Professor of Human Resource Development, Glasgow Caledonian University

Rona S Beattie is Professor of Human Resource Development (HRD) in the Department of Business Management, Glasgow School for Business and Society, Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland.

Rona has published widely in HRM, HRD and public management journals and book, presented many papers at international conferences and is a member of a number of journal editorial boards. Her teaching and research interests are diverse including healthcare management, employee engagement, voluntary sector leadership, coaching, mentoring, the role of line managers as facilitators of workplace learning, HRM in public service organizations (working with colleagues from Australia, Italy, Greece, Romania, France etc) and People Security (working with colleagues from the USA). Rona is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (FCIPD), a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and a member of the University Forum for Human Resource Development (UFHRD).  She is a member of the CIPD’s Policy Forum and Research Ethics Committee.  In her free time Rona serves on the board of the Scottish Hockey Union.

Prior to entering Higher Education Rona worked in local government firstly as a Careers Officer in Education, and then as a Training Officer in HRM at HQ.

Head of Regional Policy and Insights, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)​

After a varied career from driving trains through roles as an academic and strategically advising unions, Dr McGurk joined CIPD in 2007.  Starting in Research and Policy as skills and learning adviser, he progressed to lead CIPD’s research on learning and talent development delivering a wide range of research from E learning to analytics, innovation and pioneered CIPD work on behavioural science.  Appointed Head of CIPD Scotland in October 2013, he  has been at the forefront of developing CIPD’s approach to the labour market – and  collaborations with business, government, the education sector, trade unions and other professional bodies.  He is now Head of Regional Policy and Insights and supports devolved countries and the North of England on labour market and policy issues working alongside our Regional Heads to bring CIPD’s policy, insight and professional offer to our members and stakeholders. 

Associate, Headtorch

After graduating from University in 1986 with an Honours degree in Psychology I joined Strathclyde Police, I retired in 2017 as Divisional Commander of Forth Valley Division.

An eclectic career allowed me to gain experience in a mixture of uniform and specialist posts including Counter Terrorism.

I completed an Msc in Forensic and Legal Psychology while a serving officer.   

I was a Police Crisis and Hostage Negotiator for 16 year and a member of the directing staff on a number of negotiator training courses. I was a member of the UK’S International Negotiating Cadre for several years supporting HMG in the management of a number of international hostage situations.

I also operated as a Force Mediator, Trauma Incident Manager and Post Incident Manger during my Police Service gaining significant experience in crisis management. 

My experience in crisis management and the success of Police Negotiators in saving life through the use of active listening skills, rapport, empathy encouraged me to look at the wider use such skills may have in producing a positive working environment, improving performance  and reducing absence.

Working with Headtorch has allowed me to continue the journey of encouraging positive attitudes to mental health in the work place.             

Councillor, Falkirk Council

First elected in 2016 as a Councillor for Falkirk South at the age of 60.

Lorna also works in Government and has done so for 40 years though secured career breaks in employment. These breaks were caring for family and supporting partner with his career by accompanying him whilst working abroad.

Previous member of the STUC Women’s Committee and  has spoken out on many occasions on issues relating to women.

Been part of a National Equality Group and passionately believes in Social Justice, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

Loves campaigning and fighting injustice and the last 3 years supporting a Local Group of Waspi women – empowering women in the community.

Grandma, Mother, Sister, Aunt, Friend, Colleague, Councillor and disruptive Woman. 

Enterprise Sales Manager, CoreHR

Leigh is CoreHR's Enterprise Sales Expert for the Public Sector. He has been working in the industry for over 10 years and is passionate about using smarter HR technology to increase efficiency, empower employees, improve culture and ultimately help businesses achieve their organisational goals.

Public Sector Manager, Edenred

With a background in Training and Account Management, John joined Edenred over 10 years ago. Since then he has worked extensively with both Private and Public Sector Clients, to develop and implement Reward and Recognition strategies, designed to Engage, Motivate and Retain staff.

As Edenred’s Public Sector Manger, specialising in Frameworks,  John has worked closely with Major Government Departments, NHS Trusts, Councils and Universities to deliver the type of Benefit Programmes previously only available to the Private Sector.