Leadership as collaborative action to raise the profile of education for sustainable development in a UK university
Abstract
My reflection on practice shares an agile cross institutional and collaborative leadership approach to leading a theme that is connected to the university’s strategic themes (one being Climate Change and Net Zero). The leadership approach has led to a cross-collaboration built on trust, professional respect and a shared motivation with multi-level colleagues. Membership of the group includes Associate Pro-Vice Chancellors, academics, researchers, sustainability and environmental managers. As Principal Lecturer previously, I led a curriculum area and brought my accumulated teaching specialist knowledge and experience to that work. In making a transition from academic leadership to professional services, I argue that leadership is, from my current position, much more distributed. My reflection shares a collaborative leadership approach as enacted in the creation and maintenance of a cross-university community for education for sustainable development.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Sustainability in Higher Education
Appreciative Inquiry and Organizational Change
Organizational Learning and Leadership
Publication details
- Journal / source
- The International Journal for Academic Development
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 284–287
- Publication date
- 3 April 2026
- Language
- EN