Mairéad Pratschke is Professor and Chair in Digital Education at the University of Manchester, UK. She has been working in digital learning for 25 years, as a lecturer, researcher, designer, director and consultant. She holds a Ph.D. in History from McMaster University in Canada and an M.A. in European Studies from K.U. Leuven in Belgium. She began creating online courses over twenty years ago and her career has straddled the worlds of higher education, education technology and start-ups. Irish-born, she has worked in Canada, the USA, Belgium and Spain, in multiple languages and sectors, on digital programmes in the arts, humanities, social sciences, sports and business. She led the Faculty of Humanities working group on AI and Assessment and sits on the University's AI Strategy committee.