University to host 70th Leicester Conference

The Leicester Conference is due to be held at a University of Leicester venue for the 70th time. The conference has been hosted on a university site every year since its inception in 1957, the same year that the university was also granted its Royal Charter.

This year, the residential conference, which is scheduled to take place 13-26 August 2016, will be held at the first class facilities of College Court, the University of Leicester’s conference centre and hotel in the heart of Leicester.

Organised by the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations (TIHR), the event is designed to help attendees to develop their leadership and managerial capacity to effect change in work groups and organisations, and to improve their ability to work with complex and challenging issues.

Conference Director Dr Leslie Brissett has been telling Nathan Ifill from the University of Leicester News Centre more about the conference and how the special relationship between the university and the Tavistock Institute first came about:

The very first conference was held at the university in September 1957, asking questions such as “What is management?”, “How do people manage?” and “How do people lead?” Dr Brissett added: “The university was asking these questions ahead of its time.

“This relationship is deep and embedded and it ran in parallel. Both institutions put money and time and staff energy into creating the conditions for this unique learning experience.”

Commenting on the University of Leicester facilities, he said: “I’m really pleased that we’ve moved to College Court…for the first time, people are going to be in real luxury at the Leicester Conference which is not what we’re used to!”