Before the GYA 2022 Annual General Meeting (AGM) online, 31 particpants – mainly newly selected GYA members – met online for a Science Leadership Workshop in May. Throughout the sessions, seasoned GYA members and alumni (see below) joined as mentors. The workshop was designed to give participants space to reflect together on how to be leaders in diverse contexts: in their research contexts, in the institutions and communities where they live and work, and in the GYA. During the workshop, participants discussed a variety of leadership related topics. Examples include effective and creative problem solving, collective leadership models, personality differences in teams and cultural dexterity.
Pre-AGM science leadership workshops have been held as a training opportunity for new members since the GYA’s 2018 AGM, expertly facilitated by InclusiveInnovation; this year was the third online workshop.
Reflections from participants
“Regarding certain attitudes or ways of doing things, I have always thought that there is one and only one correct way of doing it, and that is my way. Foresight and cultural dexterity were extremely helpful to revise that way of thinking and see differences within a group as strength. I also loved the “now what” – simply asking this question and reflecting on it helps the exterience to sink in and turn into action.”
– Éva Dékány (Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics / Eötvös University, Hungary)
“Biggest takeaway: I know exactly where I stand and in which area in need to improve myself so as to become an effective leader.”
– Lydia Rhyman (University of Mauritius)
“The workshop has strengthened my belief in the importance of cross-disciplinarycollaborations in addressing complex contemporary challenges and introduced me to theconcept of “collective leadership” to pursue these objectives!”
– Jovana Milic (University of Fribourg, Switzerland)
Contributing Mentors
A warm thank you to the following GYA members and alumni who participated in some of the new member workshops in the role of mentors, to guide and encourage new members and be there to answer questions about working within the GYA: Alexandra Dmitrieva, Amy Quandt, Anderson Shum, Bashayer Aimajed, Chibuike Udenigwe, Chris Li, Christian Ripoli, Devina Lobine, Emilija Stojmenova Duh, Farah Ouechtati, Ibraheem Alhijry, Jelena Vladic, Jia Chen, Karishma Kaushik, Kathryn Crowe, Luciana Balboa, Manuel Fernandez-Gotz, Mareli Claassens, Mirjam Brusius, Mohammed Mostajo, Nadia De Leon, Neil Guerrero-Gonzalez, Nkatha Kabira, Po-Yen Chen, Priscilla Mante, Rüstem Ertuğ Altinay, Shymaa Enany, Siok Yee Chan, Thomas Tagoe, Víctor Vilarrasa
Read more about the GYA science leadership model, and related programmes and workshops here.