Meet Kate Williams, the co-lead of I-REACCH’s “Leading With Empathy” Workstream!

I am one of the co-investigators on the project and was involved in developing the project with a large group of researchers and professional serives colleagues from the start. Whilst I co-lead the workstream exploring empathic leadership in research I also have a role in overseeing how the whole project comes together, identifying synergies between workstreams and looking at the coherence of the project overall. This is a great role as it allows me to see how the work of I-REACCH really fits into the organisation.

A really important aspect of th project is whether the things we develop  and pilot are sustainable once the project funding finishes. I have been really heartened by the way in which colleagues across the university want to embed the planned outputs from I_REACCH, we have worked closely with colleagues in multiple areas and are looking to embed out outputs in meaningful ways so that they can form part of suite of tools and interventions that will support research culture at Leicester, long after the I-REACCH project funding ends.

Many of us have been talking about research culture here at Leicester for many years, sometimes the name changes but fundamentally this work is about making sure we all feel we belong and have equal opportunity to progress regardless of background or protected characteristic, so that everyone can give their best in the research they do and can meaningfully contribute to the research teams they work in. That means working hard to challenge how we usually do things rather than taking the easy route of ‘its always been done that way’. If we continue doing what we’ve always done we will never see real progress and change.

Our sector and university are clearly facing financial challenges that have been a long time in the making. Times like this are hugely unsettling for everyone but these very challenges can be navigated more equitably if we have a a robust and inclusive research culture where even during times of change there is value placed on fairness, inclusion, collaboration, support and team cohesion.