The Oxford Character Project (OCP) is an interdisciplinary initiative at the University of Oxford, focusing on character and leadership development. Our research explores qualities of character that lie at the heart of good leadership and considers how they can be developed in universities and other organizations.
We at the Oxford Character Project have been running the Global Leadership Initiative (GLI), a practical strengths-development programme designed for postgraduates, since 2013. The GLI uses a structured, research-based programme to encourage character and leadership development in small ‘learning communities’ of approximately 15 students. Empirical evaluation of three cohorts shows that participants experience some increases in service and gratitude compared to control participants, with qualitative data highlighting the positive experience of the programme and self-perceptions of character development (Brant et al., 2019).
As part of a new 3-year project funded by the John Templeton Foundation, the OCP is progressing the work with postgraduates, and expanding to explore the specific ‘moral ecosystems’ (Hertzke, 1998; Hunter & Olson, 2018, pp.11-14) in the fields of law, business, finance and technology. Building on empirical, mixed method research previously conducted by the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues (e.g., Arthur et al., 2014), the OCP has begun research in these specific fields, interviewing industry experts and employees at different levels of seniority within organisations, to understand the most valued virtues in each field and which are specifically valued in leaders. From this we hope to refine the GLI to prepare postgraduates to be responsible leaders in these focal sectors.
As we are only in the first year of this new project, here we provide an overview of our trajectory, research findings to date and a summary of our first year. Preliminary qualitative findings from interviews will also be discussed.