ESRC launches national consultation on leadership development

27 Jun 2019 01:56 PM

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is delighted to launch its national consultation as part of the ‘Fit for the Future’ project. Led by Professor Matt Flinders from the University of Sheffield, this consultation focuses on the need to promote researcher and leadership development within the social sciences and aims to drive forward a more ambitious and collaborative national strategy. 

Developing social science leadership capability is one of ESRC’s strategic priorities. The funding landscape is going through a period of rapid change and we want to support social scientists to take advantage of the opportunities that are now available to them.

There is a clear shift toward larger collaborative and challenge-orientated projects that reach across traditional disciplinary and professional boundaries and are often international in scope.

Led by Professor Matthew Flinders from the University of Sheffield, the ‘Fit for Future’ project aims to design an ambitious and agile new research leadership and talent management strategy. This strategy will seek to achieve institutional and cultural change, placing the social sciences at the forefront of professional excellence within UKRI and within the international scientific community more broadly. 

The ESRC is delighted to publish the evidence review and wants to work collaboratively to respond to this. The ESRC now seeks input from researchers at all career stages, staff working in ROs to develop research capability, senior university leadership teams together with other organisations interested in building leadership capacity to inform the next stages in development. We particularly welcome responses to questions raised within the consultation paper  which accompanies the review. 

Further information

Further details about the project and the consultation phase can be found on our dedicated webpage.

Please send responses to: m.flinders@sheffield.ac.uk by 16 August 2019.