TRAC Practitioners Conference 2025
The TRAC Practitioners Conference will be taking place on-line this year from 1pm Tuesday 23rd – 1pm Wednesday 24th September.
As usual, the conference will include a mixture of plenary and breakout sessions and give delegates a thorough overview on the work of the TDG, their activities and of course the latest guidance on TRAC.
The conference will provide valuable insights into TRAC whether you are just beginning your TRAC journey or have been involved for a number of years.
Price: Tickets cost £95 (plus VAT).
For any initial queries, please contact Rachel.
This year we will be hosting a ‘TRAC for Beginners’ session on Tuesday 16th September 10am-12.30pm as part of the conference. This is an optional session and will be particularly valuable for those attending the TRAC Practitioners Conference for the first time. The session will cover off the key principles and ways of working with TRAC in Higher Education and will be interactive, allowing discussion with the facilitator and other attendees (more details below). If you attend this session, a separate MS Teams invite will be sent nearer to the time. Please add a placeholder in your diary in the interim. To book your place on the TRAC for Beginners session, please tick the appropriate box once you have clicked on the Book Now button.
Synopsis of pre-conference session (Tuesday 16th September 10am-12.30pm via MS Teams)
TRAC for Beginners
Catherine Jones and Olivia Grainger from the TRAC Support Unit will walk through the basics of TRAC. This session is aimed at those who are new to TRAC. The session will cover a quick look at the TRAC return, what needs to be considered when planning how to meet the deadline, understanding the different data sets required in the TRAC model, an overview of the governance process and a look at Research Facilities and Research Technicians.
This session will be held prior to the conference to allow individuals time to become familiar with the terminology used in TRAC, in order to get more value from the conference.
Conference - Outline Programme
Tuesday Afternoon
| Time | Session | Speaker |
| 13:15-13:25 | Welcome - TDG Chair | Jackie Labbe |
| 13:25-13:30 | Welcome - BUFDG | Rachel Ward |
| 13:30-14:10 | Keynote Speaker | Professor Shitji Kapur |
| 14:10-15:15 | Guidance Updates | Andrew Bush |
| 15:15-15:30 | Break | |
| 15:30-16:40 | Breakout Sessions | |
| Breakout 1 - FLIP IT Thinking – a Tool for Resilience | Laura Drury (Laughology) | |
| Breakout 2 - Overview of TRAC | Andrew Bush & Olivia Grainger | |
| Breakout 3 - UKRI and FAP | Andrew Dicken & Nicola Coates | |
| Breakout 4 - Journey from TAS to WLP | Paul Sloan, Peter Njoroge & Sarah Randall-Paley | |
| 16:40 -16.45 | Break | |
| 16:45-17:00 | Feedback from Breakout Sessions |
Wednesday Morning
| Time | Session | Speaker |
| 09:20-09:30 | Welcome - TDG Chair | Jackie Labbe |
| 09:30-10:30 | TRAC – looking forwards | Andrew Bush, Peter Kearvell-White & the OfS |
| 10:30-11:40 | Breakout Sessions | |
| Breakout 5 - FLIP IT Thinking – a Tool for Resilience | Laura Drury, Laughology | |
| Breakout 6 - UKRI and FAP | Andrew Dicken & Peter Kearvell- White | |
| Breakout 7 - Changes to MSI | Andrew Bush, Olivia Grainger, Paul Sloan & Helen Soteriou | |
| Breakout 8 - Space Weightings | Graham Willard & George Opoku-Gymiah | |
| 11:40-11:50 | Break | |
| 11:50-12:00 | Feedback from Breakout Sessions | |
| 12:00-13:00 | TDG / RFG panel | Jackie Labbe, Andrew Dicken, Andrew Bush & Others tbc |
Synopses of TRAC conference sessions
Update on TRAC guidance – Andrew Bush from the TRAC Support Unit will take you through the changes to the TRAC guidance which was published in August 2025.
Resilience – Laura Drury from Laughology will introduce FLIP IT Thinking – a Tool for Resilience. The FLIP it model enables people to be more optimistic, adaptable and flexible in their thinking and is based on science. Using this cognitive technique also helps shift mindset, helping people adopt a more growth mindset and be. This interactive, fun and informative session shares information that helps individuals think and feel better in the moment and in the future. F.L.I.P is broken down with an activities that brings the content to life. Time is built in for table discussions to help people talk through and recognise how they can use it in their own life and work.
Overview of TRAC – Andrew Bush assisted by Olivia Grainger from the TARC Support Unit will be providing an overview of TRAC including how the numbers in the financial statements are included in the TRAC return. They will also look at the governance of TRAC and how materiality should be applied. This session may be of particular interest to those who are new to TRAC or those who have an overview of TRAC within their institution.
UKRI and FAP – Andrew Dicken from UKRI will explain the process of a Financial Assurance Programme (FAP) visit, and how to prepare if your institution is selected for a visit. Andrew will also highlight common mistakes identified in previous visits.
TAS to WLP – Peter Njoroge from the University of Salford and Paul Sloan from Canterbury Christ Church University are going to talk through their experiences of moving from TAS to WLP or in the case of the University of Salford, upgrading their WLP system.
Changes to MSI – Andrew Bush and Olivia Grainger from the TRAC Support Unit will be going through the changes to the MSI and will be joined by Paul Sloan from Canterbury Christ Church University and Helen Soteriou from Kingston University to give a practitioners view of the changes.
Space weightings – Graham Willard from UCL and George Opoku-Gyimah from KCL will share how their institutions handle space weightings.
Tagged : Management Accounting, TRAC, Events
Type : Conference
