The six-month Herschel Programme for Women in Technical Leadership is designed for technicians to help address the lack of women in technical management and leadership roles within the higher education, research and innovation technical community.

Five staff from the School of Life Sciences completed the free programme which is funded by Research England. The programme delivers modules on Influencing and Negotiation, Culture and Context, Confidence and Empowerment and Leadership as well as having mixed action learning sets (ALS) across delegates to discuss matters associated with the course and their day-to-day roles.

The Sussex cohort joined the rest of the 198 technicians from 54 higher education and research institutions who completed the 2024 national technical leadership programme for a celebration with guest speakers and a poster display submitted by each ALS. 

Delegates enjoyed talks from the keynote speakers, Professor Sarah Sharples (Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department of Transport) and Professor Carole Mundell (Director of Science, European Space Agency) who shared their personal career journeys, insights and experiences.  

Dr Kelly Vere, MBE University Director of Technical Strategy for the University of Nottingham was among the speakers and a panel discussion with a Q&A of past and present Herschel Programme participants and facilitators took place. 

It is the third time this pioneering national programme has been offered to technicians, who identify as women, which is funded by Research England and delivered by the UK Institute for Technical Skills and Strategy.

The University of Sussex Cohort were able to participate fully due to funding for travel to the celebration event from the Technician Commitment programme. The University of Sussex has signed up to the Technician Commitment, which aims to increase the Visibility, Recognition, Career Development and Sustainability of technicians.

Applications for the 2025 programme open in September 2024. Find out more at https://itss.org.uk/technical-leadership-programmes/herschel-programme/

Image by Christine Barras