Researcher Education and Development Scholarship Conference

Dr Katrina McChesney, Senior Lecturer in Education, University of Waikato, New Zealand*

Researcher wellbeing is a hot topic, and rightly so. We know that “to produce world-class research, we must provide a healthy and supportive research environment that allows researchers to flourish” (Vitae, n.d.). However, we also know that many research environments still reproduce unhealthy levels of stress, competition, discrimination, and burnout. As expectations in academia continue to rise and the world continues to be shaped by crises and challenges, we must find ways to make positive change.

Our team’s recent work has looked at this challenge through a leadership lens, asking: what kinds of leaders do we need, and what do we need those leaders to do, in order to shape healthier research environments where people can flourish? Our recent book chapter (‘Supporting faculty wellness initiatives during times of crisis and change’) in the new Bloomsbury Handbook of Ethics of Care in Transformative Leadership in Higher Education (Drinkwater and Waghid, 2024) argues that higher education settings need leaders who embody transformative leadership and an ethic of care, and considers how such leaders might implement transformative, care-grounded strategies to provide practical support for researcher wellbeing.

Transformative leadership and ethics of care

Transformative leadership is underpinned by a shared vision for a better, more democratic future as well as an orientation towards social justice and the critique of inequitable practices (Shields 2016, 2018). These underpinnings are lived out as leaders recognise every person’s agency and the way that small, immediate choices can help bring our desired future into being (Montuori & Donnelly 2017).

Transformative leadership stands in contrast to transactional or task-focused forms of leadership. Many approaches to supporting researcher wellbeing are transactional, not transformative: they focus on specific activities or initiatives (such as mindfulness workshops or yoga sessions) rather than critiquing and seeking to transform the harmful structures that perpetuate poor researcher wellbeing.

Ethics of care emerged from feminist scholarship but offer a vision of positive possibility that is of relevance to us all. An ethic of care considers “what is necessary for human well-being, flourishing and indeed survival” and frames such acts of care as “fundamental to the human condition … necessary both to survival and flourishing … [and] an essential part of how [people] relate to others” (Barnes, 2012).

Like transformative leadership, an ethic of care centres individual and social wellbeing and takes up a commitment to social justice as we actively work to improve the conditions of our own and others’ lives.

Together, transformative leadership and an ethic of care offer foundational philosophies that can guide leaders who aspire to support researcher wellbeing. These philosophies can also help us critique more transactional ‘wellbeing’ initiatives that do not offer the systemic transformation or caring orientation that are needed to bring meaningful change.

Transformative, care-grounded strategies to support researcher wellbeing

One practical framework that aligns well with both transformative leadership and ethics of care is the US Surgeon General’s (2022) Framework for Workplace Mental Health and Well-Being. In our work, we drew on literature and practice to provide examples of transformative, care-grounded strategies to support researcher wellbeing. These examples fall into four key areas, which were taken from the US Surgeon General’s framework. We do not suggest that these are the best or only ways to enact transformative leadership and/or an ethic of care in higher education settings. Rather, we offer these examples as a starting point and a prompt for further thinking about what transformative, care-grounded approaches might look like in a leader’s specific context.

1. Protection from harm

An ethic of care naturally orients a leader to work to protect their staff from harm. This means prioritising both physical and psychological safety. There are many narratives of researchers leaving academia affected by trauma, burnout, or discrimination (see, for example, The Professor is Out, n.d.). Transforming this trend requires culture change. We encourage leaders to consider adopting trauma-informed approaches, which shift the culture of an organisation in ways that prioritise safety and wellbeing (SAMHSA, 2014). The practical principles of trust-based relational intervention – including felt safety, predictability, transitions, mindful engagement, and mindful awareness (Purvis et al., 2012) – can help leaders operationalise a safe environment. Creating safe, brave, and/or accountable spaces can enable staff to share their perceptions and concerns, allowing research environments to be further improved.

2. Connection and community

Leaders play a vital role in creating a culture of connection, belonging, and community (Innstrand & Grødal, 2021). Rather than the ‘one off’ events that might characterise transactional approaches to fostering connection and community, transformative approaches will seek to address systemic factors that negatively impact culture. Ongoing education and improvement in diversity, equity, access and inclusion are critical, as are healthy, effective, and safe processes for dealing with discrimination and bullying (Shore et al., 2018). Proactive strategies such as equitable access to mentoring and career development support ensure that everyone has the opportunity to flourish; regular surveys or other opportunities for staff to share their views communicate leaders’ ethic of care and commitment to shaping positive working environments for all.

3. Work-life harmony

Overwork has been a defining characteristic of many research environments and must be tackled systemically rather than suggesting (transactionally) that the problem lies with individuals and their ‘resilience’, ‘commitment’, or ‘time management.’ Policies and practices are needed that allow researchers autonomy over how work is done (for example, flexible working arrangements; right to disconnect policies), while noting that a one-size-fits-all approach is unlikely to work well for all (Lehfeldt, 2022). Gathering factual data around how research staff spend their time (and how much time they spend) can inform reviews of expectations, support systems, or processes.

4. Mattering at work

Caring for staff means letting them know that they matter – and communicating this in meaningful (not just superficial) ways. Recognition of good work; fair remuneration; equitable access to promotion and other opportunities; and equity-focused interventions all communicate that people matter and can expect to be taken care of in this research setting. Gathering and acting on staff voice also communicates powerful messages about the extent to which staff matter to their leaders or organisations.

Final thoughts

With most higher education leaders having earned their posts through success in research and teaching, there is a need for such leaders to take steps to learn from literature on leadership both within and beyond education settings. Some of the strategies highlighted in this post could be used in a range of workplace contexts and will be found in literature from other domains. Transformative leadership and care ethics certainly transcend just higher education and research settings, being used in a wide range of contexts where people seek to act with integrity and help bring about a better world.

The challenges and crises – big and small – that come upon us demand our best leadership responses. As Gallos and Bollman (2021) reflect:

The world will go on and so will most – although probably not all – of our academic institutions. The wise and thoughtful will seize this transformational moment to recalibrate and to come back stronger and better.

* Acknowledgement: Dr Sofia Georgiadou and Dr Jennifer Boswell co-authored the chapter this blog draws on. Dr Georgiadou presented on this work on the team’s behalf at the 2024 REDS Conference.