Aurora

About

Aurora is Advance HE's leadership development initiative for women. It is run as a unique partnership bringing together leadership experts and higher education institutions to take positive action to address the under-representation of women in leadership positions in the sector. Since its launch in 2013 more than 15,000 women from over 200 different institutions across the UK and Ireland have participated in Aurora.

Aurora is for women, up to senior lecturer level or the professional services equivalent, working in a university, college or related organisation who would like to develop and explore issues relating to leadership roles and responsibilities.

MIC supports female staff to undertake the Aurora programme and to develop the leadership skills and networks of female staff (Action 5.3.9, MIC Athena SWAN Action Plan).

Keep an eye out for emails from the office of EDII seeking expression of interests from staff for the programme.

Aurora Dates

Aurora Dates & Content

The 2026/27 programme will be delivered on the following dates:

Thursday 8 October: Intro Webinar - online (10am - 12.30pm)
Thursday 15 October: Identity, Impact and Voice - online (10am - 3pm)
Thursday 19 November: Core Leadership Skills - online (10am - 3pm)
Wednesday 13 January: Action Learning Set 1 - online (10am - 3pm)
Thursday 4 February: Politics and Influence - online (10am - 3pm)
Monday 1 March 2027: Adaptive Leadership Skills online (10am - 3pm)
Friday 30 April: Your Future in Higher Education - Dublin (9.30am - 4pm)
Thursday 13 May: Action Learning Set 2 - delegates self-host - online (10am - 3pm)

The Aurora programme is a mix of development days and action learning sets.

Participants will be asked to:

Attend the introduction webinar which will introduce the aims and objectives of Aurora, along with a talk from an inspirational guest speaker
Attend each of the four development days, and the two action learning set days
Undertake self-directed learning throughout Aurora, aligned with development interests
Commit to working with a mentor
Be prepared to access leadership opportunities and champion for change

If you would like to participate, please complete the expression of interest form here. Deadline for expression of interest is Friday 11 September 2026.

Aurora Alumni Events

Aurora Alumni Graduates Presentation

We celebrate our Aurora alumni graduates annually with a presentation of their Aurora certificates and badges to participants. Past participants and mentors share their experiences of the programme and answer questions from those interested in pursuing the course in the future.