University Work
Hi, I’m Emer O’Leary.
Over the past two years, I've worked across research, EDI, professional development and leadership at the University of Edinburgh, designing and facilitating learning experiences that help people think, connect and work differently.
This work complements my experience working with private and third sector clients over the last 20 years.
Here are some examples of the work I've delivered, developed and facilitated.
Projects
AMBER: Research, Collaboration & Learning
As Training Consultant for the AMBER study, I designed and delivered a programme of PPIE learning and development for a large, multidisciplinary research community.
My work brought together researchers, clinicians, lived-experience experts and other stakeholders through workshops, facilitated conversations and visual communication. Topics ranged from self-compassion in research and visual thinking to collaboration, communication and working effectively across different perspectives.
Agency within Uncertainty
Agency Within Uncertainty is a group coaching programme, designed as a space to step back from the day-to-day, reflect on what's happening, and explore how we can act with greater clarity and agency even when the wider picture is uncertain.
The programme was commissioned by the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh and attracts participants from across different roles, disciplines and levels of seniority.
Student Community Building pilot project
Designing and delivering facilitation skills training and reflection sessions for students across CMVM, supporting them to build stronger student-led communities and create spaces for peer connection, reflection and collaboration.
The pilot builds on previous student-led initiatives developed through the Widening Participation Medics student society.
“I can recommend Emer so highly. She is a joy to work with, holds a room (even when it is full of potentially-intimidating professor-types) with warmth and confidence, she is totally reliable and always well-prepared, extremely fun, and very patient when it comes to the ways academics tend to work.
When we circulated Agency within Uncertainty it was incredibly well received and we had sign-ups from very senior leaders as well as across all role-types and grades.
I would also say one of the excellent things about Emer is her ability and willingness to work to a brief according to what YOU want from the sessions.”
— Professor Sue Fletcher-Watson, College Dean of Equity, Inclusion & Community • Chair in Developmental Psychology, The University of Edinburgh, College of Medicine & Veterinary Medicine
Services
Training
I design and deliver training and development sessions across a wide range of topics, including:
Facilitation Skills
Coaching Skills
Train the Trainer
Emotional Intelligence
Assertive Advocacy
Self-Compassion
Visual Thinking
Meeting Openers & Closers
Away Days
I facilitate away days, team sessions and workshops that give people space to step out of their usual ways of working and think together differently.
Depending on what a team needs, this might involve reflection, planning, creative thinking, relationship-building, problem-solving or strategic visioning.
My role is to create a space where people can contribute honestly, have useful conversations and leave with a clearer sense of their next steps.
Reflective Practice & Action Learning
I facilitate reflective sessions and Action Learning Sets that help people learn from their experience, think through challenges and draw on the perspectives of others.
These sessions are structured but conversational, creating enough space for people to slow down, ask better questions and see situations from different angles.
I have a particular interest in relational design – the small but significant choices that help people feel welcomed, respected, connected and able to contribute.
“Emer is a delight to work with! Her facilitation and learning design have been particularly valuable in bringing people together across our research project.
She has helped us to think collaboratively, to identify new opportunities for working together, and to consider how we can build on our diverse expertise.
She always creates a welcoming space where people feel comfortable contributing, while also providing sufficient structure and direction to make conversations productive.
Working with Emer makes me realise how much is missing from most meetings’’
Professor Cathryn Lewis, Head of School of Mental Health & Psychological Sciences and Professor of Genetic Epidemiology and Statistics in the Department of Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, Kings’s College London
Signature Programmes
Radical Honesty Reset
Thirty days of one-to-one coaching for people who know something needs to change, even if they can’t quite see the shape of it yet.
Draw Out Your Future
A group coaching programme using visual templates, reflective exercises and group conversation to draw out your future and map out the steps you need to take to get there.