Flinders University is drawing on its wealth of hardworking and talented researchers in a quest to create research leaders for the future.

This week sees the start of the Building Research Leaders Program, a series of workshops on campus that aims to impart to aspiring research leaders the knowledge and skills they need to excel.

The workshop’s leaders, Hugh Kearns and Maria Gardiner, through their work in numerous universities in Australia, the UK and US, have identified a distinctive set of skills, knowledge and attributes that tend to be associated with research leaders.

“These include high level interpersonal skills, leadership skills, delegation, thinking strategically, self-management and the ability to promote yourself,” Mr Kearns said.

Mr Kearns and Ms Gardiner will join some of Flinders’ most successful young researchers to present a unique and customised program of six sessions over the coming seven to nine months for emerging research leaders.

The University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor David Day said that in the increasingly competitive sphere of academic research, developing the ability to produce the best from a team of researchers cannot be left to chance.

“Leading, organising and inspiring a team of researchers, sometimes drawn from more than one field, requires special skills and knowledge,” he said.

“We cannot teach talent, but we can impart vital lessons in strategic thinking and management that will enable our most dynamic researchers to make the most of their own abilities, and to be effective in harnessing the abilities of others.”