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Women's Leadership Academy

Supporting and empowering early career researchers (ECRs) to carve out a research career that fits their own needs

Women ECRs: are you struggling to find a work/life balance in a research system that doesn't seem to meet your needs? 

Do you want to build confidence, work on your mindset, and develop the skills you need to further your career?

If so, the Sussex Women's Leadership Academy is for you.

About the Academy

The Sussex Women's Leadership Academy is a new programme that will empower early-career academics - inclusive of all women and minority genders - to carve out a research career that works for them. 

Running between April and June 2025, it will include:

• Two one-day coaching workshops with Fiona Reith, a Designing Your Life consultant.
• Weekly online seminars focusing on common barriers and more practical skills, including time management, collaborating and communicating, research grants, and promotion.
• Smaller book groups providing space for peer mentoring and support, and building community. This year's set text is Playing Big by Tara Mohr.

The Academy will help address the gender gap in ECR applications for promotion that has been identified at the University. This issue was discussed at the Research with Impact Forum in November. 

The initiative is led by Dr Elizabeth Rendon-Morales, Associate Professor of Engineering, and Prof Erika Mancini, the Director for ECRs, and supported by the Sussex Researcher School and Research Culture.

Benefits of joining the Academy

• Grow in confidence and develop your leadership skills.
• Learn how to manage your time and stress more effectively.
• Connect with other ECRs, and start to build your networks.
• Build a community of support.
• Identify a career pathway based on your own personal circumstances and objectives.
  
  

How to apply

Applications will open in late February. Further details, including eligibility requirements, will be shared here shortly. 

Programme structure