2. Concrete actions of LEAP Researchers
   The pilot LEAP Researchers’ Track program received positive feedback from its participants who also got involved in other oikos curriculum change activities, e.g. run a workshop on Ecological Economics during the our CC Squad meetings, started coaching oikos chapters on curriculum change, hosted webinar on Democratizing Academic Research in partnership with swissnex Brazil and supported us with organization of Curriculum Camp. Furthermore, one of the LEAP Researchers’ Track participants got inspired by the workshop on innovative learning methods co-hosted with WWF Switzerland and developed a new course using service learning method which is part of the Design Thinking Challenge at University of Graz. Finally, some of LEAP Researchers’ Track participants decided to get involved in designing the next program edition in 2022.

ENVISIONED IMPACT FOR THE FUTURE – next editions
– Strong stories of personal and professional development of LEAP Researchers participants
– new partnerships developed
– concrete transforming education actions in the future

– 16 ECRs joining the program in 2022
– set up of a Guiding team which is supporting the new group and works very effectively (alumni LEAP Researchers, coaches)
– 3 successful sessions run

• being personal and committed – leading by example
• select the right participants very wisely and put a strong emphasis on their commitment – quality over quantity
• involve the participants and build strong connections from the beginning – maybe even having in person kick-off meeting to do so

First pilot 2020-21: 12 ECRs, guided by the oikos International team: More info here: LEAP Researchers – oikos International (oikos-international.org)
Second pilot 2022: 16 ECRs, 8 women, 8 men, Europe, America, Asia

By selection of rights candidates (gender, geographical…) However, the selection turned out to be balanced somewhat naturally and in the end the core criterium was motivation and commitment of participants.

1. testimonials from the first pilot
   “I really enjoyed being part of this program as it helped me to reflect on my personal values and strengths and supported me how to use them in my private and professional life. The program with its diverse people and topics was a great source of inspiration for current and future projects and personal developments. Thanks a lot, to oikos international and the entire LEAP researcher’s track cohort for making the nine months such an exciting joint learning experience.”

– Tabea Bereuther

“It was a pleasure to get to know fellow oikees from so many different places and to explore with them the meaning and practice of our research in the LEAP Researchers’ Track. The self-led group process, the small-group discussions, and the individual coaching reinforced each other and contributed to the success of this program. It inspired my academic work and opened up new perspectives. I was always looking forward to our next meeting in which we reflected on our goals, approaches, and strengths, brought together by the ideals of support for each other, open-mindedness, and care for sustainability.”

– Oliver Braunschweig

“The LEAP researcher’s track has helped me to set the stage for my PhD in the very beginning. The programme has helped me to identify and set up the environment I need to thrive in. Additionally, I gained insights of how to apply hands-on tools to improve my way of working. All in all, I can only recommend this programme to everyone who embarks on the PhD journey.”

– Lea Trogrlic

“The LEAP Researchers’ Track has really boosted my personal development in research and teaching. Monthly meetings, 1:1 coaching, and advising university students on curriculum reform are just a few examples of this program where participants can create real impact towards greater sustainability.”

– Jakob Knauf

“The oikos LEAP researcher’s track was a thought-provoking and creative journey that inspired me in many different ways. It is a great leadership program that offers space for dialogue, co-creation, and personal development. For me, it was an excellent place to connect with like-minded people and explore new ideas together. I am very grateful for all the insightful sessions about leadership, coaching, sustainability (e.g., in higher education), and research topics during the last 9 months.”

– Magdalena Rusch

• further develop the LEAP Researchers in terms of methodology, evaluation, impact measurement, establish it as a flagship oikos program
• replicate the program in collaboration with well selected partners and apply for more partnership grants
• establish the program at universities through alumni LEAP Researchers

Here are four major developments of the LEAP Researchers program in the past 3 months.

1. We presented the LEAP Researchers program impact (cohort of 2022) at the EAPRIL Conference in Belfast. Link to our presentation here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o2v75aPqw6xyqagpDoLHZds9_js3jCJC/view?usp=sharing
2. We officially closed the LEAP Researchers 2023 program with the last session on December 14
3. We officially started preparations for the LEAP Researchers 24 edition with the PMRE Impactful 5 Initiative team https://www.unprme.org/the-impactful-five-i5/ and held first two Info Calls with interested participants in December
4. We have two new team members joining the LEAP Researchers team (Marina Henriques and Laura Vetter)

• host the last farewell party already in November
• things always preview  more time then we estimate for the upcoming milestones
• set the key priorities with the new team and balance the handover and execution time

Let me estimate with relation to the first three major achievements mentioned above

1. EAPRIL Conference participants – it could have been about 25 internationa participants in the workshop room to listen to our presentation (exact estimation to be checked with Marina)
2. LEAP Researchers Closing Ceremony – we had rather small turn over at the final closing ceremony (6 people). Still, we reached to all 16 program participants via follow-up email to say a proper good bye. Reason: Many people had their Christmas parties at their workplaces and some were sick
3. We had 16 registered people for the Info Call 1 and 20 people registered for the call 2 (approx 30% showed up)

The most important domain where we address diversity and inclusion is the strive for a truly global community of participants for the LEAP Researchers 2024. We aim to have truly global participants’ representation in the next 2024 cohort.

