Course information
We are building:
- a global network of passionate and committed women leaders
- a leadership toolkit to drive change and deliver a more sustainable and inclusive food system
The WE Lead Food programme is designed for people who are a women and:
- Have a passion and commitment to drive the transformation a more sustainable food system
- Currently in, or have been in, a leadership* position in the food system.
We love diversity, and so all backgrounds and disciplines are welcome, from research, business, policy, and civil society.
We are currently open to applications for women who are committed to driving change within the food sector, from all over the world.
*We don’t discriminate on age and take a broad view on leadership from graduates who have taken a leadership role amongst their peers, founders of local charities, public sector managers, entrepreneurs, senior managers in industry and more.
This programme provides you with the space and time you need for more strategic and innovative thinking. We will work with you to:
- explore and develop your entrepreneurial self and your leadership self,
- define your vision for a more sustainable food system,
- devise a plan to realise your vision.
You will also connect with women from across the world, from diverse professional backgrounds, who share your passion and commitment to creating a better food system.
Level: Mastery
Course duration: 8 weeks – the course will start in early October 2023, and end in late November 2023.
100% online
- Language: English
- Certificate of completion
Application structure

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What will you learn?
You will learn the following competencies:
- Food Systems:
- Develop strategies to address current and future sustainability challenges using systems approaches
- Design innovative responses to address sustainability challenges in the food system
- Entrepeneurship:
- Create opportunities for value creation
- Mobilise resources to create sustainable value for others
- Design and implement effective actions to deliver impact
- Problem Solving:
- Appraise the problem space to identify current and future needs
- Mobilise effective methodologies to generate new ideas
- Appraise the validity of new ideas and co-create sustainable solutions
- Critical Thinking:
- Collect, analyse, interpret and report information to develop sustainable solutions to current and future challenges
- Appraise unintended consequences of any course of action to devise ethical goals
- Leadership:
- Implement a food system innovation project in a particular work or study context
- Communication:
- Identify, engage with and respond to stakeholder needs
- Develop strategies to deliver effective communications approaches
- Translate complex ideas for different audiences
- Technology Management:
- Educate and support others to use emerging technologies in (radical or breakthrough) innovation processes
- Challenge others to apply technologies to different problem spaces
Structure & Modules
During the WE Lead Food programme, we will work with you to challenge and progress your individual development plan. Throughout the process, you will have access to an expert group of industry, academic and policy specialists, a cross-sector industry leaders’ network and the tools to leverage both entrepreneurial and collective leadership ways of working.
The programme is structured around a combination of talks, facilitated group work, individual work, 1-2-1 clinics and networking, providing you with the optimum environment in which to shape your ideas, get support, learn new tools and build collaborative relationships which last well beyond the programme.
WE Lead Food overview – from 3 October – 28 November 2023
Tuesdays and Thursdays from 15:00 CET – 18.15 CET
Optional networking and 121 clinics from 18:15 – 19:00 CET
- Week 1: Leading Food Sustainability, High Performance Teams
- Week 2: Entrepreneurial Competences in Innovation Ecosystems
- Week 3: Motivating Knowledge Workers, Effectual Visioning
- Week 4: Creating Collective Value, Conflict in Organisations
- Week 5: Horizon Results Booster
- Week 6: Connecting for Leadership, Pitch and Pledge
- Week 7: Building Resilient Organisations, Leading EDI in Organisations
- Week 8: Leading Systemic Change
*Sessions are subject to change. WE Lead participants will be notified of any changes to the programme.
**As national holidays are accommodated as much as possible, there will be no sessions on the 12th, 24th, 26th Oct, or 9th Nov 2023.
The afterparty
We know how important continued support and development is, so we won’t leave you hanging. WE Lead Food is designed to have a strong alumni network which helps our awesome agents of change to stay in touch with their cohort. Everyone who takes part in WE Lead Food, will automatically be invited to our afterparty.
The afterparty
We know how important continued support and development is, so we won’t leave you hanging. WE Lead Food is designed to have a strong alumni network which helps our awesome agents of change to stay in touch with their cohort.
Everyone who takes part in WE Lead Food, will automatically be invited to our afterparty.
Participation Fees
The full course fees (application deadline: 15th September 2023):
RIS country* citizens fee – 850 Euros
Non-RIS/Global citizens – 1,250 Euros
Early Bird Discounts (For applications submitted before the 17th July 2023):
RIS country citizens early bird fee – 175 Euros
Non-RIS/Global citizens early bird fee – 350 Euros
*All prices are excluding applicable taxes.
Career Opportunities
As well as the personal development you will gain from the WE Lead Food programme, the benefits do not stop there.
Our WE Lead Food community is global, with members from Mexico to Singapore, and Demark to South Africa and programme alumni get automatic access to this community. Being part of this community of supportive, inspiring women leaders provides a range of collaboration and career opportunities, from employment to co-creation of new projects and ventures, collaboration on grant applications, pitching for funding, and more.
Testimonials
The WE Lead Food Programme enabled me to visualise the changes required to improve our tech transfer activities and create a clear plan to test our assumptions and develop a new type of intervention that would allow our team to become more effective. The training helped me build the confidence required to progress despite the uncertainty and challenges encountered along the way. I was also hugely impressed by the network that has been developed by the programme managers on the back of the training. I have become part of this vibrant group of women from all backgrounds and operating in different segments of the industry and in other areas of the sector too (academia, government, NGOs). I would thoroughly recommend the EIT programme to other tech transfer professionals.