Poetics of Leadership Conference - Sept 2018 Ambleside Lake District

Announcing an international conference in the heart of the Lake District

7th-9th September 2018, Ambleside Lake District Campus, University of Cumbria, UK. 

Decision-makers need to be bold and agile to help their organisations and communities respond to rapid changes in their environments. Actions based on existing patterns of thought and behaviour will not suffice. What stimulates the necessary creativity to think afresh about contexts and choices? In this two-day event, we will explore methods available for leadership development.

Topics will include (but not be limited to): Creative writing as a method for personal leadership development, poetry as an aid for exploring emotions, the visual and performing arts as a means of enabling new ideas, storytelling as a method for leadership communications, physical play as a means of reducing inhibitions, and outdoor activities as opportunities for deepening insight. We will experience such methods and discuss them in the context of both classical and contemporary theories on the role of creativity and arts in personal and social change. For inspiration we will draw on the creative heritage of the cultural landscape of the English Lake District, now recognised by UNESCO.

The conference is intended for academics, practitioners, postgraduate students and anyone else interested in the conference theme. The aim is to host contributions that break narrow disciplinary boundaries. Alongside conventional presentation formats, such as keynotes, paper and poster sessions and workshops, there will be contributions that take a more embodied and interactive approach. An optional outdoor activity will also be offered. We anticipate lively debate about the structure and form of academic learning, and the responsibility of higher education to widen horizons rather than narrow them.

The conference takes place in a historic campus in the heart of a National Park and UNESCO world heritage site, nestled in amongst beautiful hills and lakes that have attracted hikers and writers to the Lake District for centuries. On the Saturday, a selection of short activities outside the conference venue will be offered.

Professor Jonathan Gosling and Professor Richard Little will give keynotes. The conference is co-chaired by Professor Jem Bendell (University of Cumbria), Charlotte Van Bulow (Crossfields Institute) and Professor Marcelo da Veiga (Alanus). The event starts at 4pm on Friday 7th September and runs to 5pm on 8th, with an optional day of self-organised activities on Sunday 9th. 

Call for papers

Contributions are invited from academics, practitioners and postgraduate students. The organisers would particularly like to encourage contributions that break narrow disciplinary boundaries. Contributions may take one of the following formats:

1. Research Presentation

This is a standard research presentation of 15 minutes maximum followed by 5 minutes for discussion. Research presentations must be accompanied by full submitted articles (3000 to 8000 words) which will be available on the conference website from before the event. Abstracts will be peer reviewed and some may be asked to submit a poster and pitch instead.

2. Poster & Pitch

An A0 poster plus a three-minute pitch in a themed room followed by time for the audience to interact with individual presenters. These sessions attract a special interest audience and provide great networking opportunities. Poster & pitch may focus on research or practice exchange.

3. Practice Exchange

This is a presentation or delivery of a practice in leadership development, broadly defined. Sessions may be either 20 or 40 minutes long.

Submissions

The submission of proposals will be in the form of an abstract of 400 words (max) excluding references. You should include a list of up to five key references to accompany your abstract. You should also indicate which format you are proposing (paper, poster, practice) and include a short personal biography.

Please email submissions to Fergus Anderson by January 30th 2018 (fergus@crossfieldsinstitute.com).

Successful participants will be notified by March 1st 2018.

When developing submissions, participants may find the following article to be useful background reading:

Jem Bendell, Neil Sutherland, Richard Little, (2017) "Beyond unsustainable leadership: critical social theory for sustainable leadership", Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, Vol. 8 Issue: 4, pp.418-444. From here. 

Registration

There is no participation fee for the conference, but there will be a charge for food and drink. Key is to submit your ideas for session or papers before our January 30th deadline (as above). Advanced priority registration begins on November 1st 2017. General registration begins on March 1st 2018. Both from here. 

Accommodation

Accommodation is available from the University at £35 pounds per night (ensuite, not including breakfast) and can be reserved directly via kirsty.mills@cumbria.ac.uk.

The Context for the Conference

The Poetics of Leadership conference follows on in a series of Collaborative Research Conferences organised by the partners in previous years. Since 2013, Crossfields Institute have co-organised a series of conferences in collaboration with the Institute for Philosophy and Aesthetics at Alanus University (Bonn, Germany). For each conference, a third partner has also been invited in to co-design, co-organise and co-host the conference. Past conferences were organised with the University of Kent and the University of Gloucestershire. The most recent was on Leadership, Ethics and Working with Unknowing (10th-11th March 2017) with University of the West of England’s Leadership Centre (Bristol Business School). The event was attended by scholars in ethics, organisation studies, leadership education and related fields; practitioners, executives, managers and students from a range of universities and institutions. The conference attracted attention and participation from an international contingent of interested scholars: www.crossfieldsinstitute.com/higher-education-research/research-conferences

Both Alanus University and Crossfields Institute are interested in re-thinking higher education and exploring ways that academic learning can serve the real cultural and spiritual needs of our time, as well as the purely economic. Part of the aim with these conferences is to make links with institutions, departments and individuals who share this interest. Each conference is focused on a specific theme, but the aim is to invite contributions that break narrow disciplinary boundaries.

For the current conference, Crossfields Institute and Alanus University have collaborated with The Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS) at Cumbria University. IFLAS has co-organised research conferences on leadership and wellbeing for the past years with Brathay Trust, including a major international festival in 2015. www.leadingwell.org Working with Crossfields and Alanus University for a joint conference in 2018 is a natural combination of expertise and networks.

Conference programme details will be published here in early 2018.