The "Lead After Leave" project aims to bring together researchers, institutional leaders, and sector stakeholders to inform new policies and practices.
Led by four UKRI Future Leaders Fellows, Lead After Leave will examine the impact of parental leave on academics and their research teams.
A launch event, held at the University of Birmingham on Tuesday 24 March, marked the beginning of this important initiative by bringing together academics, researchers and colleagues from professional services from higher education institutions across the UK involved in developing and implementing research culture policies.
Kicking off the launch event, project co-leads Dr Sophie Cox (University of Birmingham) and Dr Anna Muggeridge (Worcester University) explained the rationale for Lead After Leave: to create a body of evidence for how parental leave shapes leadership trajectories, career progression, and team dynamics in UK higher education. With growing attention on equality, diversity, and inclusion across the sector, Lead After Leave will run a series of focus groups throughout April and May 2026 to generate new data to inform more supportive and inclusive policies and practices.
The launch included a presentation by Susan Squire (Diversity and Policy Specialist, University of Birmingham), who highlighted significant diversity across the higher education sector in parental leave offerings and identified a disconnect between policy intentions and their implementation.
Nate Belgrave (Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility Manager, University of Manchester) shared promising data from a parental leave support scheme available in the School of Natural Sciences. Highlighting that providing academics with additional resources can make a meaningful difference to career momentum during an extended parental leave period.
In the afternoon, led by project co-lead Dr Lucia Corsini (University of Oxford), attendees shared examples of best-practice support for planning and returning from parental leave. Alongside this, the group unpicked the support that is currently missing and routes to drive the changes necessary to ensure academic researchers and their teams are not left feeling disadvantaged due to parental leave choices.
Discussions at the event underscored the need for a deeper understanding of how parental leave affects not only individual researchers but also their colleagues, collaborators, and wider institutional cultures. The project will explore these dynamics in detail, with a particular focus on leadership, inclusion, and sustainable career pathways.
By capturing lived experiences and generating new insights, the Lead After Leave project seeks to contribute to positive change across the academic landscape. Its findings will support universities, funders, and policymakers in developing more effective approaches to supporting researchers before, during, and after parental leave.
Dr Virginia De Cesare (University of Dundee), co-lead for Lead After Leave, summarised the launch: "Today highlighted that improving support for planning and taking any type of parental leave in higher education is essential to fostering a more inclusive and resilient research ecosystem."
Further information about the project may be found at: leadafterleave.com
Associate Professor in Healthcare Technologies
Staff profile for Dr Sophie Cox, School of Chemical Engineering at the University of Birmingham.
