Leonardo Centre Leadership Lab

Our Leadership Lab's mission is to drive societal transformation by advancing research on mindset change in leaders toward sustainability. We aim to discover the most effective ways to develop a new generation of purpose-driven leaders. To achieve this, we apply and experiment with cutting-edge learning models and technologies that spark mindset transformation and enable lasting societal impact.

Key themes and objectives

Our research addresses the key challenges organisations face in today’s fast-changing environment.

First, we are testing how best to apply AI-driven methods in mindset change research to strengthen leadership effectiveness and adaptability.

Second, we combine insights from neuroscience, organisational behaviour, climate science, and health research to design more holistic and resilient leadership development strategies. This includes using non-cognitive learning approaches such as meditation in collaboration with neuroscientists. A central research question is how to enable mindset change at both individual and collective levels to drive organisational and systemic transformation.

Finally, to ensure lasting impact and practical relevance, we scale our work through close collaboration with the Leonardo Industry Labs and national-level innovation Country Labs, ensuring our insights are globally informed and locally grounded.

Partnerships and Collaborations

Our research initiatives on mindset change within executive education are built upon a robust, multi-stakeholder approach. Internally, we collaborate closely with key internal stakeholders including Imperial's Institute of Extended Learning. Externally, we partner with Emeritus for the design and deployment of innovative programs. Thought leaders from both academia and business play a crucial role as global lecturers, contributing their insights to the program's dynamic framework.

Additionally, a dedicated team of internal and external researchers is responsible for the comprehensive analysis of the data we collect, ensuring that our findings are both impactful and relevant for advancing sustainability in leadership education.

The alumni of our executive education programmes represent another very important stakeholder group for the Leadership Lab, allowing us to directly cooperate in research activities with their companies.

On the level of undergraduate research we cooperate closely with the Laidlaw Foundation in the context of Imperial's Leadership and Research Programme for students.