The Imperial Leadership Development and Peer Mentoring programme for Fellows and new Lecturers is designed to facilitate valuable connections and provides you with unique opportunities to develop as a leader.
The six-month programme was conceived by fellows within the Imperial Fellows Leadership Network and designed by an experienced academic leadership coach, Dr Steve Hutchinson.
Key areas:
1. Learn the theory and practice of coaching and mentoring.
- Introduction to coaching and mentoring.
- Four online lunchtime workshops focusing on key coaching and mentoring skills.
2. Build valuable connections with peers to share ideas, collaborate, and support each other in various aspects of academic life.
- Four self-organised peer mentoring sessions over 6 months in groups of 3-4 peers to encourage sharing of ideas and foster collaboration, and support each other with more general enabling elements of academic life, such as relationship building, strategic thinking, prioritisation, and workload management and balance.
- The peer mentoring groups will receive support materials and ongoing mentoring support, ensuring that the groups keep working effectively over time.
3. Develop capability around the four themes of the “Narrative CV for researchers“.
The peer mentoring groups will be provided with a coaching-style framework to guide conversations around the four elements of academic practice – namely those contained within the ‘Narrative CV for Researchers’ format:
- Academic Knowledge Contribution
- Developing Individuals
- Citizenship – Building a Better Academic Community
- Societal Contributions
Building on a pragmatic structure for individual reflection and peer discussion, participants are enabled to create a draft narrative CV that can be used for future fellowship, promotion applications and other academic gateways.
The next cohort will start with a Foundational Workshop on 30 April 2024 from 12.30 (lunch) -16.30pm. Please note: Attendance at the Foundational workshop is mandatory.
The course will run over six months with all dates listed in accordion below.
Key dates and attendance
Foundational workshop: Introduction to coaching and mentoring
Facilitated by Dr Steve Hutchinson and Stefanie Edler-Wollstein, PFDC Consultant and Leadership Coach. Fellows will be placed into peer mentoring groups, introduced to the scheme’s principles and given essential guidance on peer-support and mentorship behaviours.
Date: 30 April 2024, 12.30-16.30 (includes lunch)
Venue: Sherfield Building, South Kensington Campus, SALC 1.
Peer mentoring meetings
During the following six months, the peer mentor groups will schedule to meet approximately every six weeks to engage in structured mentoring conversations.
Online lunchtime workshops: Develop your coaching and mentoring skills
Four one-hour lunchtime workshops (12.30-13.30) over four months.
- 13 May, 12.30-13.30 (online)
- 10 June, 12.30-13.30 (online)
- 8 July, 12.30-13.30 (online)
- 9 September, 12.30-13.30 (online)
Celebration meeting and lunch
Facilitated by Dr Steve Hutchinson and Stefanie Edler-Wollstein, PFDC Consultant and Leadership Coach. This event will mark the completion of the programme for the first cohort and the launch of the second cohort. Peer mentors will actively participate in the onboarding process for the next mentoring group, sharing their insights and good practice.
Date: 31 October
Venue: TBC, South Kensington Campus
Ongoing mentoring support
Over the six-month duration of the facilitated programme, we will provide the following ongoing support to aid the peer mentoring conversations:
- Content and Proformas: Timely reminders and proformas with relevant questions and ideas to guide your mentoring conversations effectively.
- Drop-In Mentoring Surgeries: Access to online drop-in surgeries to address any concerns or queries you may have with your mentoring.