Academic Leadership
PAST EVENTS
Click the title(s) below to read more about the previous cohorts and activities.
Online Academic Leadership Development Course: Leading People in Academia (March - June 2024)
Participants of this cohort affiliated to
- Aalborg University (Denmark)
- IT University of Copenhagen (Denmark)
- Tallinn University (Estonia)
- Institut Polytechnique de Paris (France)
- University of Bergen (Norway)
- West University of Timisoara (Romania)
- Stockholm University (Sweden)
- University of Galway (UK)
- University of Surrey (UK)
What our participant says:
| "I find the course highly valuable in helping me prepare for talks and clarify my leadership vision and values." |
Dates & Agendas
The cohort was held via online Zoom sessions on every other Thursday from 10:00 to 12:00 CEST, except for the orientation which took place from 14:00-16:00 CET. The sessions were scheduled as follows:
- 14.03.24 Release pre-work (own time) for Orientation & Session 1
- 21.03.24 Orientation: Introductions of people & course overview
- In-between work and optional peer support
- 04.04.24 Session 1: Leading Informatics in academia
- In-between work and optional peer support
- 18.04.24 Session 2: Knowing ourselves and others
- In-between work and optional peer support
- 02.05.24 Session 3: Leading others - building collegial environments
- In-between work and optional peer support
- 16.05.24 Session 4: Leading others - having effective conversations
- In-between work and optional peer support
- 30.05.24 Session 5: Leading others - difficult conversations
- In-between work and optional peer support
- 13.06.24 Session 6: Connecting leaders & where next
Online Academic Leadership Development Course: Leading People in Academia (March - May 2023)
Participants of this cohort affiliated to
- Vienna University of Technology (Austria)
- University of Stuttgart (Germany)
- Reykjavik University (Iceland)
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway)
- IMDEA Software Institute (Spain)
- Stockholm University (Sweden)
- University of Twente (the Netherlands)
- Cardiff University (UK)
What our participant says:
| "Having well-identified values and strengths helps us understand ourselves better and use that to nurture and/or build our leadership capabilities. Leading others gives valuable tools to step into the perspectives of others." |
Dates & Agendas
The cohort was held via online Zoom sessions on seven Thursdays from 14:00 to 16:00 CET/CEST.
The sessions were scheduled as follows:
- 02.03.23 Release pre-work (own time) for Orientation & Session 1
- 16.03.23 Orientation: Introductions of people & course overview
- In-between work and optional peer support
- 23.03.23 Session 1: Leading Informatics in academia
- In-between work and optional peer support
- 30.03.23 Session 2: Knowing ourselves and others
- In-between work and optional peer support
- 20.04.23 Session 3: Leading others - building collegial environments
- In-between work and optional peer support
- 04.05.23 Session 4: Leading others - having effective conversations
- In-between work and optional peer support
- 11.05.23 Session 5: Leading others - difficult conversations
- In-between work and optional peer support
- 25.05.23 Session 6: Connecting leaders & where next
Residential Academic Leadership Course (June 21-24 2022)
The residential course took place between 21 and 24 June 2022 at the Carathotel Schloss Weikersdorf in Baden: the popular spa town southwest of Vienna, Austria. Participants from six different institutes and five different countries joined us at the course.
*Please note that the photos above are better viewed when applying zoom out.
What our participants say:
| "The "theory" and discussions took departure in the participants' own experiences, problems, and concerns, and so felt extremely relevant and applicable. My colleagues and I are really happy with the course. Others are planning to go next year." |
| Peter Sestoft, Head of Computer Science Department, IT University of Copenhagen (Denmark) |
| "All parts were highly valuable. The most value came from the dialogue-based course style from the two facilitators, which was very much guided by the experiences, needs and questions from the participants. I struggle to find anything about the course that could be changed for the better. All topics covered were relevant. The length of the course was perfect, as was the format with reasonable breaks in between the sessions." |
| Martin Svensson, Head of Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Southern Denmark (Denmark) |
| "I found the academic leadership course extremely valuable. The entire course was very focused and discipline-centric. The learners had rather similar backgrounds and shared the same challenges, leading to very interesting discussions and developing a wonderful group dynamic. No less important was the opportunity to learn from peers from the rest of Europe. The course is perfect for all: from experienced leaders to those who have just recently become heads of the research group or department. Sharing, discussing, brainstorming – these were the keywords of the course." |
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Gert Jervan, Dean at School of Information Technologies, |
Online Academic Leadership Development Course: Leading People in Academia (March - May 2022)
Participants of this cohort affiliated to
- Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (Austria)
- Vienna University of Technology (Austria)
- IT University of Copenhagen (Denmark)
- Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia)
- Aalto University (Finland)
- University of Eastern Finland (Finland)
- Inria (France)
- University of Bayreuth (Germany)
- Reykjavik University (Iceland)
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway)
- Stockholm University (Sweden)
- University of Edinburgh (UK)
- University of St. Andrews (UK)
What our participant says:
| "I enjoyed the discussions and the interactions with the facilitators and other course participants: valuable reflections and innovative perspectives!" |
| Cristina Trocin, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway) |
Dates & Agendas
The cohort was held via online Zoom sessions on seven Thursdays from 10:00 to 12:00 CEST/CET.
