Student recognition and alumni career journey event 2026

Celebrate the 2026 CIPD Tees Valley student of the year and gain insights from past award-winning alumni. Student awards celebration of achievement and panel of guests sharing their career journeys, expertise, knowledge and experience in the field of Human Resources and the world of work with students and branch members. This event will celebrate the ‘Student of the Year 2026’ awards in the CIPD Tees Valley area. It will also provide an opportunity to gain insights from previous award winners as this interactive panel shares their experience and learnings of their HR professional journey. Speakers bio: Melanie Irving is a Talent Engagement Partner at Opencast, a UK technology consultancy that has grown from around 200 to 800 people since she joined. During that growth, Melanie has progressed within the People function and now manages a team, working across recruitment, workforce planning, candidate experience and talent engagement. Having built a 15-year career in Recruitment & People, Melanie’s work focuses on creating positive candidate experiences, building fair and inclusive recruitment practices, and using data and agile HR to continuously improve hiring. She has a particular interest in career development and supporting people as they navigate their careers, and is looking forward to sharing her own career journey and experiences with students and early-career professionals. Clare Boden is Head of People Operations at Railpen and a former CIPD student award winner. Clare has built her career across a range of HR disciplines and now leads People Operations, playing a key role in shaping and delivering the organisation’s People strategy. Her role combines strategic leadership with responsibility for People operations, systems and services, alongside leading cross-functional projects and initiatives that drive transformation and continuous improvement across the wider People function. Clare is passionate about creating effective, forward-looking People services and is delighted to share her career journey and experiences with current CIPD students. Deborah Chesworth is a People-Operations Leader at Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies. She started her career in administration and progressed into HR and site support leadership, with hands-on experience across the employee lifecycle, HRIS, UKVI/Right-to-Work, payroll/benefits and onboarding. As winner of the 2016/17 CIPD Student of the Year award, she focuses on turning CIPD learning into measurable results—standardising processes, leading HRIS implementations, redesigning contractor and employee onboarding, and using data, KPIs and visual management to drive continuous improvement. She partners with HR, EHS, Engineering and Finance to enhance employee experience and build reliable, scalable services. Joining instructions Guest speakers Some events may include external speakers. Any views or opinions expressed are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CIPD. Joining instructions You'll receive your joining instructions again before the event, along with a reminder shortly before the session starts. Recording Some sessions may be recorded so that they can be shared with members who are unable to attend live. If a session is being recorded, we'll let you know at the start of the event. Accessibility and reasonable adjustments If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your participation, please contact us and we'll do our best to accommodate your needs.