Immersive learning specialist Kris Bickell joins our returning judges for 2027, bringing experience across healthcare simulation, higher education, and digital training
Kris Bickell, Senior Simulation Learning Consultant at Yale New Haven Health, joins the ETIH Innovation Awards 2027 judging panel.
Following the success of the inaugural ETIH Innovation Awards in 2026, we’re bringing together our returning judges and new panel members to recognize the next wave of education technology innovation. We’re delighted to welcome Kris Bickell, Senior Simulation Learning Consultant at Yale New Haven Health, to the 2027 judging panel.
The first ETIH Innovation Awards attracted more than 140 entries, bringing together global technology companies, education institutions, emerging EdTech businesses, and projects from across international markets.
Our inaugural judges brought exceptional experience and commitment to assessing those entries, drawing on backgrounds across classroom teaching, education leadership, AI, technology, and workforce development.
We’re pleased to be working with them again for 2027. Al Kingsley MBE, Catherine Buckler, Emma Cate Thompson, Jack Dowling, Kate Owbridge, Neil Almond, Richard Govada Joshua, Saira Khan, Scott Thompson, and Tina Austin are returning to the panel.
Alongside them, new judges will bring additional expertise as the awards enter their second year. Bickell joins with a career spanning online education, immersive technology, and professional learning.
Judge profile
Kris Bickell is a Senior Simulation Learning Consultant at Yale New Haven Health in Connecticut, USA, where he promotes and supports the use of virtual reality and other emerging technologies in healthcare simulations.
His experience includes developing digital learning programs and helping faculty and students use virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and artificial intelligence in their learning experiences.
Before joining Yale New Haven Health, Bickell served as Director of Education at the International Society for Clinical Densitometry. He oversaw learning operations, including live and on-demand courses, continuing medical education accreditation, faculty selection, and the organization’s learning management system.
At Central Connecticut State University, he led the launch of a campus extended reality lab, dedicated to immersive technologies, and developed training to help faculty and students use these tools in teaching and learning.
His earlier work includes serving as Lifelong Learning Manager at ARRL, the National Association for Amateur Radio. There, he led the development of a new online learning center and oversaw educational activities, including its Learning Network webinar program and Teachers Institute.
Bickell also spent 16 years as Director of Online Learning at the University of Bridgeport, leading digital learning operations, guiding academic technology strategy and support, and managing departmental staff and budgets.
He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut and a master’s degree from the University of New Hampshire.
His combination of technology implementation, educator training, and learning program leadership brings a practical perspective to the panel, grounded in helping people use new tools across different educational and professional settings.
Enter the ETIH Innovation Awards 2027
The ETIH Innovation Awards 2027 are open for entries worldwide, with 26 categories spanning schools, higher education, AI, digital learning, inclusion, education operations, and skills and workforce.
Sponsored by Thesis SM, Bett UK and RTIH, celebrate excellence in global education technology, with a particular focus on workforce development, AI integration, and innovative learning solutions across all stages of education.
Entries are submitted through our dedicated online platform, where applicants can review the category criteria, prepare their submissions, and save drafts before entering.
The final entry deadline is Friday, February 26, 2027, at 23:59 UK time. Finalists will be announced on Monday, March 8, with winners revealed online on Monday, April 12.
Explore the categories and enter the ETIH Innovation Awards 2027 to put your work before our expert judging panel.
