Science, Technology & Society
Scientific and technological institutions require leaders capable of navigating rapid change, uncertainty and public responsibility.
Our Work
Leadership & Public Purpose
Building capacity to lead through complexity.
A large-scale policy convening bringing together researchers, practitioners and public leaders.
Our focus
Policies and institutions ultimately depend on people: those who design them, implement them, challenge them and build alternatives.
Yet leadership for complex public challenges requires more than individual authority. It requires the ability to work across institutions and disciplines, understand systems, use evidence, build coalitions and navigate different perspectives and forms of knowledge.
SPI approaches leadership as both a field of inquiry and an area of practice. We are interested in how people exercise leadership within institutions and networks and in creating opportunities for emerging and established leaders to strengthen their capacity for public problem-solving.
Areas of inquiry
- Public and policy leadership
- Emerging and next-generation leaders
- Leadership and institutional change
- Diaspora and cross-sector leadership
- Mentorship, policy learning and professional networks
People
SPI's leadership work draws on Fellows, researchers, practitioners and collaborators from across the Institute's policy community. SPI's fellowship program brings researchers, scholars and experienced practitioners into an interdisciplinary policy community. SPI is currently expanding its fellowship community across the Institute's six areas of work.
Related work
Africa & Global Affairs
Leadership networks, diaspora communities and international exchange can shape relationships between societies and institutions.
Institutions & Governance
Leadership is inseparable from the institutional environments in which decisions are made and implemented.
Work with us
Collaborate on Leadership & Public Purpose.
SPI welcomes collaboration with universities, foundations, leadership organizations, policy institutions and practitioners interested in developing people and networks capable of addressing complex public challenges.