Mentoring, a personalised approach to developing Research Leadership.

Good leadership in research is critical for the development of supportive and equitable research cultures, yet ‘good leadership’ has no guaranteed effective list of skills, or model for success, since leadership is a context-bound practice and each individual, relationship and working culture are different. Additionally, at the personal level, maturing into an academic ‘all rounder’ able to create a stable career for themselves and others, lead a team to success and achieve impact collaboratively, requires a great deal of support. Contemporary leadership frameworks tend to advocate for an open minded, communicative and proactive approach, and place self-awareness as being integral to success. Learning to lead well as an academic, is therefore a highly personal process of sense-making, discovery, reflection and feedback.

Presenting evidence from two Mentoring Programmes, we will demonstrate that participating in mentoring programmes develops interdisciplinarity in leaders and equips them to transition into new spaces, conversations, and networks. This 90min session will also support participants to understand how mentoring conversations create spaces for knowledge exchange and learn the fundamentals of setting up a mentoring programme. We hope to engage participants in conversations related to the application of coaching at scale, and hear others’ impact insights.

Dr Kay Guccione Head of Research Culture & Researcher Development at the University of Glasgow, and Mentoring Lead for the Future Leaders Fellows Development Network.

Kay is a National Teaching Fellow, with research and practice specialisms in doctoral supervision, mentoring and community building for researchers. She is Editor of the Supervising PhDs blog, and a co-author of Coaching and Mentoring for Academic Development (Emerald), Thriving in Part-Time Doctoral Study: Integrating Work, Life and Research (Routledge), and The Hidden Curriculum in Doctoral Education (Palgrave Macmillan).

Charlotte Bonner-Evans Partnership Manager, Future Leaders Fellows Development Network, UK

Charlotte is based at Cardiff University as Partnership Manager with the Future Leaders Fellows Development Network, supporting Fellows through the development of a mentee-led EMCC award winning mentoring scheme. Having completed PGCerts in Counselling and Higher Education Leadership and Management, Charlotte is an ILM practicing Mentor and Coach in the HE sector. She combines her passion for people management and encouraging others to develop with supporting researchers and their valuable outcomes in research.