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Prosper Institutional case study
White Rose University Consortium
The White Rose University Consortium is a strategic partnership between the universities of Leeds, Sheffield, and York. Prosper is one of its flagship offerings and it ran two cross-institutional Prosper cohorts in 2025.
Many thanks to Karen Hinxman and Emma Williams, for their implementation of Prosper and also their contributions to this piece.
A PDF version of the case study can be downloaded via this link.
We know from experience that a great deal of learning happens through conversations with peers. By bringing together a diverse group of individuals from across the region, we’re exposing our postdocs to a wide range of perspectives. This not only helps them understand what’s unique about their own institution, but also highlights the common threads that run across the sector.
What’s particularly valuable is the regional network we’re building for them—something many may not have had access to before. Visiting different campuses gives them a real sense of each institution and helps them envision possible regional career paths they may want to explore.
Karen Hinxman, Head of the White Rose University Consortium
Case study conducted
September 2025
Members of the first White Rose Prosper cohort
Key stats
Mode of delivery
Approximate cost per postdoc
Cohorts
Days per cohort
Postdocs across both cohorts
Background and context
The White Rose University Consortium is a strategic partnership between the universities of Leeds, Sheffield, and York. It collaborates with institutional, regional, and national partners to drive positive change and create sustained impact across its partner universities.
In December 2023, Karen Hinxman was appointed Head of the consortium. All three institutions within the consortium had seen the success of the Prosper pilots, but none had the bandwidth at the time to run Prosper cohorts of their own – so Karen saw a joint, cross-institutional Prosper cohort as a distinct way for White Rose to add value and provide support to research staff.
In October 2024, the consortium re-launched with a new focus on people, talent and skills – with Prosper as one of its flagship offerings.
How was Prosper used?
The 2024-25 White Rose Prosper cohorts were designed and led by Karen Hinxman and Emma Williams, both of whom have an extensive background in researcher development.
Using the resources on the Prosper Portal for inspiration, they built a cohort based on Prosper’s Reflect/Explore/Act model.
Each cohort consisted of three full in-person days (10am-4pm, with lunch provided), spread out over three months.
Each day corresponded to one of Prosper’s three Reflect/Explore/Act areas, and took place in Leeds, York and Sheffield respectively – with White Rose covering travel expenses for journeying postdocs.
The application process was kept relatively light – White Rose hosted an introductory webinar for potential applicants, and applicants had to write a few words on why they wanted to join, and their aspirations.
Due to high demand (106 postdocs applied), Karen and Emma opted to run two cohorts back-to-back. 24 postdocs participated in the first cohort, 30 in the second – by design, each contained an equal number of postdocs from each of the White Rose partner institutions.
Participants were assigned ‘buddy groups’ – comprised of one postdoc from each institution – and encouraged to meet at the halfway point between the full days.
I think the most important thing that I got from Prosper, that really helped me understand my career goals, was a question that one of the facilitators asked about what we get satisfaction from. It gave me the vocabulary and the confidence to then go to my supervisor and say I don't think this is the role for me, this is what I'm looking for.
Once the department understood that using the frameworks that I'd been taught through Prosper, they were actually able to help me then find those roles.
I've transitioned from research to teaching because I've realised that that's what I love most and that that's okay. In your academic journey, there’s a lot of pressure to be this professor with publications and books, and that just wasn't really for me.
Having people at Prosper say that’s fine - that teaching is incredibly important, and for them to then help me with the application... I can't explain the difference I've felt since really appreciating the things that I want in my career and having that permission to do it.
Dr Rhiannon Griffiths, University of York
Day 1 – Reflect (Leeds)
Participants explored their career journeys, values, strengths, and influences. Activities included career timelines, group work on values, and a powerful strengths-identification exercise where peers provided feedback.
The day also addressed psychological barriers like the sunk cost fallacy and featured a guest speaker from the Future Leaders Fellowships (FLF) programme. It concluded with MBTI personality profiling and action planning, including buddy check-ins to support goal setting between days.
Day 2 – Explore (York)
The morning focused on academic career pathways using the narrative CV format. In the afternoon, participants examined non-academic roles by researching and discussing real job adverts.
They learned about informational interviews using the RASA method, and participated in networking and LinkedIn profile enhancement activities. The day ended with a speaker from York and a homework task: preparing an application for one of three randomly assigned roles.