The most important stories are harvested in the EPARIL Presentation here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o2v75aPqw6xyqagpDoLHZds9_js3jCJC/view?usp=sharing

1. Develop a framework for the LEAP Researchers 2024
2. Select approximately 50 global program participants
3. Organise and handover all the information to the new team

LEAP Researchers 2022
Together with the guiding team we empowered 13 early career researchers to act towards sustainability through their research, actions, and contributions to oikos community. The program was highly appreciated by all participants, and most of them recomended it to their peers. Thanks to the one to one individual calls, there were concrete outcomes and impact on participants explored. See the key points coming from the evaluation below:

GENERAL FEEDBACK VERY POSITIVE
– coaching element of the program highly appreciated as one of the most impactful elements, all participants gave it very high grade, 9/10 out of 10 points
– the program has met the participants needs and most of the participants loved the possibiblity to shape the program
– Strengths assessment provided through the program was mentioned and appreciated by most of the participants
– group sessions were generally appreciated as well, especially by participants seeking peer connections

IMPACT ON PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF PARTICIPANTS
– increase of self-awareness and reflection capacity which was applied in personal and career decisions (e.g. decision on my next job, decision on doing the PhD, setting and communicating own limits, decision to slow down, exploring and connecting with own needs)
– Increase of communication capacity – application of NVC practise at participants workplace, ability to ask powerful and challenging questions (e.g. new ability to say NO, giving open feedback to supervisor, demanding for less, managing conflicts at workplace, becoming more empathetic teacher and supervisor)
– increased confidence and courage (e.g. to stand up for my own different and more progressive resesarch, paradigm and sticking with own values and alternative thinking)
– exploration and application of own strengths and their conscious use in research focus decisions (e.g. analytical thinking)

CREATING VALUABLE CONNECTIONS
– this happended especially through peer group meetings
– significant collaborations as a result (1 joint article in progress with our speaker, 1 joint research project in progress, 1 ongoing collanboration on oikos Cosulting project)

PRACTICING OWN LEARNING AND SHAPING OWN INSTITUTIONS/ COMMUNITIES
partially through student projects involvement (8 LEAP Researchers got involved and contributed to oikos community and beyond. See the concrete projects here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zPqBxah0PcokTlXviMZne-PFJGFme7mHUS85avwfO3U/edit#gid=1287390281
– workplaces application (initiating more and deeper conections and communications in and beyond departments)
– higher quality of student supervision and and implementing sustainability in courses creation

Improvement proposals coming the Strategy Meeting and from the program evaluation calls:
COMMUNICATION

• clear communication of Vision, Mission, Goals and Desired Outcomes already at the Info Calls and throughout the Program
• explanation of what is leaderhip development for us and how it will be approached, e.g. inner leaderhsip focus, strenghts, mindfulness, inner development goals (also on the website), this will happen during the Info Calls, Participants Selection Process (in case one to one interview happens, during the Kick-off and throughout the program
• clear explanation of professional development sessions, including examples of sessions, Info Calls, Kick Off and throughout the Program

INFO CALLS

• clear program structure and expectations well presented (program vision, mission, goals, timeline, methods, possible topics (based on the previous LEAP Researchers programme, commitment, student engagement projects examples: Academy, Camp, LEAP Youth Coaching

PARTICIPANTS SELECTION

• core criteria: aligment with program vision, mission, goals, clear commitment, disciplines distribution/ good balance between diversity and aligment in research topics
• option to run one to one calls with selected participants in case of a need for more clarity

PROGRAM STRUCTURE – TOWARDS A HIGHER CLARITY

• most meeting dates planning at the beginning Kick Off in March and setting fixed dates, e.g. every last Tuesday in a month
• Clear offer of the Personal Development Topics at the beginning and their selection (at least for the first half of the programme)
• Clear planning of professional development topics including LEAP Researchers involvement, in each session at least one LEAP Researchers will be more actively involved
• Clear possible student project involvement presented during the Info Calls, Kick – off, this part of the LEAP Researchers will be only optional
• Research Sharing Session will happen earlier, in May and it will focus purely on research collaboration. The Research Pitching will happen already during the Kick-off in March
• Peer Groups will be offered and formed already during May during the Research Sahring Session that will happen in this month to give participants an option to form a peer group with people who may have similar research topic (based on the Kick off meeting when people will prepare their Research profiles and pitch their research
• The Kick off and the Midterm meetings will be longer, 3h, the rest of the meetings will be 2h long
• More self studying materials will be shared to dive deeper
• LEAP Researchers alumni will be invited to the professional oriented sessions
• LEAP Researchers alumni will be offered to co-facilitate some of the LEAP researchers sessions

We had originally 16 participants, 13 remained active till the end of the program.
Gender balance: 8 male and 8 female
Countries: Switzerland, Germany, India, France/Brazil, France/ South Africa, Spain/ Italy, Austria, Sweden, Sweden/ Iran

We addressed this theme through participants’ diversity and inclusive approach during the sessions.

