Inside Track | Our new draft values are ready for you to review

It is now time to look at the draft values we’ve all helped to create.

Inside Track: Your part in The Big Leeds Conversation. June 2021

In July, we came together as a community to discuss what behaviours we should expect of each other, what we enjoy about working or studying here at the University of Leeds, and how we can become a values-led institution.  

The Big Leeds Conversation had a huge response – with more than 3,000 staff, students and post graduate researchers taking part. Nearly 54,000 ideas, comments and votes across the conversation have been carefully analysed by our independent partners, Clever Together, and this has been organised to identify key themes and trends. 

The first phase of the conversation highlighted the importance to our community of expanding the horizons of knowledge and practice in collaboration. And to do this, we must not only be forward thinking, protect freedom of expression and have the courage to take risks, but we must value, foster and nurture inclusive communities, kindness, compassion and personal integrity.  

The Conversation also saw staff, students and postgraduate researchers raise some challenging issues outside of the questions that we asked. We are already taking steps to improve the experience for our University community and I recently shared three pledges with you that set out how we aim to create a Fairer Future for All.  

I thank everybody for their insightful contributions over three weeks of discussion, making our online conversation the largest we’ve held at Leeds. From this, the first version of our draft values framework has emerged and is ready for your feedback. 

Get ready to check and challenge the results 

This November, you’ll be invited to the final phase of The Big Leeds Conversation to have your say on what is ‘strong’, ‘wrong’ or ‘missing’ from our draft values and behaviours framework, in a simple online survey. 

On Monday 1 November, you’ll receive an email from Clever Together with a unique survey link to review the draft framework, with the opportunity to comment on the draft values – including the 15 behaviours that underpin them.  

As before, you can contribute your ideas from any internet-connected device, at any time that suits you, and your feedback is anonymous and can’t be seen by others. We’ll also be providing paper copies of the feedback survey to our offline colleagues. 

After this ‘check and challenge’ phase is complete, we will assess the results and share our new values in the new year. From there, the values will be embedded and reflected in University policies and underpin our community and culture. 

New values for a fairer future 

Reviewing our draft values framework is a great opportunity for our staff, students and postgraduate researchers to once again join together in an inclusive, shared effort that will establish how we work and study at Leeds for the next decade and beyond.  

By coming together through our shared values, the University of Leeds will be a fantastic  place to work and study – a University that is socially active, that treats every member of its community with fairness and respect, and works to make the world a better and more equal place through its ground-breaking education and research. 

We have come a long way to collaboratively create our draft values, and the final process of refining them is a community effort. I hope you’ll take this unique opportunity to feedback your views, and help make the University a truly values-led institution that builds a positive, fairer future for all.    

Professor Simone Buitendijk 
Vice-Chancellor, University of Leeds   

The final phase of The Big Leeds Conversation begins on Monday 1 November and closes on Friday 12 November.

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