Aurora is a leadership development training programme aimed at women and those who identify as a woman. It aims to encourage those in academic and professional roles to think of themselves as leaders; to develop leadership skills and to help institutions like UCD optimise the leadership potential of women and those who identify as a woman.
Aurora originated through the Leadership Foundation in the UK, in response to Professor Louise Morley’s (2012) stimulus paper called ‘Women in Higher Education Leadership’ Absences and Aspirations’.
The programme is now delivered by Advance HE and it provides, in an interactive online learning environment, core and adaptive leadership skills and knowledge over six stand-alone days. These sessions are delivered online over a five month period.
The Aurora programme comprises of a combination of development days; self-directed learning from on-line resources; cross-institutional action learning sets and in-house mentoring. Training is delivered in an online format with attendance of between 80-100 participants.
Making an application
The application process for the 2022-2023 programme is now closed. Applications for the next in-take are expected to open in Trimester 1, 2023/24.
Information relating to the 2022/23 programme is available via the following links:
Aurora Information for Applicants
Aurora Guidance in Choosing a Mentor
For more information about Aurora, you can visit the AdvanceHE website.
Participants
The programme was established in 2013 and has run in a number of venues in the UK and Ireland, including London; Manchester; Bristol and Glasgow and Dublin. UCD has supported over 143 women to participate in the programme since 2015, demonstrating the University's commitment to leadership development and gender equality.
- Aurora Participants 2015 (Pilot)
- Aurora Participants 2016
- Aurora Participants 2016-2017
- Aurora Participants 2017-2018
- Aurora Participants 2018-2019
- Aurora Participants 2019-2020
- Aurora Participants 2020-2021
- Aurora Participants 2021-2022
Mentors
Aurora requires that the University puts systems in place to help support and develop participants on their Aurora experience. This includes having mentors in place to work with participants; having an overall UCD Aurora Champion and also support and liaison through the People and Organisation Development, UCD HR. Although the development days are run over 5 months, the mentoring arrangement continues throughout a calendar year to help participants maximise the benefit of the programme.
- 2015-2016 Aurora List of Mentors
- 2016-2017 Aurora List of Mentors
- 2017-2018 Aurora List of Mentors
- 2018-2019 Aurora List of Mentors
- 2019-2020 Aurora List of Mentors
- 2020-2021 Aurora List of Mentors
- 2021-2022 Aurora List of Mentors
Professor Joe Carthy is currently the overall Aurora Programme Champion and Katharine Slattery, People and Organisation Development Specialist, is your contact in HR. Should you have any queries in relation to Aurora in UCD, please contact peopledevelopment@ucd.ie.
If you have questions relating to other leadership or management development please discuss this with your Line Manager or Head of School/Unit at your annual P4G conversation.