We do not have public testimonials yet. Need to ask the participants for a permission to share.

We are now in the process of selecting new cohort members, we have significant interest in the program, key is fundraising for this year and deciding on the future of the programe: Will it continue at oikos? Will it stop? Will it be adopted by a university? These questions should be clarified at the first part of 2023.

Sustainability and Leadership

We have successfully launched LEAP Researchers, with high levels of engagement on social media, influence on the UN global level, newly formed Communities of Practice where the LEAP Researchers deepen connections and we apply a Regenerative Impact Evaluation establishing new collaborations.
We have an exponential growth of the program, new digital tools and collaborations, and the program reaches beyond Europe.

Have more capacity in terms of experience with budgets and fundraising and also to have more support for the launch of the program, with two people more in the team running the program. A higher salary corresponding to the level of the program.

134 applicants, 64 participants, 64 coaches, 51 nationalities, 57.8% women, 40.6% men, 1.6% non-binary.

We read out a beautiful welcome letter from the Art of Hosting that set up a safe and inclusive space. We as facilitators recognised our privileged position and blind spots. We fostered diversity by making it a criteria for the selection process and for grouping participants in Communities of Practice.

Kick-off
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/saloni-sinha-98a88ba2_unprme-leapresearcher-responsiblebusiness-activity-7178810074616721409-eO5i?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios

Values Session
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sarahwilliamshe_as-part-of-the-enriching-leap-researcher-activity-7188965594455539713-P139?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios

Collaboration with PRME i5
https://www.unprme.org/news/prme-and-oikos-international-collaborate-to-empower-sustainability-researchers/

Bringing highly motivated and skilled people together unravels a great potential. Also the participants being coached will reveal untapped potential. Milestones: To support exchange and community between the participants, introduce tools, frameworks and leadership skills/mindsets.

Tangible outputs of the LEAP Researchers 2022 are summarized in this paper we submitted to the EAPRIL conference https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qfm_8wWaMN0OoHdKokH5v0ultBXfiR4Rrtqf0N804_c/edit As of now, it is still only for internal use since it is a draft accepted for the conference and we got a feedback from the reviewers which we will be implementing. Also, you may wonder why there is not a proper name cited / the reason is that you have to submit your paper for a blinded review, therefore the reviewers do not know who (person and organization) is submitting it. This will change once we present our results at the actual conference. You can find out more about the conference here https://eapril.org/events/eapril-2023

Other achievements observed during the overall evaluation with LEAP Researchers participants

IMPACT

Teaching competencies: The higher ability to work with students, motivate and support them, improvement of supervising skills

Sustainability embedded in lectures and research: development of new courses where sustainability plays a crucial role. At least two new courses were inspired by the LEAP Researchers program and are conducted by the participants

Personal Competencies and Self-Awareness: Increase in empathy, ability to listen, ability to set own boundaries, ability to negotiate and address conflicts, knowledge of own strengths and their application on personal and professional life

Higher Intellectual Courage and Confidence: Ability to stand up for nonconventional research, higher ability to influence management at own research and education institutions

New Research and Teaching Collaborations: At least two new research projects and joint grant applications in the fields of sustainability strategy and education innovation came from the LEAP Researchers 2022. One of the was a joint grant for Movetia submitted by St. Gallen University in partnership with oikos and Fielding Graduate University

IMPACT EXPLORATION OF THE CURRENT COHORT IN 2023 IS IN PROGRESS

International collaborations and financial support are absolutely crucial for the next LEAP Researchers edition in 2024. Without that it does not make sense to run it.

In terms of LEAP Researchers 2022, this was already written in the last update. Regarding the LEAP Researchers 2023, we have 17 participants, 4 male and 13 female. Mostly from Europe, one participant from India, one originally from China.

The program is inclusive in terms on accessibility (online), equal opportunities given to each and every participant, tailored and personally oriented support for all the participants. Furthermore, the participants co-create the program and sessions. All of them being invited to do so.

There is one very nice story we received from one participant of the 2023 cohort: “I am so glad to be part, and each month I get more inspired. Since last month, when we had a discussion on the communication of research to the public, and after that, I brought it up to my supervisor and he could not agree more. With his support, I got to share part of my research in 4 newspaper and even got some interest.”

Exploring (financial) collaborations with:
PRME i5
4EU+ universitites consortium
UNITAR

Building the oikos LEAP Researchers community (alumni gathering planned in September 2023