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We are excited to launch the Sussex Women's Leadership Academy, 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 late March and June, it will be bookended by one-day workshops with Fiona Reith, a Designing Your Life coach who has helped put the programme together.

Weekly online seminars will focus on common barriers and more practical skills, including time management, collaborating and communicating, research grants, and promotion.

Smaller book groups will run alongside these sessions, providing a space for peer mentoring and support, and building community. This year's text is Playing Big by Tara Mohr.

Places are limited and, for this pilot year, will focus on researchers at the early career stage. Participants must be employed by the University, undertaking research as a substantial element of their role, and able to attend all sessions.

The academy will help address a notable gender gap in ECR applications for promotion, and is part of the Research Culture and HR Excellence work to drive change in this area. This issue was discussed at the Research with Impact Forum in November.

Dr Elizabeth Rendon-Morales and Prof Erika Mancini are leading the project, supported by colleagues in the Sussex Researcher School. Dr Rendon-Morales, Associate Professor in Engineering and a women's leadership champion, said:

"We are excited about opening the new Sussex Women's Leadership Academy to train the University's future research leaders. We hope that participants will be taken on a journey to build confidence, enhance communication and resilience, make connections, and develop a mindset to identify a career pathway based on their own personal circumstances and objectives - to maximise their research potential and take their career to the next level."

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, shift your mindset, and develop skills to further your career?

If so, the Sussex Women's Leadership Academy is for you. The deadline for applications is 12 noon on Monday 10 March. See the Academy webpage for further details and to apply.

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