A sustainable

academic life

A sustainable academic life is a small group coaching initiative that supports the leadership development of academics and research fellows.

Leadership development is a lifelong journey of raising self-awareness and becoming flexible and wiser in engaging with others.

This group is about bringing together a small group of academics, fellows and PIs and offering them structured reflection time about their own context.

These sessions are not workshops with a pre-defined theme. They are focused thinking spaces where participants bring their own current challenges and are supported in reframing the issues to explore ways forward.

Brings people who may come from different institutions, may be at slightly different stages in their academic progression, will have different goals, priorities and aspirations, but are experiencing similar structural and institutional challenges.

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“Sandrine is an empathetic listener. She supports reflection in the space and afterwards and sets clear goals based on what has been shared. She has a gift for bringing out the skills of other mentees to reflect and offer their experiences. The space always feels safe and supportive and one leaves feeling empowered with strategies and techniques to manage a way forward.”

Testimonial from a Professor who took part in the Group Coaching programme

This online support includes

An initial one-to-one meeting to get to know you and your current context

Monthly small group coaching sessions (2h) for 6 months

A one-to-one coaching session

Coaching follow-up notes with bite-size leadership resources (recorded content and coaching prompts) that address research leaders’ challenges. These bite-sized inputs aim to offer you new concepts/ ideas/ frameworks on leadership as you would explore in a workshop. They will support the reflection taking place in the group

How much does it cost?

The cost for joining this group coaching is £865 plus VAT

When does this run

Tuesdays- 11am- 1pm between February- July 2026

Tuesday 24th February

Tuesday 24th March

Tuesday 21st April

Tuesday 12th May

Tuesday 9th June

Tuesday 7th July

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What are the goals for this group coaching?

Create a monthly pause and reflective space to process some of your thinking

Get support in addressing difficult work situations/ goals/ decisions to be made by sharing with peers in a safe space

Gain new ideas and insights and learn from others by listening to their own experiences and how they deal with challenges

Remove the isolation experienced by academics and research group leaders who feel they have few people to turn to when facing difficulties

Foster your well-being by being open about challenges, finding alternatives and your own solutions

Booking on the programme

If you are interested in joining, please email sandrine@tesselledevelopment.com as soon as possible.

If you are interested but need more details about this, send me a line, and let’s have a chat.

Recruitment will close as soon as places are taken. Only 5 places available.

“Members of the group coaching have the willingness to explore alternatives when they feel stuck or are experiencing challenges. They support each other by creating a space where everyone feels listened to and by helping reframe challenges”

How does a small group coaching work?

The group will be formed of 5 participants. Each session is structured and focused.
When we start, each person will share a few things about what is going on for them at the moment. Then, everyone will decide what they want to think about during the session. I will look at the range of topics you all bring to the group, then decide which order we could address the topics. I check with everyone that the order works for all. Then, we proceed by giving each person a slot of 15-20 min to think aloud about their challenge. Each person talks through their challenge and is supported in their reflection by the coach and their peers.

Examples of topics that may be discussed in the group coaching

You bring your own challenges and this shapes our discussion.

You are starting your first large project as a PI and you want to explore how to deal with this new but exciting complexity

You have just become a Professor and you feel the weight of this new institutional responsibility, you want to explore what it will mean going forward

You want to write your next big grant, but you are unsure about who you want to bring in as collaborators

You are struggling to create boundaries to protect your writing time

You have been told that to get promoted, you need to have broader impact, but you are unsure how to approach this.

Your probation is around the corner, and there is still so much to achieve that it feels unreachable.

You are coming back from maternity leave and finding a new pattern of working is challenging.

You may be going on parental leave soon and you are unsure how to prepare your team for this period.

Your team has expanded quickly and you are losing track of what everyone is doing.

The period of grace with low teaching commitments at the start of your contract has come to an end and you are worried of how you are going to manage with an expanded teaching load.

You are one of the few new academics in your department and this feel really lonely.

One of your team members is messing up the group dynamic and this feels really exhausting to keep a positive spirit for the whole group.

You have got your first grant but recruiting good team members is proving challenging.

You want to have better boundaries between work and life.

Your head of department is challenging to interact with and you have been avoiding difficult conversations.

You have joined a new department, and you feel out of your depth, repeating to yourself that you should be there but not feeling it.

Your workload is unsustainable, and you know this needs to change, not to reach breaking point.

You are from a minority background and experiencing the brunt of structural inequalities and biases.

You have senior colleagues and mentors but not enough truthful and open interactions with peers.

Testimonials

Senior research fellow participant

Working with Sandrine and our coaching group has been invaluable to me this past year. Having space and time to think with supportive peers is so important in a busy academic role. Working in a small group setting online, Sandrine helped us, as a group of strangers. to set up a productive space where we felt able to share and help each other with day- to- day work problems and bigger career issues. The work Sandrine did to set up this space seemed effortless and our sessions have been a highlight in my working diary this year.

Academic who had received their first large grant as Principal Investigator

What made you decide to join the coaching group?

I was facing challenges in a leadership role for a large project, including constant demands and staff management.

What was valuable to you during this coaching intervention?

The way Sandrine proactively listens to the issues and provides practical solutions. Her coordination of the group dynamic and the opportunity to receive feedback from others were also very helpful. I liked the follow-up emails that Sandrine sent, which provided practical advice on my issues.

What is changing/ what has already changed for you as a result of the thinking you have done? What are you doing/ thinking differently?

I am becoming more of a listener with my team, encouraging them to come up with their own solutions to the problems we face. I have noticed that their approaches may not always align with how I would personally handle the issues, but I recognise that there is more than one way to reach a goal. Often, their suggestions end up being more effective than I expected. As a result, I can see the team becoming more proactive as a group.

What did the group dynamic bring to you?

I really enjoyed being part of this group! Everyone was so supportive, and it was great to see that others were dealing with similar challenges. Sharing our experiences together was helpful and made me feel connected.

Group member- newly appointed Professor who had changed institution

What made you decide to join the coaching group?

Following the initial invite via the university I had a one-one with Sandrine and her gentle, insightful and intuitive approach immediately felt comfortable to me – I felt immediately that I could trust her.

What was most important to you to work on during this coaching intervention?

Issues with confidence and experience of managing an extremely difficult project partner whom I am experiencing as manipulative and disruptive and damaging to the project and the team.

What aspects of the coaching programme particularly helped you?

Strategies for managing this situation – where I was feeling I had all the responsibility but little power.

What is changing/ what has already changed for you as a result of the thinking you have done? What are you doing/ thinking differently?

Feeling more confident and realizing, on reviewing the sessions where we have focused on this my own power and responsibility to the wider team to resolve this.