SEK 12 million from the Knowledge Foundation for research on leadership development

The research project "System for leadership development" at Jönköping University (JU), which brings together researchers from all four schools, has been granted SEK 12 million from the Knowledge Foundation and their program Synergy.

The focus of the project is how organizations can work more strategically with leadership development and create integrated systems for this with methods that collaborate and create synergies.

The key issue is to investigate how organizations can create sustainable systems for leadership development that both contribute to organizations achieving their goals and that they can handle constant change. To achieve this, the project will collaborate with a number of companies and organizations that have a strong interest in leadership development.

“It is fantastic to have so many synergies with one project. Companies need to go from individual leadership courses to robust and sustainable systems for leadership development. At JU, we need to go from scattered projects to a systematic investment in research on business and leadership development at the entire university. With joint efforts, we contribute to the research by creating cutting-edge knowledge and competence in this area,” says Sofia Kjellström, professor of quality improvement and leadership at the School of Health and Welfare, JU, and research leader for the project.

The project takes place in collaboration with Akademikerförsäkring, Länsförsäkringar Jönköping, Frohe, JSC IT partner, KVM Golventreprenad, Granngården, Microsoft, Region Jönköping County, and Trygghetsrådet TRS.

“When academia and business collaborate in joint research projects, new ideas are born and further projects and collaborations are formed. The Knowledge Foundation's program Synergy provides unique conditions for researchers from different subject areas to collaborate on new profile areas at the university. Researchers have identified common core issues together with a number of companies and organizations,” says Yvonne Fors, program manager at the Knowledge Foundation.

In addition to Sofia Kjellström, three other researchers from JU are involved in the project. These are Gunilla Avby, School of Health and Welfare, Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic, School of Education and Communication, and Annika Engström, School of Engineering.

Cecilia Bjursell, School of Education and Communication, and Daniel Pittino, Jönköping International Business School, act as an advisory group for the project.

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