The Academy of Medical Sciences has opened applications for their innovative cross-sector leadership programme - Future Leaders in Innovation, Enterprise and Research (FLIER).
The Academy’s new programme will take a small group of emerging leaders working in the health and life sciences sector into a two year course alongside their day job.
The aim is to create a network of people with the skills to improve collaboration across the health and life sciences sector. By the end of the programme, we will hopefully have developed leaders of the future who can forge new connections between academia, industry, the NHS and government and policy organisations, to drive innovation.
FLIER participants will experience a wide range of bespoke activities - from workshops, webinars, coaching and networking with current leaders, to immersion experiences in other organisations. This will all culminate in a cross-sector project of each participant’s own design, immersing them in a new way of working, as well as another sector.
Dr Melanie Lee FMedSci, Chief Scientific Officer at BTG plc and member of the FLIER Programme development task force, said:
“It’s fantastic that FLIER will take people who have been submerged in a single environment and help them spread their wings and work collaboratively in previously unknown territory. They will gain insider knowledge about cultural differences and financial drivers in sectors that differ from their own, building a network that will lead to innovation.”
Applicants for the programme must be established within their own organisation and in a position where there is the potential to effect change. They must also have the support to undertake a work-based, cross-sector project. We are looking for key characteristics such as motivation, vision and the drive and potential to make a difference and lead change across the sectors. The participants will be chosen through a competitive selection process.
Professor Sir John Bell GBE FRS HonFREng FMedSci, Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Oxford and author of the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy, said:
“To best help patients and the public, the life sciences sector needs to have access to a pool of talented people who are eager to work together and can do so with ease and efficiency.
“The Academy has an excellent track record of fostering interdisciplinary collaborations so is ideally placed to connect and train the leaders of tomorrow. Their new programme will take a team of up-and-coming leaders and, using a combination of tested methods and new technology, teach them to develop new collaborative skills.
“I look forward to meeting the first cohort of FLIER participants to discuss their vision for the future of the sector.”
Professor Sir Robert Lechler PMedSci, President of The Academy of Medical Sciences, said:
“I am convinced that the greatest scientific discoveries to come will be facilitated by people who can work across traditional academic disciplines, and feel at home in multidisciplinary teams.
“Our new FLIER programme will develop a new type of leader, people who can disrupt the status quo and overcome barriers to improve health in the UK and all over the world.”
This pilot programme will be funded by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Talent Fund, a pledge from a philanthropic foundation and contributions from participants’ employers.
To find out more about our new programme for Future Leaders in Innovation, Enterprise and Research, visit our FLIER Programme page.
To support the work of the Academy, visit our dedicated Supporters page.