Elevate 2025 - Applications now open!
An innovative leadership and development programme for women from minority ethnic groups (January – June 2025)
Applications for next year are now open!
Deadline for applications: Midday (12:00) Friday 1st November 2024.
Following the success of our previous cohort, we are pleased to announce that the Elevate leadership programme will again be offered for the 2024-25 academic year.
Each participant's Faculty/Division will need to contribute to a participatory programme fee of £1350 to cover costs, with no cost to the applicant.
Normally, the programme fee will come out of a staff development budget within your faculty / school / division / department. If you are unable to fund this from a local budget, please do get in touch with us at edi@exeter.ac.uk .
Elevate is a creative personal and professional development programme that acknowledges and celebrates the history, culture and diverse lived experiences of participants. It will encourage participants to reflect, explore and grow through connecting and building solidarity together.
The programme creates a unique opportunity to meet, share, support and learn together. Elevate will be a safe space where leadership concepts and ideas will be introduced whilst exploring strategies that support the navigation of systemic practices which have tended to historically fix the professional identities of women from minority ethnic backgrounds.
Elevate recognises that prospective participants are ready to embrace and take on leadership responsibilities, but face differentiated lived experiences in employment, education and in wider society from their white counterparts
Elevate will be transformational and will centre on the lived experiences and development needs of women of colour. You will be the key focus!
Who is Elevate for?
The Elevate programme is aimed at all women (including cisgender women, trans women, and any non-binary people who consider themselves included in this group) from Black, Asian or Minority ethnic backgrounds. This includes colleagues across all Academic and Professional Services pathways, from Grades C to G.
The Elevate programme brings together colleagues from across six universities in the South West of England and South Wales: Bristol, Bath, Bath Spa, Cardiff, Exeter, and UWE Bristol.
We recognise the diversity of individual identities and lived experiences, and we recognize that Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic is an imperfect term that does not fully capture the racial, cultural, and ethnic identities of women that experience structural and systematic inequality. Whenever possible, we will name programme participants as they themselves prefer to be named.
Elevate will:
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- Create spaces for participants to explore the development of their leadership and critically evaluate their professional position in Higher Education
- Introduce different leadership styles and approaches, and encourage participants to develop their own authentic leadership style and to increase their influence in institutions
- Support participants to reclaim strengths and talents as well as acknowledge their development needs and commence an action plan to meet their needs
- Empower using culturally informed methodologies including recapturing oral histories, storytelling, live capturing and centralised voicing
- Centralise participants as women of colour in the learning context, exploring their identity
Elevate Testimonials
"I found the Elevate leadership programme to be a transformative experience, significantly shaping my personal, professional, and societal contributions for the long term" - Elevate 2024 Participant
"It's helped me feel empowered to do everything I want to and make steps to achieve the goals I have set for myself. It has also helped me re-evaluate what is most important to me and will help me become a better leader." – Elevate 2023 Participant
"The programme will be like nothing you have ever experienced and you will be thankful you participated. Enter the programme with an open mind and be open to be challenged. You are a co-producer of the experience and so show up. Carve out the time to be present as much as you can. Be fearless, vulnerable, and lean into the experience." - Advice from an Elevate 2023 Participant
- Gain your line manager’s support: their active commitment to the programme (and/or an assigned sponsor) will be fundamental to your development journey. They will need to endorse your application and will be expected to advocate for you and ensure that your development time is protected. Guidance for managers can be found below.
- Check that you can make all of the session dates and provisionally book them in your calendar. You are expected to be able to attend all session dates to get the most out of your time on the programme.
- Complete the Elevate 2025 Application Form by 12:00 (Midday) on Friday 1st November at the latest.
- Ask your line manager to complete a Line Manager Endorsement Form to support your application by 12:00 (Midday) on Friday 1st November at the latest.
Candidates will be informed of the outcome of their application by the end of November 2024.
Contact us
If you have any questions about the programme, any of the application steps, are experiencing any technical difficulties or if there are any other barriers to you participating that we might be able to help with, please contact the EDI Team: edi@exeter.ac.uk
This information is intended for line managers supporting a team member who is applying for the Elevate programme. This includes information about the application process, the Elevate programme, and the line manager workshops.
Elevate 2025 Line Manager Guidance (This will download the document).
