Digital Governance Unit

Last updated 7 October 2025

Effective digital services underpin everything we do as a University, from teaching and research to administration and student support. Today, these services are increasingly delivered by teams of specialists across the University, and the University is investing in cross-cutting strategic programmes through the Digital Transformation Programme.

To make sure these services are effective, coordinated, compliant, and secure, and we continue to innovate and evolve our approach appropriately in response to rapid developments in the digital landscape, it is important that clear and consistent approaches are adopted. Robust digital governance is key to making this happen and to maintaining our reputation as a leading global university. This forms the basis for the new Digital Governance Unit (DGU), which launched on Monday 29 September 2025.

What is the DGU?

The DGU is a new business function at the University of Oxford, based within UAS alongside IT Services, the People Department, Estates Services, and all other UAS departments, and supporting the wider University.

This new unit reports to Professor Anne Trefethen as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (PVC) Digital until the new Chief Digital and Information Officer (CDIO), David White, takes up his new role on 1 November 2025. The DGU and IT Services will both be part of the CDIO’s portfolio, with the CDIO joining the Vice-Chancellor's leadership team.

Organisational chart showing the structures of key roles that report to the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Digital), Anne Trefethen, who steps down on 31 Dec 2025. Her role is replaced by Chief Digital & Information Officer (CDIO), David White from 1 Nov 2025.

If you would like a copy of the organisation chart above in a different format, please contact dgu@digital.ox.ac.uk and we will be happy to help. The chart shows the key roles and teams that will report to the incoming Chief Digital & Information Officer (CDIO), including the senior management team within the DGU that will report to Stuart Lee and the teams in IT Services that will report to Mike Fraser.

Why do we need a function like the DGU?

The DGU has an important governance and coordination role across the University’s digital services and activity. Once fully established, it will play a key part in enabling the digital ambitions set out in the University’s draft Strategic Plan, so that we continue to evolve our culture, processes, and technology to meet the challenges and embrace the opportunities of the digital era.

The University’s Digital Governance Framework places responsibility for our digital investments into five digital portfolios (Research Portfolio, Education Portfolio, Administration Portfolio, Engagement & Dissemination Portfolio, and Technology Portfolio). The DGU is accountable to Information and Digital Committee (IDC), which oversees the allocation of block funding to the portfolio committees, based on business cases and the University’s strategic priorities.

The portfolio committees are responsible for prioritisation of their overall budgets, and the alignment of strategy and budgets with their user communities’ needs. The DGU will support the portfolios by providing consistent standards, processes and approaches to ensure that our investments deliver a coherent set of digital services that add value and meet business need.

Who leads the DGU?

The new department is led by Stuart Lee, Director of the DGU and Deputy Chief Digital & Information Officer (Deputy CDIO). Stuart reports to the Anne Trefethen, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Digital), until David White takes up the role of Chief Digital & Information Officer (CDIO), from 1 November 2025.

Digital Portfolio leadership

Education Portfolio

Committee Chair: Professor Freya Johnston, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education)
Portfolio Lead: Elaine Aitken
Portfolio Manager: Nick Perry

Research Portfolio

Committee Chair: Professor Patrick Grant, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research)
Portfolio Lead: Jolyon Harris
Portfolio Manager: Cristina Iturralde

Technology Portfolio

Committee Chair: Professor David De Roure
Portfolio Lead and Manager: Liz O’Farrell

Engagement & Dissemination

Committee Chair: Richard Ovenden
Portfolio Lead & Manager: James Mundey

Administration Portfolio

Committee Chair: Gill Aitken, Registrar
Portfolio Lead: Alex Bush
Portfolio Manager: Naomi Hood

What is the DGU responsible for?

The DGU will support, monitor, assure and innovate. It will:

Embed Oxford’s digital governance framework, and coordinate activity across the five digital portfolios, so that investments are aligned with Oxford’s strategic priorities. This will include ensuring that cross-portfolio dependencies are identified on a timely basis and actively managed
Enable the shift to a more agile, continuous improvement approach to service delivery which keeps end-users at the heart of digital services
Nurture Oxford’s digital culture, through partnership and collaboration. This will include supporting the implementation of recommendations from the Strategic Review of Professional Services, and helping to deliver shared infrastructure services within the University
Ensure appropriate architecture and standards to support the coherent, secure solution design of digital services.

