Advisory

Programme decisions that
outlast the current tools.

Curriculum review, quality assurance, and AI-adoption strategy for film schools, universities, and production companies. Grounded in programme leadership across three UK institutions and a doctoral research programme on film education reform.

The situation

Most AI policy is being written under pressure

Institutions are being asked to take positions on generative tools faster than the evidence allows, usually by people with something to sell. The result tends to be either a blanket prohibition that students route around, or an enthusiasm that quietly erodes the thing the degree was for.

Neither is a strategy. A workable position has to survive contact with an assessment board, an external examiner, and a cohort that is already using the tools.

What we bring

Inside knowledge of the machinery

Programme leadership through significant curriculum review, QAA compliance, external examiner relations, assessment board governance, and the REF context for practice-based outputs. This is not consultancy from outside the sector.

It is also informed by running the tools in question in live modules, which is a different kind of evidence from a vendor briefing.

Engagement models

Four ways this usually starts

Scoped to the institution. Where an engagement would duplicate something you already have, we will say so rather than sell it.

Position

An AI position your validators will accept

For programme teams that need a defensible institutional stance. Covers what is permitted, what must be disclosed, how it is assessed, and what happens when a student exceeds the line.

  • Written policy, drafted for validation and assessment boards
  • Disclosure and academic-integrity language that survives an appeal
  • Staff briefing so the position is applied consistently
Typical length
4–8 weeks
Fee
On enquiry

Review

Curriculum and portfolio review

For institutions entering revalidation or restructuring a film portfolio. Where the design logic has drifted, where assessment cannot see development, and where industry relevance has become decorative.

  • Programme-level mapping across levels, not module-by-module tinkering
  • Assessment architecture that can evidence longitudinal development
  • Written report with prioritised recommendations
Typical length
One term
Fee
On enquiry

Capability

Staff development and capability building

For departments where the gap is confidence rather than policy. Supporting academic staff to develop practice, sustain research, and teach these tools without either overclaiming or refusing to engage.

  • CPD programme designed around the department’s actual teaching
  • Builds internal capacity rather than a dependency
  • Can be paired with certified tool training
Typical length
One to three terms
Fee
On enquiry

Production

Workflow assessment for production companies

For companies deciding where these tools genuinely belong in a pipeline. Particularly relevant to documentary, where the relationship between footage and truth is not negotiable.

  • Department-by-department assessment against the 4Ds
  • Disclosure practice for broadcasters and commissioners
  • Written ethics position for factual and documentary work
Typical length
2–6 weeks
Fee
On enquiry

Areas of work

Where the experience sits

Curriculum design

Building programmes that are epistemically coherent as well as industrially relevant — making the design logic visible: what is learned, how it connects, what it prepares students to do.

Quality assurance

QAA frameworks, periodic review, assessment board governance, external examiner relations, and programme approval. Treated as an opportunity for strategic development rather than compliance overhead.

Staff development

Supporting academic staff to develop practice, sustain research, and contribute to the institutional mission. Building teams that are intellectually alive and pedagogically confident.

Industry partnership

Relationships that go beyond guest lectures and live briefs to shape how programmes are structured, assessed, and positioned in the graduate market.

Start with the problem, not the package.

Tell us what is actually going wrong. Scoping conversations are free, and if the honest answer is that you do not need us, that is what you will hear.

Start a conversation