Future Leaders Workshop
Thu 11 Sept
|NEC Campus
*Additional limited places now available.* Apply to attend our Future Leaders workshop in collaboration with RBOC.
Time & Location
11 Sept 2025, 10:30 – 16:30
NEC Campus, Pendigo Way, Marston Green, Birmingham B40, UK
About the event
ADDITIONAL LIMITED PLACES NOW AVAILABLE!
Effective decision-making is essential for future leaders facing crises that extend beyond known capacities and preparedness. In such scenarios, where systems may be overwhelmed or behave unpredictably, leaders must make timely, informed, and ethical choices under pressure. Strong decision-making supports adaptive thinking, reduces uncertainty, and fosters trust—key components of resilience in complex, evolving crises. By strengthening this capability, the RBOC and SPRITE NetworkPlus will be hosting a one day event to develop our future research leaders to respond not just to expected threats, but also to the unprecedented, ensuring more robust and flexible responses in the face of future shocks.
This participatory event will use fictional scenarios based on real world events as time based decision making exercises. The first choices made by participant groups will impact on what happens afterwards and what their next decisions will need to be.
Workshop Elements:
Effective Decision Making
Working in groups, participants will be presented with a scenario where key decisions must be made to resolve the issues at hand.
Each group will be given different responsibilities within the larger context. Working together, they will need to choose from the presented options. Each choice will have consequences and affect the overall situation.
After an allotted amount of time, the group will be asked to 'lock in' their choice and the scenario will move on, factoring their decision into the next key decision moment.
Encouraging Resilience
The workshop will run through 4-6 decision making events for all of the groups with specific time allocated for each. After this, the workshop leader will evaluate the choices with all of the participants, looking at the ways in which they came to a decision, consider each group's dynamics and go through the ramifications of these choices, particularly in the way they interact with other group's decisions.
Criteria and funding:
This is a joint event between SPRITE+ and RBOC. Due to funding rules this is strictly open only to those currently employed at a UK higher education institution as a teacher or researcher. For those with a PhD this must have been completed within in the last 5 years (2020). For those without a PhD you will need to be in the early stages of your career. This event is not open to current PhD students.
For successful applicants:
You will receive a link to a registration form which must be completed as soon as possible - failure to do this may result in your place being passed to someone on the waiting list. We will book standard class rail travel for you.
If you choose to drive, there is free parking at the venue and we will cover mileage costs - please note that this will be reimbursed via expenses. Accommodation will be made available on the 10th September for those with journeys of more than 3 hours. Catering will be provided on the day. Please note that we will not be covering any additional subsistence costs.
If you have any questions please email spriteplus@manchester.ac.uk