The sessions were scheduled as follows:
- 03.03.22 Release pre-work (own time)
- 10.03.22 Orientation: Introductions of people & course overview
- In-between work and optional peer support
- 17.03.22 Session 1: Leading Informatics in academia
- In-between work and optional peer support
- 31.03.22 Session 2: Knowing ourselves and others
- In-between work and optional peer support
- 07.04.22 Session 3: Leading others - building collegial environments
- 14.04.22 & 21.04.22: EASTER BREAK / In-between work and optional peer support
- 28.04.22 Session 4: Leading others - having effective conversations
- In-between work and optional peer support
- 12.05.22 Session 5: Leading others - difficult conversations
- In-between work and optional peer support
- 19.05.22 Session 6: Connecting leaders & where next
Reconnect: Informatics Europe Academic Leadership course (13 January 2022, 11am-1pm CET)
On 13 January, 20 people from the first three cohorts of Informatics Europe’s Academic Leadership Course (ALOC) reconnected online in an informal session facilitated by Geri and Austen. The session was organised into three main parts: looking back on how the course has helped, looking at peoples’ current challenges, and looking forward to how we might all help each other and collectively be part of the cultural change within academia.
Breakout activities provided opportunities for cohorts to reconnect, and for people also to connect across cohorts. We used Miro to help share information (an example can be found here about the key insights that have been most useful to them since the course). Also, Kim Mens (UCLouvain; IE Board Director and ALOC '21 Spring participant) briefly updated the participants on the work of Informatics Europe, and Christiane Grünloh (University of Twente; ALOC '20 Autumn participant) updated participants on the reading group that she kindly initiated and coordinates for those who have attended the leadership course.
Outcomes from the discussion included volunteers to help mentor/support PhD students and young women academics, expressions of interest in formally joining Informatics Europe, and expressions of interest in a further course that follows-on from the Leadership Course.
For more information on Informatics Europe, and to express interest in supporting the organization, please contact Wieneke Emans (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and Kim Mens (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
Online Academic Leadership Development Course: Leading People in Academia (September - December 2021)
Participants of this cohort affiliated to
- University of Vienna (Austria)
- Vienna University of Technology (Austria)
- Aalborg University (Denmark)
- University of Southern Denmark (Denmark)
- Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia)
- Department of Health Technologies
- Department of Software Science
- Saarland University (Germany)
- Reykjavik University (Iceland)
- Department of Engineering
- Department of Computer Science
- Dundalk Institute of Technology (Ireland)
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway)
- Malmö University (Sweden)
- Stockholm University (Sweden)
- Bern University of Applied Sciences (Switzerland)
- University of Basel (Switzerland)
- University of Zurich (Switzerland)
What our participants say:
| "Thanks for a wonderful course, it really changed the way I think about my work. It cannot be said enough: this course was the best course I have ever taken." |
| Anna Sigridur Islind, Reykjavik University (Iceland) |
| "I greatly enjoyed the course: the highlight of my schedule every other week! Thanks to Prof. Fitzpatrick & Prof. Rainer for creating such a helpful course." |
| Anna Maria Feit, Saarland University (Germany) |
Dates & Agendas
The cohort was held via online Zoom sessions every second Thursday from 10:00 to 12:00 CEST/CET.
The sessions were scheduled as follows:
- 02.09.21 Release pre-work (own time)
- 16.09.21 Orientation: Introductions of people & course overview
- 23.09.21 Session 1: Leading Informatics in academia
- 30.09.21 In-between work and optional peer support 1
- 07.10.21 Session 2: Knowing ourselves and others
- 14.10.21 In-between work and optional peer support 2
- 21.10.21 Session 3: Leading others - building collegial environments
- 28.10.21 In-between work and optional peer support 3 (week of ECSS 2021: 25-27 October)
- 04.11.21 Session 4: Leading others - having effective conversations
- 11.11.21 In-between work and optional peer support 4
- 18.11.21 Session 5: Leading others - difficult conversations
- 25.11.21 In-between work and optional peer support 5
- 02.12.21 Session 6: Connecting leaders & where next
Online Academic Leadership Development Course: Leading People in Academia (March - May 2021)
Participants of this cohort affiliated to
- UCLouvain (Belgium)
- Ontario Tech University (Canada)
- Tallinn University (Estonia)
- Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia)
- University of Tartu (Estonia)
- Aalto University (Finland)
- Telecom SudParis (France)
- University of Bremen (Germany)
- Reykjavik University (Iceland)
- Dundalk Institute of Technology (Ireland)
- University College Dublin (Ireland)
- Politecnico di Milano (Italy)
- West University of Timişoara (Romania)
- KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden)
- University of Zurich (Switzerland)
- Queen's University Belfast (UK)
- Georgia Institute of Technology (US)
Dates & Agenda
Online Zoom sessions took place every second Thursday from 10:00 to 12:00 CET/CEST.
