The Imperial Leadership Development and Peer Mentoring programme for Fellows and new Lecturers facilitates 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. Please find all dates listed in the accordion below.
The next cohort will start with an in-person Foundational Workshop on 31 October 2025, 9.30 – 15.30. The day includes a lunch with members from previous groups. Please note: Attendance at the Foundational Workshop on 31 October 2025 is mandatory.
Key areas of the programme:
1. Develop as a leader of people
- Explore your leadership style, team dynamics, and ways of getting the best out of yourself and others.
2. Learn the theory and practice of coaching and mentoring
- Introduction to a coaching and mentoring approach to support your group.
- Four online lunchtime workshops (over four months) focusing on key coaching and mentoring skills.
3. 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 six months in groups of 3-4 peers to encourage sharing of ideas and to foster collaboration, and to 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.
4. 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.
Key dates and attendance
- Foundational workshop: Develop as a leader of people
- Peer mentoring meetings
- Online lunchtime workshops: Develop your coaching and mentoring skills
- Celebration meeting and lunch
- Ongoing mentoring support
Introduction to coaching and mentoring (9.30-12.30)
Facilitated by Dr Steve Hutchinson. Participants will be placed into peer mentoring groups, introduced to the scheme’s principles, and given essential guidance on peer-support and coaching and mentorship behaviours.
Lunch with fellows and new lecturers from the previous cohorts (12.30-13.30)
Develop as a leader of people (13.30-15.30)
Facilitated by Stefanie Edler-Wollstein, ECRI Consultant and Leadership Coach. Participants will explore their own leadership style and the effects on team dynamics. They will learn how to better ‘read’ others and to adapt the way they communicate to get the best out of others.
Date: 31 October 2025, 9.30-15.30 (includes lunch with the fellows from the previous cohort)
Venue: Room CR2, I-Hub, 84 Wood Lane, White City Campus, W12 0BZ
During the following six months, the peer mentor groups will schedule to meet approximately every six weeks (four meetings in total) to engage in structured mentoring conversations.
Four facilitated one-hour lunchtime workshops:
- 1 December 2025, 12:30-13:30, Zoom
- 12 January 2026, 12:30-13:30, Zoom
- 23 February 2026, 12:30-13:30, Zoom
- 23 March 2026, 12:30-13:30, Zoom
Facilitated by Dr Steve Hutchinson and Stefanie Edler-Wollstein, ECRI Consultant and Leadership Coach. This event will mark the completion of the programme. Peer mentors will actively participate in the onboarding process for the next mentoring group, sharing their insights and good practice.
Date: 30 April 2026, 12:30 to 15:30
Venue: Room CR2, I-Hub, 84 Wood Lane, White City Campus, W12 0BZ
Over the six-months 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.