University of Southampton

8 minutes

Prosper Institutional case study

University of Southampton

The University of Southampton's implementation of Prosper used all three of its modes of delivery, including multiple cohorts that ran between 2025 and 2026. Many thanks to Dr Curie Scott for contributing to this case study.

A PDF version of the case study can be downloaded via this link.

Case study conducted

May 2026

Key stats

Mode of delivery

Registered Portal users

Cohorts

Consisting of two 8-week programmes and three 3-day-programmes

Participants throughout all programmes

Background and context

The University of Southampton is one of the world’s top research universities. A founding member of the Russell Group, it is ranked 7 in the UK for research impact, and 92% of its research is categorised as world leading and internationally excellent. The University employs research staff across 5 faculties (Arts and Humanities; Engineering and Physical Sciences; Environmental and Life Sciences; Medicine; and Social Sciences).

Following Prosper’s launch to the sector, the University established a dedicated role for its implementation. In November 2023, Dr Curie Scott joined as Senior Teaching Fellow (Academic Developer) within the Research, Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise (RKEE) team at the Centre for Higher Education Practice (CHEP) – with a mandate to embed Prosper across the
institution.

Curie brought to the role over 20 years’ experience in higher education (including leading delivery of the PG Cert in Education at Bournemouth
University), encompassing coaching and consultancy roles at various HEIs and the NHS. Curie’s credentials and skillset have played a significant part in shaping the implementation of Prosper at the University.

How was Prosper used?

The University’s implementation of Prosper encompasses all three of its modes of delivery:

Promoting the Prosper Portal and its resources on relevant university pages (Mode 1).
Conducting outreach by attending faculty events and Continuous Professional Development (CPD) sessions (Mode 2). These engagements, typically 10-minute to one-hour slots, served as "taster" sessions where Curie would introduce Prosper and incorporate an activity using one of its tools.
Actively seeking invitations from champions who were already organising career development, mentoring, or women-in-research events, leveraging existing faculty interest. These activities directly correlated with "spikes" in registration numbers on the Prosper portal, demonstrating their effectiveness.
Following this, a decision was made to launch a cohort-based Prosper programme (Mode 3).

The pilot cohort focused on research staff (not exclusively postdocs), encompassing individuals with PhDs, those in progress, and those without a PhD but on research contracts. The first cohort had 19 participants, representing four out of the five university faculties.

Dr Curie Scott with members of the pilot Prosper cohort at the University of Southampton.

The pilot consisted of eight weekly, in-person sessions, each lasting two hours, with an additional preceding hour for lunch and informal networking. The sessions ran from January to February 2025. The content of the sessions were designed to cover personal career perspectives, the wider career landscape, and how to bridge the two. Following the eight-week programme,
participants were offered a one-to-one coaching session to embed practices and discuss individual progress.

Since then, there has been a second eight-week cohort in 2025/26 and three shorter, more condensed “Prosper Catalyst” programmes which have taken place in person.

Dr Curie Scott with members of the second Prosper cohort at the University of Southampton.

The following changes were made to subsequent cohorts after the pilot:

Content enhancement: More resilience strategies were integrated into the core programme based on participant feedback. Sessions integrated suggestions on the use of AI for career development.
Prosper Teams channel: A Prosper Teams was established with separate chats for each cohort. The use of chat was proactively integrated into Prosper sessions.
Continuation of in-person cohort delivery: The strong focus on in-person delivery remained for the following four cohorts, based on feedback suggesting its benefits for building engagement and community compared to online versions.
Visibility and advocacy: Continued promotion with current Prosper participants becoming “Prosper champions”. They shared their stories, provided peer-to-peer advocacy and visibility.
Increased visibility for PIs and supervisors: A Prosper tour and specific resources are now integrated into four 30-minute series for Research Managers to encourage them to initiate career conversations with their research staff. Shorter Prosper offerings are now part of the ‘Discover’ programme for emerging research leaders and supporting career development for PhD supervisors.
Diverse programme offerings: Packaged sessions based on faculty needs for professional development.
Prosper champions involvement at internal and external events: This included Shunqi Zhang and Sharon Lin being on the panel at the 2026 Prosper Practice Exchange event.

Meanwhile, promotion of Prosper continued across the institution through:

External Conferences: Presenting at events like the Vitae conference (e.g., showcasing Prosper tools like career timelines).
Internal Festivals: Participating in the CHEP festival with an introductory video to Prosper.
External Consultancy: Promoting Prosper through Curie’s independent consultancy work with other universities (e.g., UAL, UCL).
Informal Networks: Engaging with other universities (e.g., Strathclyde) interested in Prosper.
"Prosper with Pizza": A specific ECR Forum session demonstrating a creative approach to engagement.
The PI Network: Ann early example of the Prosper Exchange, Curie led a session for Prosper’s PI Network (‘Welcome to the Panic Room: Managing Challenging Scenarios').

Impact and evaluation

The pilot cohort was evaluated using a modified version of Prosper’s approach to evaluating its pilot cohorts. The evaluation demonstrated a range of positive outcomes both quantitative and qualitative:

Engagement and completion: 18 out of 19 participants .completed the cohort, demonstrating strong commitment. Most attendees achieved attendance of 6 out of 8 sessions.
Metrics improvement: Evaluation results showed an increase in participants' self-reported metrics across various areas, particularly a big jump in “understanding diverse careers".
Positive feedback scores: Session design, usefulness, sense of belonging, and willingness to recommend were consistently rated highly (4s to mid-4s on a scale).
Diverse participation: The cohort successfully attracted a good gender split and a range of job experience levels (including a Senior Manager at Level 7 with 20 years' experience), extending beyond typical early career researchers. Only two participants had brief experiences outside of academia, highlighting the programme's value for those predominantly within academia.
Empowerment and confidence: Participants reported a significant increase in confidence to take action regarding their careers. Examples include reaching out on LinkedIn, receiving job offers (academic and non academic), and even starting a business. The one-to-one coaching sessions revealed the "richness and depth" of this internal change, with quiet participants boldly pursuing new avenues.

Community and support: A key takeaway was the powerful effect of being part of a group and realising you're not alone, especially when facing challenges like multiple job rejections.
Value of the coached approach: Free coaching was provided to individuals who might not otherwise have access to such high level support. Participants found the sessions "really fun" and appreciated the focus on their personal development. Feedback like "You nailed it" and "How has two hours gone? We have done this work" underscored the engaging and effective nature of the sessions.
Demand for more: Participants expressed a desire for longer or more frequent sessions, indicating the high perceived value of the programme.
Participant-led Initiatives: The programme inspired participants to take initiative, such as one individual running a national BAME researcher network session based on the confidence-building activities from Prosper, and others expressing interest in becoming "Prosper champions".

The way in which the cohort was arranged at Southampton was very helpful - with sessions built around informal lunches together. It's more relaxed and really good to get to know other postdocs in similar circumstances.

The more informal and activity-based nature of the cohort was a welcome contrast to the more structured, lecture-like form that career development can sometimes take.

Sharon Lin, University of Southampton Prosper Cohort member.

Future plans

Following the success of the Prosper rollout, the University of Southampton will continue to reflect on opportunities for further embedding of Prosper
and what this might look like within a ‘business-as-usual’ context.