Project Leadership for Sustainable Futures

New for 2025, the Project Leadership for Sustainable Futures short course is an opportunity for individuals who are looking to take on or expand their leadership responsibilities in projects to develop their understanding and skills on leadership, future making and governance with an underpinning of sustainability. In today’s project environment, it is essential that all individuals with leadership responsibilities – not just project leaders – broaden their expertise on how to lead complex projects whilst balancing tensions around sustainability, delivering outcomes and value as well as embracing new technological developments. 

Over a three-day period, the course will explore latest developments in project leadership such as collective leadership, the role of projects in future making, and governance considerations for sustainable project leadership.

The course has been developed by the Leeds Centre for Projects at the University of Leeds. The Leeds Centre for Projects is a globally leading centre of excellence advancing the knowledge in project management research and education and creating impact through engagement with industry, government and third sector organisations. The academic expertise behind the course is shaping the current discourse and underpinned by relevant industry experience.

This course is designed for mid-career to senior project professionals with at least seven years of relevant experience managing complex, high-impact projects. It is especially valuable for Chartered Project Professionals (ChPP) who aim to further their skills and knowledge of leading projects and who need to demonstrate continued professional development (CPD), with this course contributing directly to their annual CPD hours.

The strategic advantages for your organisation are:

• Application of cutting-edge techniques and strategies in project leadership 

• Raising the level of ambition and quicken the pace of change with respect to sustainability

• Development of organisational expertise in an increasingly important area

Day 1: The role of projects for future making and sustainable futures
•    Value creation through leadership and projects
•    Ethics of project leadership
•    Sustainability by and of the project

Day 2: Project leadership
•    Collective leadership
•    AI and project leadership
•    Outcomes of project leadership

Day 3: Governance for sustainable project leadership
•    Governance approaches for sustainable project outcomes
•    Compliance mechanisms
•    Roles, responsibilities and relationships
•    Stakeholder engagement in the context of sustainable project leadership

On the evening of day one there will be a drinks reception to connect with fellow delegates, followed by a course dinner on day two for further networking. 

Professor Christine Unterhitzenberger

Professor Christine Unterhitzenberger is a Professor of Project Management, Director of the Leeds Centre for Projects and a Chartered Project Professional. Her work on project governance, behaviour and sustainability is internationally leading and she is regularly invited to share her expertise with professional and academic audiences. As Associate Editor of the International Journal of Project Management, the leading journal in the field, she is responsible for research on project leadership and behavioural aspects in projects. She is the former Chair of the Association for Project Management’s Research Advisory Group and a current member of the Major Project Association’s Studies and Knowledge Committee. Prior to her career in academia, she worked as a project manager on major construction projects in Germany.

 

Dr. Dicle Kortantamer

Dr Dicle Kortantamer is a Lecturer in Project Management, and a Chartered Project Professional. Her areas of expertise are leadership, time-related issues (e.g., acceleration of projects), organisational transformation and value creation. Her research has been featured in the Project journal, Association of Project Management reports and podcast, and the leading academic journals in the field. Dicle is an editorial board member of the Project Leadership & Society journal, and an active member of the Major Projects Association’s Transformation Network and the Association of Project Management Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire Network. Prior to her career in academia, she led information technology driven organisational transformation projects, programmes and portfolios in the financial services industry.

 

Dr Luca Sabini 

Dr Luca Sabini is an Associate Professor in Project Management with internationally recognised expertise in sustainability research and the Programme Leader for our MSc Engineering Project Management. His work focuses on developing an in depth understanding of sustainability in different contexts, conflicts of interests over sustainability objectives and sustainability transitions. He is widely published in this area and driving the international research agenda. He is a member of APM’s Resarch Advisory Group and Programme Chair for the European Academy of Management Project Organising SIG.

Course Fee: £3,500 (VAT exempt) three-day course (Monday 17 – Wednesday 19 March 2025)
Fee include: 

• cost of tuition

• course materials

• light refreshments and lunches

• drinks reception at the end of day one

• course dinner on the evening of day two

Accommodation is not included in the course fee. Please see the accommodation tab for details of Leeds City Centre hotels.

View our terms and conditions

The course venue will be Nexus at the University of Leeds:

Nexus
Discovery Way
University of Leeds
Leeds
LS2 3AA 

Travelling to Nexus

Please note, accommodation is not included in the course fee. 

If you need accommodation a selection of Leeds City Centre hotels and prices can be viewed and booked via this link.

If you’d like to discuss the content or suitability for the course please contact Christine Unterhitzenberger (Course director) directly C.Unterhitzenberger@leeds.ac.uk 

For any general or registration enquiries please get in touch with the CPD team:

CPD Conference and Events Unit
Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences 
University of Leeds,
Leeds
LS2 9JT

T: +44 (0)113 343 8104 / 2494

E: cpd@engineering.leeds.ac.uk

Stay up to date with the latest course news and developments by following the CPD, Conference and Events Unit on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Follow the Leeds Centre for Projects LinkedIn page.