Kate Moss appointed North Wales and North West Network Coordinator

Kate Moss has been appointed the new Network Coordinator for the North Wales and North West Region. We asked Kate to share a little bit about herself.

Kate’s background

Like many University Administrators, my first contact with HE was as an undergraduate – in my case Law at Reading, graduating in 2000. On completion of my degree, I moved up north to re-join my parents and to undertake part time postgrad studies at UCLAN. Not long after completing these (again in Law!), I deliberately decided to pursue administration as a career and initially worked within the County Council. I crossed Preston’s railway tracks from County Hall to UCLAN in June 2005 and began my University admin experience at that point. Officially, my substantive post is still the same as back then, but I recently calculated that by virtue of two periods of maternity leave and several secondments, it’s now almost ten years since I completed more than 9 consecutive months full time in my official role!

I’ve been a member of the AUA since 2008 and an AUA Advocate at UCLAN since 2010. As an Advocate it is fantastic to be a part of the North Wales and North West Regional Network, and it was and honour to be part of the teams that won the AUA Network Team Award in both 2017 and 2019. To be given the opportunity to lead this network over the next 3 years is an exciting, if not slightly daunting opportunity.

Network developments

Whilst both of my Network Co-ordinator predecessors have steered the region to an AUA Networks Team Award during their tenure, I’m trying not to feel the pressure of this legacy! I am keen to ensure that the good practices and resources we’ve already developed across the network are built upon and enhanced, as well as taking on some of the new initiatives that we’ve already begun to explore.

We’ve got a really strong group of Advocates in the network and I am pleased that they will continue to work together with me to pioneer initiatives in the region. I am aware that there are some institutions that are not currently represented in the group, so am looking forward to ensuring that all regional members are included and represented in taking the network forward. As a network team we’ll also continue to organise our regional conference, which is a cornerstone of our network activity, and we look forward to the opportunity and challenge of preparing to deliver this in a socially distanced environment.

There’ll definitely be some focus placed on growing the network’s membership numbers and supporting networking and collaboration opportunities across the region. I’m really proud that the region have already been meeting virtually long before we’ve all been forced into doing everything in this way, so am confident that not only can we share our experiences of this with other networks, but we can expand and explore new opportunities as we all develop new ways of communicating and collaborating with each other, supporting and developing ourselves and our colleagues.

I am especially thrilled to be taking on this challenge at what is an exceptionally uncertain time, and I am especially excited about seeing what real benefits the opportunities presented by these circumstances can bring to development and networking across the AUA.

If you’ve got any ideas, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!