The HRD and Leadership Research Unit (HRDL) draws its main membership from the HRM subject group of LBS and also has close links with the Centre for Diversity in the Professions and the Policy Research Institute. Members of the Unit have and do conduct funded and commissioned research and recent projects include joint projects for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the Learning and Skills Council, the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and Wm. Morrisons Supermarkets. Our expertise and interests cover all aspects of human resources and with nearly 30 doctoral students and an active publications strategy members of the Unit make a leading contribution to developing HR knowledge and practice. Members have also recently written the widely praised text Human Resource Development: Theory and Practice, published by Palgrave Macmillan. 

The Unit has a new collaborative initiative on leadership which offers an opportunity to employers to shape as well as benefit from academic research. The initiative is a three year longitudinal study on developing talented leaders planned to commence in autumn 2010. The key research questions are;

. What processes are adopted by employers to identify and select leadership talent, and how and why do these vary by sector?

. How do employers develop identified leadership talent and how and why does this vary by sector?

. What measures and indicators do employers use to assess effectiveness of leadership development and how and why does this vary by sector?

. Which models and processes of leadership talent development are most effective in varying contexts; e.g. organisation size, economic sector and industry/market.

Employing organisations are being invited to support and sponsor the research project with a range of exclusive and valuable benefits available to those who choose to do so. A strict limit on the number of sponsors is being applied to ensure maximum benefit to both the research team and each and every sponsor.