A collaborate approach supporting new academics to become excellent leaders
Early career academics who are new to leadership roles are faced with complex challenges. At Imperial, we know from staff surveys and focus groups that learning to be leaders, dealing with setbacks and tackling isolation, whilst already preparing for the next stages of their career, are recurring areas of concern and often a source of pressure and overwhelm for these academics. We also know that professional success relies on the ability to forge and maintain a strong and supportive ‘net’ that ‘works’.
In 2023-24, the Postdoc and Fellows Development Centre (PFDC), now the Early Career Researcher Institute, piloted a unique initiative to contribute to a more positive, supportive and healthy research culture: Imperial’s Leadership Development and Peer Mentoring programme for Fellows and new Lecturers. Led by Stefanie Edler-Wollstein, PFDC Consultant and Executive Leadership Coach, the intervention aimed to equip early career academics with novel ways of working together to address their challenges and concerns. The programme was aligned to the Concordat for the Career Development of Researchers, and built on three pillars:
1. Developing new academics as leaders of people: enabling them to explore their own leadership style and introducing them to the theory and practice of a coaching and mentoring style of leadership
2. Creating routes for collaboration: providing regular opportunities for new academics to build connections with peers to share ideas, collaborate, and support each other
3. Supporting new academics: developing their capability around four central elements of academic practice and funding: knowledge creation, talent development, community building, and societal contribution
Every person brought different perspectives and could see things that the others couldn’t. Feedback from a participant
In a collaborative process, a group of 10 new academics (fellows and new lecturers) worked closely with the PFDC and external consultant Dr Steve Hutchinson to co-design the format and content of the programme: a self-sustaining peer network scheme with an in-person foundational workshop day, four facilitated online sessions over six months, and a celebratory closing event. In the foundational workshop, participants from different departments are allocated into peer mentoring groups of 3-4 people, which self-organise a minimum of four peer mentoring meetings over the following six months. Groups receive materials and ongoing mentoring support. In the facilitated online sessions, a coaching-style framework is introduced to guide conversations around the elements of the UKRI ‘narrative CV’. The benefit of this pragmatic structure is two-fold: it provides a topical focus to the peer mentoring conversations, and it allows participants to create a tangible output they will likely use in the future. Involving the new academics in the conception and design of the programme meant it was tailored to their needs and expectations.
The peer driven mentoring was very helpful. Feedback from a participant
The pilot was launched in October 2023 for the first cohort of 25 independent research fellows and probationary lecturers. It was a great success: the majority of respondents were satisfied with the learning experience (84%), networking opportunities (93%), and peer mentoring element of the programme (82%). All respondents mentioned the benefits of a coaching approach and agreed that learning and practicing the coaching and mentoring techniques helped them to become more inclusive and supportive as leaders. Importantly, the relationships built outlast the programme, with members of the pilot cohort staying in touch for several months after.
Since its launch in October 2023, nearly 30% of Imperial’s new academics have taken part. The programme is currently on its third iteration, running from November 2024 to May 2025. We are now rethinking the development of coaching and mentoring skills as our programme goal, and instead focusing on how the use of these tools can help participants meet specific goals, such as effectively managing their PhD students and postdocs.
This work was partly funded through Research England's Enhancing Research Culture grant.