You will also need to complete an endorsement form on behalf of the team member you line manage who is applying for the programme. This needs to be completed submitted online by midday (12:00) Friday 1st November at the latest.
Line Manager Endorsement Form (opens MS Form)
Elevate Line Manager/Sponsor workshops
Managers and supervisors of participants play an important role as part of the Elevate community, whose active engagement facilitates the success and sustained impact of the programme.
Alongside the participants' programme, line managers/sponsors will attend two bespoke, complementary workshops, giving them the opportunity to engage directly with Elevate, experiencing the context of this transformative learning environment. They will be led by the Elevate programme facilitators: Dr Peggy Warren and her experienced team from the Ubele Initiative.
Who should attend these workshops?
Elevate applicants will be asked to confirm their identified sponsor as part of the application process. This should be someone who has direct responsibility and influence with regards to the individual’s work, career progression, development and wellbeing. This would normally be their line manager, but an alternative sponsor may be identified if more appropriate to the context/local structure.
For more information see Elevate 2025 Line Manager Guidance (This will download the document).
Contact Us
If you have any questions about the programme, any of the application steps, are experiencing any technical difficulties or if there are any other barriers to you supporting your team member to take part that we might be able to help with, please contact the EDI Team at edi@exeter.ac.uk
The programme will run between January and June 2025
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Participants are expected to attend all sessions of the whole programme.
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All applicants must ensure they hold the programme dates in their calendars.
We strive to make sure that our development programmes are accessible for all staff and meet your learning needs. If there are any factors which you feel would be a barrier to you accessing or participating in any of the online or offline elements of this programme, please get in touch so that we can discuss this in more detail. Please email edi@exeter.ac.uk to discuss this or any other questions.
We understand that there may be unforeseen circumstances whereby a participant is unable to attend a specific programme date. If this is the case, please get in touch as soon as possible.
Elevate is co-designed and co-facilitated by a team consisting of: Dr Peggy Warren, Researcher with an interest in gender studies and Leadership and Management Development Consultant; Dr Barbara Brown, a consultant, educator, and researcher in spaces of leadership, policy and strategy development; and Hyacinth Fraser, a trainer, consultant and coach with 30 years of leadership, management and organisational development experience (Action Learning Facilitator).
Elevate will offer an engaging and bespoke combination of interactive in-person and online sessions and resources, Action Learning sets, cross-institutional mentoring, and an individual project. More information about all of these elements will be provided in the programme handbook.
You will be connected with a mentor from one of the other participating universities, to give you a breadth of insight and experience. It is expected that you will meet online with your mentor approximately four times during the programme.
| Session | Date | Time | Venue |
| Local Cohort Welcome Event (informal) | December - Details TBC | TBC | In person, Exeter Campus - location TBC |
| Launch / Modules 1 & 2 | Wednesday 22nd January | 09:30 - 16:30 | In person, Bristol |
| Intro to Action Learning | Tuesday 28th January | 10:00-12:00 | Online |
| Action Learning Set 1 | Tuesday 4th February | 10:00-12:00 | Online |
| Module 3 | Wednesday 26th February | 09:30 - 13:00 | Online |
| Action Learning Set 2 | Tuesday 4th March | 10:00-12:00 | Online |
| Modules 4 & 5 | Wednesday 30th April | 09:30-16:30pm | In person, Bristol |
| Action Learning Set 3 | Wednesday 7th May | 10:00-12:00 | Online |
| Module 6 | Wednesday 21st May | 09:30-13:00 | Online |
| Action Learning Set 4 | Tuesday 10th June | 10:00-12:00 | Online |
| Final Day / Module 7 | Wednesday 25th June | 09:30-16:30 | In person, Bristol |
In person workshops will be held at Engineers House, Clifton, Bristol. Please discuss with your line manager about getting transport, or other associated costs covered at department level.
Please note that times may be subject to change. Please carefully check the programme information you will be sent before each session. We have avoided in person sessions during Ramadan.
As a guide, the overall time commitment to engage effectively with the programme averages approximately 1.5 days per month (including scheduled and unscheduled activities).
If successful, you will be invited to an informal introductory 1:1 with one of the programme facilitators before the start of the programme. You will also receive a programme handbook with further information about the facilitation team and the various different elements of the programme, to help you to prepare.
If you need to withdraw from the programme, please get in touch with us as soon as possible, so that we can reallocate your place.