The Next Generation Leaders Programme is a new programme commissioned and designed by the NIHR Oxford BRC Training and Education team to enable early and mid-career researchers and health professionals to develop key skills in leadership, conflict management and influence as they take on more responsibility.
As part of the course, the participants worked together in teams on quality improvement projects, chosen and developed by them. Biomedical research is inherently team-driven work and, as such, there is an important set of skills required by those who work in research teams to make it effective and productive. The participants had to consult key influencers both within their teams and outside; they had to understand working styles and appreciate that there are differences in the ways others prefer to work and then communicate and present their ideas effectively.
The projects included fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, increasing patient awareness of research activity, careers in biomedicine, occupational health at work and a project on breastfeeding. These projects required a high level of commitment on the part of the participants especially at such a stressful time especially as they had to work on the projectsbetween training sessions. Each team presented their work at a final Zoom session and produced posters which we hope to display in the George Pickering Education Centre in due course but in the meantime you can view them here.
We will be running the course again later this year, if you are interested in taking part, drop me a line at karen.bell@medsci.ox.ac.uk