involved, and your students too. Everyone has been so helpful, and everything has been so well thought through”
“This has to have been the best ever goodie bag that I’ve ever received. ‘It’s great!!’
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