The Research Leader Collective
The Research Leader Collective is a monthly online gathering of Research Fellows, Principal Investigators and Lecturers who are daring enough to want to have conversations about their research leadership journey.
They aim to become research leaders of the future, and are committed to designing supportive research environments and a thriving research culture.
Themed monthly gatherings
Webinars and discussions
Sessions where we bust challenges
Individual coaching sessions
Collective accountability
There are many challenges to becoming a research leader…
Overload in your transition journey
Shifting from working as a Postdoc to establishing yourself as a successful Research Fellow, Principal Investigator or Lecturer is something you did not expect to be so difficult.
Isolation and vulnerability
In starting your new(ish) role as a research leader, you are suddenly unsure where to turn for help and you worry about discussing challenges with departmental colleagues.
Enhancing Leadership Skills
You know how to do the science, but building your team, leading and motivating others remains full of mysteries and uncertainties.
The Research Leader Collective will bring you…
Togetherness
Bringing together like-minded research fellows, principal investigators and new lecturers from different institutions who want to share experiences and learn from each other about how to become excellent research leaders.
Institutional awareness
Learning to navigate the politics of institutions & departments or funders is an asset for your research leadership journey. Sharing with peers the issues that you are facing will provide alternative perspectives to solve challenges.
Leadership perspectives
Easing your journey into research leadership by providing tools and frameworks to reflect & experiment with your leadership approach. Helping you keep joy with your research through this transition.
Courage to thrive as a research leader
Becoming a research leader who excels in leading a research team and is supportive of researchers with diverse expectations, ambitions and capabilities is not a small feat. The Research Leader Collective will challenge you to become the best research leader you can be.
Self-awareness through reflection
You may want to do a good job as a supervisor, line manager and team leader, but sometimes it is hard to know how to go about things. The Research Leader Collective will support you in reflecting on your approaches and will bring new insights to shift your thinking.
Change agent for research culture
Managing the craziness of your own workload, whilst trying to rethink how you can improve the research culture through your own actions may feel overwhelming. Our conversations will be part of becoming a brilliant contributor towards a positive research culture.
Why Do We Need The Research Leader Collective?
“Members of the Research Leader Collective are daring enough to want to make the research environment a better place”
We need to fight the isolation experienced by new research leaders
We aspire for new research leaders to find ways to inhabit the research environment on their own terms.
There are multiple ways of being a great research leader and the motivation is to help research leaders find their own path.
The Research Leader Collective brings resilience through connecting socially in a network of peers.
Offering such support within single institutions can be challenging to put in place; this cross- institutional approach makes it easier for research organisations to offer sustainable support to their early career research leaders.
Addressing the lack of formal management training
Thinking about leadership in a different way
Offering a supportive space to reflect
Leadership learning as a long-term process
Learning to lead without becoming a bully
Seeing the success of your team members as your own success
Thriving as a research leader even within a context of workplace stress, high levels of competition and job insecurity
Acknowledging your uncertainty about how to be a good research leader
Who Is The Research Leader Collective For?
Research fellows
New Principal Investigators
New Lecturers
You don’t assume that you know it all.
You don’t claim you are the perfect supervisor or line manager.
You are open to the concept of vulnerability in leadership.
You have the honesty to admit that being a research leader is hard.
You have the motivation to become an awesome supervisor/line manager.
You are keen to engage and learn from peers, and build a community of peers reshaping research culture together.