Research Leadership Development Initiative: An Experiment for a Research Career Choice

As part of the ADVANCE program, Northeastern University launched the Research Leadership Development Initiative (ReDI) in the fall of 2012 as a leadership program for associate and early full professors. The goal is to prepare these rising research scholars to lead collaborative research teams of peers in activities to create or grow centers, institutes, and/or multi-institutional collaborations. Through participation in the different program components, faculty participants will increase their skills in influencing team dynamics and project outcomes by learning how to manage and leverage differences. This paper describes how ReDI fits within Northeastern and the ADVANCE Program. ReDI goals, components, and outcomes are presented along with lessons learned from the first two ReDI cohorts.