“The confidence to go for what I really wanted to be as a researcher.”
22 Sep 2026
British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship holder, Emma Martin on how Research Leadership Essentials helped her develop and realise her ambitions. Discover what our expanded offer for 2026/27 can do for you.
The University’s Research Leadership Essentials programme is returning for 2026/27, with an expanded offer supporting mid-career academics, early career academics and research technical specialists.
Facilitated by leadership specialists 64 Million Artists, the modular programme covers topics such as nurturing your ideas, getting ideas of the ground, managing and leading research teams, the landscape of funding, navigating failure and rejection, and collaborating within and beyond academia.
It consists of creative in-person workshops, shorter online spotlight sessions and peer-support opportunities to help research focussed colleagues develop and realise their most ambitious research goals. You can participate in all the activities, or only those that speak most directly to your needs and interests.
“Words like transformational are overused but this programme gave me the confidence to go for what I really wanted to be as a researcher,” said Dr Emma Martin, senior lecturer in Museology and now British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship holder.
“Without that, I doubt I would be about to begin what will be a defining period in my academic career.”
Supporting Manchester 2035 - and you
The expanded offer supports our Research Delivery Plan, which includes attracting, retaining and developing great research teams and enhancing the quality of our research culture and environment among its seven priorities.
According to Associate Vice-President for Research, Professor Melissa Westwood: “It gives you the chance to step back from the day to day, reflect on your goals and build your confidence in your research leadership.
“People come away with practical ideas, fresh perspectives and valuable new connections. And those can make a real difference at a pivotal stage of a researcher’s career.”
Choose the pathway that is right for you
Two pathways are available for 2026/27, tailored to different career stages and roles:
We expect participants will typically be senior lecturers, senior research fellows, readers and early professors (within around three years of promotion to professor).
Early career academics and research technical specialists
For 2026/27, the programme has been expanded with content for early career academics and research technical specialists.
We expect participants will typically be:
- Early career academics, typically lecturers with a responsibility for both teaching and research.
- Research technical specialists who are, for example, leading significant methodological development, embedding robust methods including within interdisciplinary research, and/ or influencing research practice, policy and culture within and beyond the University.
Discover more and register
You can watch a short introductory video to learn more about the mid-career Research Leadership Essentials pathway, including testimonials from previous participants.
Places on the in-person workshops are limited. Visit the Research Leadership Essentials webpages to explore the two pathways, view the full programme and register via the training catalogue for individual sessions.