This programme runs from January to May 2024, and offers five one-day workshops. It is an interactive, participative leadership development programme, firmly located within your current learning and work contexts. Mapped against the core elements of the UK’s Researcher Development Framework and UKRI’s Resumes for Research and Innovation (R4RI), the Bath LEAD programme will take you on a journey from self-leadership through to the leadership of others.

Places are limited for this first cohort, so we are inviting all those who are interested to complete and submit a short application. In this application we are asking you to outline your reasons for wanting to participate, and what you are looking to gain from the programme to support you in your personal and professional development, now and in your future career.

Overview

Very often, we hold a view that to be a leader we need to be leading others. In reality, we are ALL leaders – at different times in our lives we step in and out of leadership in a multitude of ways, sometimes holding responsibility for leading others, and even when this is not the case, we are always in self-leadership.

As our world increases in complexity, uncertainty, and volatility, the demands placed on us, whether during our studies or our work, both within our personal and professional lives, continue to grow. This requires us to demonstrate greater resilience and insight if we are to navigate this challenging world successfully. The earlier on in our lives we can build self-awareness, and the skills and capability to embrace complexity, the better leaders we will become. The ability to step into growth and development as an integral part of our journey, making this a lifelong practice, will enable us to lead more joyful, rewarding, and fulfilling lives. Furthermore, we can increase our impact on the world and people around us.

The programme aims to bring together a group of people from diverse backgrounds and experiences to ensure a broad range of perspectives, all of whom are at an early stage in their research career journey. This will enable us to create a rich and meaningful learning environment for participants. We are, therefore, interested in applications from those with diverse backgrounds, representing all cultures, and with different interests.

Objectives

The programme objectives for participants are to:

• expand thinking and embed deliberate and reflective practice
• build leadership skills and capability, and refine the necessary qualities, to enable effective leadership in complexity
• challenge assumptions and provoke thinking beyond existing understanding of the world thus far
• introduce models and theories that enable experimentation and practical application within current and future contexts
• maximise the opportunity to grow, learn and develop, in and outside the formal modules of the programme

We want to support you in recognising your leadership potential, reflect on your strengths and areas for growth, while building your capability as an effective leader.

We anticipate some of the learning outcomes will include:

• an ability to manage ourselves effectively in our daily work, and lives more broadly
• a deeper understanding of when and how we perform at our best and the qualities needed for effective leadership
• acquiring and refining our mindsets, skills, and capabilities as leaders, and how we can create the conditions to lead those around us to achieve high performance
• some tools and techniques to better navigate change, uncertainty, and complexity
• increased ability to see and hold multiple perspectives
• growth, learning, and development becoming an integral part of who we are and how we live our lives

Applicant criteria

All applicants must be able to demonstrate the following:

• Availability to attend and participate in all five modules in-person
• Sign-off from your line manager or research supervisor

Applications must be received by 10 November 2023 at 11.59pm.

Dates and mode of delivery

Each module will take place in-person on campus and will run from 9:30am to 5pm each day. There is an expectation that self-organised action learning sets will take place in between each module – these may be run in-person or online, depending on the needs of the group.

You will be required to attend a short (30 minutes maximum) online one to one induction before the programme commences. The timing for this can be flexible and you will be contacted to set up this meeting if your application is successful.