What is the WIAN?
The Welsh Integrity and Assessment Network (WIAN) – funded by Medr – is a Wales-wide collaborative network of academic and quality assurance professionals focused on academic integrity in Wales, inclusive assessment practices, and tackling academic misconduct across the Welsh tertiary education sector.
In August 2021, Wales became the first UK nation to fully commit to the QAA Academic Integrity Charter. The WIAN was established the following month, with funding from HEFCW, to build on this commitment. The Network continues to be supported by Medr, enabling ongoing collaboration on assessment and academic integrity across Welsh universities and colleges.
Why is the WIAN's work important?
The rise of Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) in education, along with growing debate about student wellbeing and the ethical implications of assessment—particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic—has placed integrity and assessment practices under renewed scrutiny.
Supported by Medr, the WIAN brings providers together to explore these complex issues and identify approaches that work for both students and institutions across tertiary education in Wales.
Who leads the WIAN?
The Network is chaired by Professor Michael Draper (Swansea University) and Dr Mike Reddy (University of South Wales), who also serve on the UK Academic Integrity Advisory Group.
Who can join the WIAN?
The WIAN is open to all tertiary education providers in Wales. Currently, 16 providers —colleges and universities alike—are involved, alongside representatives from NUS Wales and QAA.
How can I find out more?
To learn more, contact Richard Buckley, Quality Assurance and Enhancement Specialist (Wales and Northern Ireland), at r.buckley@qaa.ac.uk.
Alternatively, use our shared inbox: nations@qaa.ac.uk.
Academic Integrity Symposium events
WIAN Symposium 2025
On 4 June 2025, the WIAN hosted its third annual Symposium, funded by Medr.
The event opened with a keynote by Professor Phil Newton, Director of Learning and Teaching at Swansea University Medical School, who made the case for abandoning unsupervised online exams as a method of assessment.
Other sessions explored key issues including:
- The specific implications of Generative AI for Welsh-medium studies
- Practical classroom strategies to maintain academic integrity in the age of Gen AI
- Institutional responses from one Welsh university to the challenges posed by Gen AI
- A recent investigation into the ethical use of Gen AI as a feedback tool
- Questions of compassion and choice in assessment design
The day concluded with reflections on the need to stress-test assessment practices in light of the urgent challenges posed by AI in tertiary education and the growing call for compassion. Participants agreed that the sector must be prepared to radically rethink integrity and assessment practices.
Many thanks to Medr for funding the event, to our excellent speakers, and to all participants for their thoughtful and lively contributions.
The presentations included:
WIAN Symposium 2024
On 6 June 2024, the WIAN hosted the second academic integrity symposium. The event featured seven presentations focusing on supporting staff, students, and learners across the tertiary education sector to understand and share practice related to current key challenges in academic integrity and assessment.
The presentations included:
- Presentation: Understanding personal responsibility around Generative AI use for academia
Dr Zeenath Khan, University of Wollongong in Duba - Presentation: Teaching ethical and inclusive approaches to student use of AI
Professor Mary Davis and Zohreh Pourmousa, Oxford Brookes University - Presentation: Early Conceptualisations of an Academic Integrity Game
Natalie Forde-Leaves, University of South Wales - Presentation: Learner orchestrated self-generated feedback
James Wood, Bangor University - Presentation: Errors by design
Pete Dunford, Bridgend College - Presentation: The applications and implications of GenAI for assessments and curricula
Dr Athanasios Hassoulas, Cardiff University
WIAN Symposium 2023
On 9 June 2023, the WIAN hosted an online academic integrity symposium grounded in the themes of the Network. The event included six workshops/presentations from across Wales and England, and a panel focused on looking ahead to the future.
The presentations, workshops and panel discussions included:
- Academic integrity at the Open University: Responding to a growing challenge | Richard Marsden & Emma Worth, The Open University
- A distributed approach to AI (artificial intelligence) and academic integrity | Neil Pickles, Amy Rattenbury, Daniel Knox & Cerys Alonso, Wrexham University
- Clarify: A meta tool for detecting unorthodox edits in MS Office document metadata | Clare Johnson & Mike Reddy, University of South Wales
- Artificial intelligence, assessment, and academic integrity: Working with students as co-designers | Jack Medlin, Keele University Students’ Union
- Silencing the chat: Developing institutional guidance for the use of large language model artificial (dumb) intelligence | Michael Draper, Swansea University
- Unlocking academic integrity research using simulations, AI assistance and ChatGPT | Thomas Lancaster, Imperial College London
- Panel discussion: Looking ahead to future challenges and opportunities for assessment and academic integrity | Mike Reddy, University of South Wales, Eve Alcock, QAA, James Wood, Bangor University, Steven Kehoe, Grŵp Llandrillo
Menai & Kate Gilliver, Cardiff University.