EdTech

So thank you all for being here. So thank you all for being here. Welcome to those of you who are in the room. We've got an almost full house, Jen. 0:12 So that's wonderful that you have so much support, as well as we have people online joining us. 0:17 So thank you all for being here. I'm Professor Carol Campbell. I'm head of Moray House 0:23 School of Education and Sport. So I'm absolutely delighted to welcome you all. 0:29 For those of you who are guests visiting us at the university for the first time, welcome to the University of Edinburgh, 0:36 and we're in the Edinburgh Futures Institute, where Jen and team are based. 0:41 And it's my absolute delight to welcome you to Professor Jen Ross's inaugural lecture 0:48 in her honour and in your honour. An inaugural lecture is a very special event. 0:55 Being promoted to a full professorship is a significant achievement in an academic career, 1:01 and then one that involves considerable expertise, dedication, and damn hard work. 1:08 So as we're about to hear, Dr. Ross or Professor Ross has capably 1:13 demonstrated all of these her very well deserved promotion. 1:19 As Head of school, I'm tremendously proud of Jen and her contribution 1:26 to our school and to the university. And you're going to hear more about that tonight. 1:32 As a fellow Canadian, and I know you can probably tell that from my accent, 1:37 dual citizen, I'm also delighted that we have guests from North America and 1:43 Jen's family here to join us as well. So we'll have a good Canadian North American Scottish celebration 1:50 tonight in honour of you, Professor Ross. And for your titled lecture, 1:55 What does it take to make new digital futures for education? So before we begin, 2:02 I want to remind you that we're not expecting any fire alarms tonight. So if we do hear a fire alarm, 2:09 it's time to evacuate the building, and we will guide you out to a place of safety. But let's hope that does not happen. 2:15 There's obviously washrooms outside, and there's refreshments, and there will be time to 2:21 socialise after Jen's lecture tonight. And now for the 2:26 formal introduction, and yes, Jen, I am going to read every single word of it you deserve it. 2:33 Professor Ross was born and grew up in Ontario, Canada. 2:38 She holds a first degree in humanities with literature from the open university and a PhD 2:45 in education from the University of Edinburgh. Professor Ross was a researcher and 2:51 associate lecturer at the University of Edinburgh from 2006, while undertaking her PhD. 2:57 She was promoted to lecturer in 2012, becoming a senior lecturer in 2016 and 3:04 Chair of Digital Culture and Education Futures in 2024, and congratulations. 3:10 She has been Co Director of the Centre for Research and Digital Education since its launch in 2015, 3:16 and I see many colleagues here tonight. And Jen leads the Cultures and Futures team. 3:23 She has held research leadership roles in cultural Heritage and co leading the Cultural Heritage theme 3:29 in the College and the Digital Cultural Heritage Cluster in the Edinburgh Futures Institute. 3:35 She has served as director of two master's programmes, the MSC in Digital Education, 3:41 and the MSC in Education Futures, which she had a lead role in designing and co developing. 3:48 Since 2024, she has been wait, did I get this right? The College of Arts, 3:54 Humanities and Social Sciences Associate Dean of Research cultures. And she was previously the 4:00 Deputy Director of Research at Moray House School of Education and Sport. 4:05 These roles indicate the breadth of Jen's expertise and interests, her commitment to teaching, to research, 4:13 and to leadership capacity, and to make