The sessions were scheduled as follows:
- 4.03.21 Pre work (own time)
- 11.03.21 Session 1: Intro/overview & leading Informatics in academia
- 18.03.21 In-between work and optional peer support 1
- 25.03.21 Session 2: Knowing ourselves and others
- 8.04.21 In-between work and optional peer support 2
- 15.04.21 Session 3: Leading others - building collegial environments
- 22.04.21 In-between work and optional peer support 3
- 29.04.21 Session 4: Leading others - having effective conversations
- 6.05.21 In-between work and optional peer support 4
- 13.05.21 Session 5: Leading others - difficult conversations
- 20.05.21 In-between work and optional peer support 5
- 27.05.21 Session 6: Connecting leaders & where next
Online Academic Leadership Development Course (September - November 2020)
Participants of this cohort affiliated to
- University of West Bohemia (Czech Republic)
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering
- Aalborg University (Denmark)
- Technical University of Denmark (Denmark)
- Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia)
- Aalto University (Finland)
- Paderborn University (Germany)
- Eötvös Loránd University (Hungary)
- Babeș-Bolyai University (Romania)
- University of Malaga (Spain)
- University of Geneva (Switzerland)
- Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands)
- University of Twente (the Netherlands)
- Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
- Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
- Cardiff University (UK)
- Northumbria University Newcastle (UK)
- Robert Gordon University (UK)
- School of Computing
- University of Reading (UK)
- University of the West of Scotland (UK)
What our participants say:
| "This was a fantastic experience, with lots of opportunity for insight, reflection and networking." |
| Mark Zarb, Robert Gordon University (UK) |
| "I loved the course, the information you put to us, asking the right questions that made us reflect upon our own actions, and the discussions that gave such inspiring insights as well." |
| Ria Wolkorte, University of Twente (the Netherlands) |
| "The course has been excellent and very rewarding. Thanks to everyone, it has been great to meet you all!" |
| John Isaacs, Robert Gordon University (UK) |
Dates & Agenda
This course took place virtually via Zoom on a Tuesday from 10:00 to 11:30 (CEST/CET).
The sessions were scheduled as follows, structured into an introduction, two main blocks, and a final session, with four weeks interspersed for time to prepare, and/or to try techniques as relevant:
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15.09.2020 Session 1: Intro/overview
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29.09.2020 Session 2: Leading Informatics in academia
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06.10.2020 Session 3: Knowing ourselves, leading ourselves
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20.10.2020 Session 4: Leading others - building collegial environments
- 03.11.2020 Session 5: Leading others - having effective conversations
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17.11.2020 Session 6: Connecting leaders & where next
Free Interactive Webinar "Creating the New Academic Normal for Informatics Researchers" (25 June 2020)
What do we want to take forward into our New Academic Normal? What do we want to leave behind? How will we thrive, and not just survive? How can we lead ourselves and others in research, education and civic duty whilst working remotely? How can we strengthen our collegiality in physically-distancing spaces? How do we balance our academic and personal lives where boundaries between these become increasingly blurred? Those and further questions were addressed during the FREE 90-minute, interactive webinar.
In the webinar participants:
- received some seeding content on responding to, and learning from, these challenging times;
- networked with colleagues from across Europe;
- shared experiences and gained positive perspectives and new ideas;
- influenced Informatics Europe policy in this area.
The webinar was co-led by two experienced facilitators:
- Prof. Dr. Geraldine Fitzpatrick, TU Wien, Austria,
- Prof. Dr. Austen Rainer, Queen’s University Belfast, UK.
Invited speaker:
We provided space for facilitated, small group discussion and feedback (in Zoom breakouts) and crowdsourced larger-scale feedback (through Zoom chat), aggregate these, and distribute it to participants after the event. The strategy plan of Informatics Europe is to not only speak about curricula but also to recognise a responsibility for the personal development of people. This webinar was a first step. The webinar was followed up with the online Academic Leadership Development Course in September 2020.