Day 2 of the White Rose Prosper cohort, in York
Day 3 – Act (Sheffield)
Participants brought completed applications and engaged in mock recruitment exercises, including scoring, interviewing, and feedback. They reflected on their learning and compiled top tips for future applicants. A speaker who had transitioned from academia to a non-academic role shared their journey, and the day closed with action planning and a creative feedback activity—writing postcards to future Prosper participants.
The cost per participant across the three days was approximately £650 – funded by the White Rose University Consortium.
Impact and evaluation
The cohorts were met with high engagement and enthusiasm. Participants consistently reported increased confidence and clarity regarding their career paths. One standout success story involved a postdoc who secured a role in science communication with the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), thanks in part to coaching support that helped her recognise and articulate their transferable skills.
Many cohort members shared in one-to-ones that the programme gave them the courage to pursue opportunities they might have previously dismissed. They shifted towards a skills-based mindset, gaining the ability to better articulate their strengths and career aspirations.
Evaluation was conducted through pre- and post-cohort surveys, which showed significant improvements in participants’ confidence, awareness of career pathways, and understanding of job application processes. Nearly all participants said they would recommend the programme to fellow postdocs.
Meeting postdocs from different fields and different institutions was very fun, and very, very important – very helpful. It was great to meet people that are at different stages of their career, meeting people that you can share your doubts and insecurities with, but also engaging with the activities together and finding some tasks more difficult than others.
I think the most important thing was to see different perspectives and learn to see things from different angles, and really keep an open mind about what to do next.
I would tell all postdocs to join Prosper regardless of whether you're sure that you want to leave academia or sure that you want to stay.
But even if they are totally undecided or you're ages away from having to make that choice, I think it's the importance of finding the space to reflect, explore and talk to others and really that will give you the tools to be able to act on your career whenever the time comes.
So for me it was a great opportunity and I really really would recommend it to all postdocs.
Dr Francesca De Faveri, University of Sheffield
The cross-institutional nature of the cohort was particularly impactful, offering insights into different institutional cultures and helping participants distinguish between universal and localised experiences within academia.
Organisers received heartfelt feedback, with many participants expressing how transformative the experience had been – and how it had given them real clarity and illumination regarding future career planning and next steps. One memorable comment encapsulated the programme’s value: "I didn't know what I wanted, and I still don't know, but I now know that's okay. And I've now got the tools to move things forwards in a way that's meaningful as opposed to drift."
Career tracking continues via the LinkedIn group and planned check-ins at 6, 12, and 18 months post-cohort.
Some of the feedback from cohort members can be read throughout this page. You can also read/watch more on the Consortium's Prosper pages.
Those tasks where we’ve been encouraged to challenge our existing thinking have been particularly helpful, for instance unpicking long-held beliefs about ourselves or unveiling those skills that we take for granted that are helpful for others.
I’ve also been thinking much more about values-led career planning since exploring this during the first session.
It’s been particularly useful to spend time with participants from other disciplines, particularly STEM, and from other universities; I’m very much in the minority within the Prosper cohort as an arts researcher, and stepping out of the arts silo is surprisingly refreshing. The accountability buddies are particularly useful for looking in at one’s situation from entirely different perspectives.
Postdoc-ing can be a lonely and uncertain business so the collegiality of being in a room alongside others is invaluable, for sharing experiences, boosting confidence and camaraderie.
Dr Clare Danek, University of Leeds
Future plans
Building on the success of the initial cohorts, the White Rose University Consortium plans to run two further cohorts in the 2025-26 academic year. The first will take place in October–December, and the second in February-April.
The core structure and ethos will remain consistent, with minor refinements based on feedback and learning from previous iterations.
The reflect part of the programme was particularly interesting to me – many of the activities that we did throughout that day were different to anything I’d done before. It helped me to both challenge some of the pre-existing ideas I had in my head about my career, while also identifying what was really important for me to prioritise in my future career.
I’d previously been rather focused on one career path and timeline, which was quite stressful as there were no guarantees it’d go to plan! The programme has helped me both identify multiple pathways towards that goal, as well as allow myself to also seriously consider opportunities beyond that which could lead to equally fulfilling careers.
I also feel more confident in mapping my existing skill set to a diverse range of opportunities if the need arises.
Dr Chelsea Edmonds, University of Sheffield
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