The new unit aims to reduce the burden of change on departments and divisions. It will be key to ensuring integrated planning and engagement around new technologies and developments that impact multiple digital portfolios, working closely with Portfolio Leads/Managers. It will also actively manage risk and ensure that structures are in place for stakeholders to be appropriately consulted and informed.

What does the DGU do?

Here is a visual summary of the new unit’s four key pillars of activity, which are:

Process, guidance and assurance, and governance
Architectural design authority
Digital transformation and change
Strategic partner and vendor management.

Diagram with the words Digital Governance Unit in the centre, surrounded by a doughnut shape made up of four different-coloured jigsaw pieces, each showing one of the four key pillars of activity for the DGU in text.

In the first phase of its development, the DGU is focusing on:

Active coordination of cross-portfolio dependencies and risk management
Ensuring that process guidance, assurance, and governance are proportionate and fit for purpose, and simplifying where possible
Advancing our Enterprise Architecture (EA), User Experience (UX), and Security by Design (SbD)
Ensuring effective strategic partner and vendor management
Supporting digital transformation and driving change towards a service and product mindset
Supporting the implementation of recommendations from the Strategic Review of Professional Services.

Will the DGU support the development of digital skills?

As part of its role in supporting the University to shape and embed a digital working culture that is relevant, adaptable and sustainable, the DGU will provide oversight of the training and development offer available to staff. Blaine Roissetter, currently Head of Digital Capabilities in IT Services, will be seconded to the DGU to work closely with key stakeholders and existing training providers, to develop this work.

The initial phase of Blaine's secondment will focus on divisional and UAS priorities for digital literacy, which are likely to include supporting the effective provision of Generative AI tools and the implementation of recommendations from the Strategic Review of Professional Services, and identifying opportunities to embed automation and process improvement.

How has the DGU been resourced? Has UAS expanded to accommodate the new unit?

No new staff have been recruited. Teams now in the DGU already existed within other areas, mainly as part of the Digital Transformation programme and IT Services, but their scope and focus has been realigned to the new unit’s objectives. Briefing and discussion sessions were held with all staff moving to the new unit over the summer, and team heads and administrative colleagues were closely involved in putting the new unit in place.

The teams within the DGU are:

Digital Assurance (led by Ian Teasdale)
Digital Architecture and Innovation (led by Dave Smith)
Digital Transformation Programme (led by Lou Carson)
CRM Programme (Halo), during its formative stages (led by Natasha Heaton)
Strategic Digital Partnerships (led by Mark Bramwell, CDIO at the Saïd Business School, who is seconded 0.1 FTE to the DGU).

What is happening in those parts of IT Services that have not moved to the DGU?

Following the formation of the DGU on 29 September, four large teams remain in IT Services. These are:

Customer Services
Software Solutions
Infrastructure Services
Programme and Project Delivery Group (PPDG).

Mike Fraser is the new Interim Director of IT Services, reporting to the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Digital), until David White takes up the role of CDIO on 1 November 2025.

IT Services and the DGU are both supported in the new structure by the existing administration function within IT Services, referred to as the Office of the CDIO (OCDIO). As a shared service, the OCDIO reports to Stuart Lee, in his capacity as Deputy CDIO.

Is the DGU a support function or a control function?

The DGU is both a support and a control function, working on behalf of the collegiate University. It has delegated authority from the IDC (Information and Digital Committee) to control and influence how the digital portfolios achieve their outcomes based on agreed standards and principles for the design and delivery of digital services. It will also provide support to the digital portfolios to help them realise the University’s strategic digital ambitions.

It aims to:

Support and enable;
Monitor and evaluate;
Assure; and
Innovate.

How will the Digital Assurance Team in the DGU work with the Assurance Directorate?

The Director of Digital Assurance in the DGU, Ian Teasdale, now reports to the Director of the DGU. Ian will also have a professional reporting line through to the University’s Director of Assurance. Ian has previously worked closely with colleagues in the Assurance Directorate, such as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and the Head of Information Compliance & Data Protection Officer, and will continue to do so.