Since 2012 we have been organizing our Academic Leadership Journey, a programme that supports professors to not only be brilliant scientists but also great leaders! Over the years, the programme has become more successful, attracting participants from universities and research institutes from Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemburg, involving also participants from other countries and continents, working within these BeNeLux institutes.

So we started dreaming of “Academic Leadership International”, an academic leadership development programme for an entirely international community, with participants belonging to Research Institutes and universities in European countries beyond the Benelux.

And then… we got a mail from someone from Washington University saying, “I'm reaching out because a colleague at Hasselt University gave your Academic Leadership Journey training rave reviews and my colleagues and I at the University of Washington would be extremely interested in participating in a similar training”…

Let’s be honest: this opportunity was way beyond what we had dreamt of when thinking of ‘Academic Leadership International’! We started sparring and put together a tailor made program that got people interested to participate.

End of September we gave an online presentation about the Journey, and immediately afterwards we got the following message in our mailbox: “Thank you for your excellent presentation.  I'm pleased to tell you that the faculty were unanimously in favor of proceeding with the True Colours program!  We're all really excited to work with you :)”.

So… end March 2022 off we go, to the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences which is a faculty within the College of the Environment of the University of Washington. So excited!