BAAL Leadership in Applied Linguistics Programme 2025-2026
This four-month programme is aimed primarily at developing the leadership potential of mid-career academics within applied linguistics who have, or are expecting to move into, leadership positions within and beyond their institution. By focusing on the particular challenges and opportunities facing applied linguists, it seeks to secure and strengthen the future of the discipline, equipping applied linguistics leaders to shape, and advocate for, our subject area in demanding multidisciplinary spaces and harsh political and economic circumstances.
As evidenced in the diverse programme below, BAAL adopts a broad definition of “leadership”, recognising that leadership takes many forms and is enacted in different ways. Participants may be taking up institutional roles such as leading a department, but they may alternatively be considering external roles in research teams or learned societies, or informal leadership opportunities involving smaller groups. We are grateful to the speakers for their generosity in drawing on their varied experiences and expertise to offer input and lead discussions around what it means to be a leader in and beyond our field. The schedule of the programme can be found below and the call for expressions of interest here.
Schedule
**Launch of the Leadership in Applied Linguistics Programme**
Thursday 5th March, 2026, 10am-4pm, University of Birmingham
In this in-person launch event, you’ll meet and get to know the rest of the cohort, share your experiences, aims, and achievements, and reflect on the programme. There will be short motivational talks by applied linguists Professor Shân Wareing (Vice-Chanceller, Middlesex University), Professor Susan Hunston (University of Birmingham) and Professor Li Wei (UCL, London), followed by an interactive session on ‘How to construct a narrative for use in role applications’ by Professors Jeannette Littlemore and Suganthi John (University of Birmingham). You’ll be encouraged to build on your narrative throughout the programme with mid-way feedback from the organisers, and to see this event as a first step towards building a potential network of support for your leadership activities and ambitions.
Each of the following four online sessions will feature two talks and/or interactive workshops run by a range of inspiring leaders in and beyond applied linguistics:
Session 1: Packaging applied linguistics: how to promote a discipline
Friday 20th March, 2026, 10am-12pm, online
a) Applied linguistics: what’s in a name?
Dr Joe Spencer-Bennett, University of Birmingham
Applied linguistics has always found expression in a wide range of university departments and degree programmes. It has operated under many names, and the discipline’s success has often depended on strategic compromises. This session asks what this relationship between success and strategy looks like today, at a time of huge institutional uncertainty.
b) The value of applied linguistics from a non-applied linguistics perspective
Professor Rachel Wicaksono, University of East London
In this interactive online workshop we’ll start by discussing packaging, before turning to applied linguistics and its relationships with sister disciplines. We’ll talk about the ‘applied’ bit of our discipline and what this means to us, and what it may mean to colleagues in other disciplines that we work with, and the benefits and drawbacks of when are no overlaps between our understandings of ‘applied’. Finally, I’ll give some examples of the strengths of our discipline, and how to advocate for it within a multi-disciplinary environment by briefly describing two case studies of collaborations with a counselling psychologist and a heritage conservator. I’ll ask you to reflect on the (lack of) overlaps with your colleagues, and how you might use these to your benefit and the benefit of our discipline. I’ll then come back to how we might choose to package ourselves in our own leadership journey and how those choices may help us to get where we want to be, do good work, and enjoy ourselves along the way.
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Session 2: Early interventions: ensuring the sustainability of applied linguistics
Friday 17th April, 2026, 10am-12pm, online
a) Sustaining applied linguistics: people, power and decision-making
Professor Zhu Hua, University College London
This talk explores how applied linguists can shape decisions within institutions and academia. Drawing on my own experiences in higher education and learner societies, I reflect on what works and what doesn’t. Together, we ‘ll discuss: How do we influence others within our teams, our institutions, and in national and international contexts and why does this matter? How are decisions made in our workplaces and how can we engage, shape, and intervene in those processes?
b) Understanding subject data: where to look and what to do with it when you’ve found it
Dr Sarah Whitfield, Royal College of Music, London
In this one-hour session, join me to consider how we might deal with the many piles of data we have access to that tell the story of our subjects. How can we navigate the HESA and UCAS data – and why might we need to? In troubled times, being able to access and understand the public information about our subject, and being aware of how we can tell informed and accurate stories about the subject we love, is a vital skill. This friendly session, led by a music data specialist and digital humanities researcher, invites us all to take up the challenges of our data landscape.
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Session 3: Navigating institutional structures and support: issues of agency and social justice
Friday 8th May, 2026, 10am-12pm, online
a) Managing up and mentoring: advice for marginalized and minority scholars
Professor Lauren Hall-Lew, University of Edinburgh
The academics who need to advocate for applied linguistics and related disciplines are often themselves members of marginalized and minority groups. This places us at a clear disadvantage in spaces of management and decision making, as the ‘higher up’ the management ladder one climbs, the less diverse those spaces become. For many mid-career scholars, these spaces can be novel contexts for the experiences of discrimination and disadvantage that we’re otherwise used to, creating new feelings of isolation and self-doubt. In this talk I’ll discuss a university-wide mentoring scheme I developed to support Global Majority academics through these experiences. I’ll argue how the establishment of such schemes can not only support individual scholars but can also be leveraged for personal career advancement, particularly within neoliberal universities paying lip service to EDI.
b) Unleashing creativity: how applied linguists can thrive in over-regulated universities
Professor Kristina Hultgren, The Open University, UK
In a time of political, economic and social upheaval, applied linguists are uniquely positioned to offer creative and agile responses. Yet, the bureaucratic structures of modern universities often stifle innovation and limit impact. This interactive workshop invites participants to explore strategies for reclaiming their creative agency, navigating institutional constraints and making meaningful interventions toward a more just and equitable world.
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Session 4: Research leadership in an educational context: strategy, culture and change
Friday 26th June, 2026, 10am-12pm, online
a) Balancing the demands of research and teaching leadership
Professor Annamaria Pinter, University of Warwick
Based on my own experience at Warwick, this webinar will focus on the importance of being strategic when juggling teaching and research, while undertaking various management and leadership responsibilities in an applied linguistics department. The session will provide opportunities for discussion, sharing experiences and brainstorming some useful strategies to fall back on.
b) Leading change to support an empowering research culture
Professor Laura Domínguez, University of Southampton
The aim of this session is to explore how building a positive research culture can be supported in HE institutions and, specifically, in departments of Applied Linguistics. The session will foster discussions with the view to explore what research culture means to the group, share good practice and recognize where changes are needed. This session will allow the participants to reflect on challenges and opportunities to support collaborative research in a setting which fosters a positive research environment.
Successful applicants are expected to attend the launch in person, unless your circumstances do not permit this, and to attend at least three of the four online sessions. You can find more about the Call for expressions of interest here.