AI is now embedded across the research lifecycle, but the pace of adoption is already running ahead of institutional readiness: 84% of R&D leaders report using AI, yet only 22% say they trust it. For research offices and academic leadership, that gap is quickly becoming a question of institutional credibility, not just workflow efficiency. Concurrently, research leaders are expected to set AI strategy while managing other priorities.

Join Dr. Nimmi Kannankutty (Elsevier) alongside research and academic leaders for a candid conversation about what it actually takes to lead through this inflection point: balancing research integrity, innovation and mounting academic pressures.

Bonus: Attendees who join the live event will be able to participate in a ThoughtExchange workshop to share and rank best practices from their peers.

Key Takeaways:

• What The Research Says: How higher ed feels about the research and innovation environment today from Elsevier’s Confidence in Research report
• Facing Today’s AI Challenges: Addressing where the real pressure points sit for academic leaders right now
• Leading with Confidence: Protecting research integrity and data while creating room for genuine innovation
• Real-world Stories: How higher ed leaders are setting AI strategies while managing funding uncertainty, governance gaps, and rising researcher expectations


Speakers:

Dr. Nimmi Kannankutty is Vice President for Academic Relations (North America) within Elsevier’s Global Strategic Networks team. Her goal is to foster strategic collaborations with academic leaders, policymakers, and their institutions to advance science, education, and research initiatives. This includes enhancing analytical capabilities, promoting innovative knowledge exchange, and demonstrating the broader impact of their work within the scientific, educational, and policy communities.

With over 30 years of experience in science policy, strategic planning, STEM education and labor markets, and R&D trends, Dr. Kannankutty joined Elsevier from the National Science Foundation (NSF), where she was the Director’s Senior Advisor for Strategy and Executive Liaison to the National Science Board. In this role, she played a key role in enhancing communication and collaboration across the agency and with U.S. national policy stakeholders. Her extensive background also includes executive leadership roles at NSF managing graduate education programs and investments and as a research director in the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. She has also held positions at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), where she contributed to shaping federal science and technology strategies.

Dr. Keith Webster is the Helen and Henry Posner Jr Dean of University Libraries at Carnegie Mellon University, where he also serves as Director of Emerging and Integrative Media Initiatives. Before joining CMU in 2013, he was a Vice President at global publisher Wiley, and previously, held leadership roles at The University of Queensland (Australia), Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand), HM Treasury, and SOAS University (UK). Keith sits on the board of global library tech organization OCLC and the Steering Committee of the Coalition for Networked Information, and was formerly Chair of NISO, the National Information Standards Organization.