Research leadership development and academic inequality: how institutional and national academies shape access, research culture, and career progression

Research leadership is central to shaping research culture, advancing institutional excellence, and fostering innovation, yet opportunities for leadership development remain unevenly distributed across disciplines, career stages, and professional roles. Inequalities in access risk reproducing privilege in academic research, raising questions about how programmes can support equitable participation and career progression. This paper examines equality, research culture, and career progression in research leadership development through a comparative case study of two research leadership academies: a university-based academy open to researchers across disciplines (Kingston University Rise Research Leadership Academy) and a national academy for applied health and care research (National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Research Leadership Academy). The study draws on survey data from six cohorts (2023–2025; n = 464), equality, diversity and inclusion monitoring, and longitudinal follow-up at 12 and 24 months. Findings indicate that while both academies enhanced participants’ self-reported leadership skills, confidence, and strategic collaboration, differences in institutional context and programme design shaped who accessed leadership development, and how learning was applied in practice. Inclusive pedagogies, including action learning sets, mentoring, and flexible online delivery, supported participation across career stages and research roles, particularly for applied researchers. Structural and organisational factors affected leadership gains, highlighting persistent barriers to equitable outcomes. The paper contributes to higher education research by conceptualising research leadership development as an equality issue, showing how institutional and national academies can both mitigate and reproduce inequalities, influence research culture, and shape careers. The findings offer evidence-informed insights for designing more inclusive and sustainable research leadership in higher education.