Academic Study Leave: Professor Ellie Dommett

The initiative enables eligible academic staff  to undertake a substantive piece of research, relevant academic project or activity connected to innovation and enhancement in education.  

To date, seven IoPPN members of staff have successfully completed study leave, including Professor Ellie Dommett. Below, Ellie talks about her experience of taking leave, and shares her top tips for anyone thinking of taking it.

I joined King’s in January 2015 as part of the team responsible for setting up IoPPN’s first undergraduate course, in BSc Psychology. Although I was on an Education & Research contract, I knew that developing the new degree would take up most of my time, at least initially. After nine years of teaching the introductory biological psychology module, alongside several other optional modules, I began a 7-month period of study leave in September 2024.

Why take academic study leave?

Education had been my main endeavour since joining King’s. However, over that time I managed to secure small pots of funding, mostly in the form of PhD studentships, and had been gradually growing my lab to focus on ADHD and education in two research streams which often overlapped. Applying for study leave gave me the opportunity to make research my main activity.

This was important for several reasons. Firstly, like many academics, being a researcher is part of my identity and, while being a teacher is central to my career, I did not want to lose sight of research.

Secondly, a big part of how I teach is built on my research. Both my optional modules cover areas of my own research, so staying at the forefront was important if I wanted to continue to teach well.

It turned out there was also a third important reason why I needed to take study leave, but I didn’t realise it existed until I returned…more on that later.

Leave space for the fun things: planning for study leave

My plan for study leave was quite ambitious, but I am a firm believer in under promising and over delivering so I tried to constrain myself a little. I took some excellent advice from a colleague who told me to leave space for the things I would not normally do. On that basis, I planned to finish and write up four studies, submit two grants and some applications for PhD funding.

And then came the fun things.

I left space to try to build up my lab profile, hoping to take my social media following for the lab Instagram account to 10,000. Not exactly influencer territory, but good for a lab! Finally, I wanted to also explore a new avenue of research - I had a couple of ideas within neurodiversity, but nothing set in stone.

Importantly for me, I did not step back from all my education activities. I continued to work with the central digital education team and as the programme TEL-lead/deputy director because those roles complemented my education research.

So, what happened?

Despite keeping my hand in education, the change to study leave hit me like a slap in the face.

Having spent two decades structuring my work around modules and student support, having no structure left me floundering, which is not something that comes naturally to me. I found myself working even longer hours than normal, keen to not waste the opportunity, enjoying the intellectual headspace, and lacking the fixed reward schedule of teaching.

My worry that I was not doing enough drove me to start to keep records of what I was doing. I kept a reflective journal in which I recorded key tasks completed, successes, gratitude points and things to park (always ‘Reviewer 2’). I even gave myself gold stars when a paper was accepted, a student submitted their thesis, or I secured some funding.

I managed to submit or publish more papers than I had planned too, although not the exact ones I planned. I submitted 12 funding applications in the end, and through those secured funding for two more PhD students and two education projects. While the bigger grants were not successful, the process of writing them opened new directions and collaborations for me. It also carved out a new research area for me in women’s health and ADHD.

I spent a fair amount of time recording podcasts and doing smaller media activities, but the part I am secretly most proud of – 21,000 followers on Instagram (and still growing)!

Returning refreshed and excited

My return in April 2025 coincided with taking over as Programme Director on the BSc Psychology, which felt like a bigger gear change than returning to my previous role would have. But the time away allowed me to prove to myself that I can still be an effective researcher. It reignited my passion for the inquisitive journey of research that sometimes gets lost when you cannot find the time to go from start to finish for a project. I also had space to reflect and develop completing external accreditation for doctoral supervision and the King’s International Educators Leader’s Programme.

All of this meant I came back refreshed and excited to take on the new role. That was the final reason study leave was important for me and for education intensive academics in general – you might not realise it but you can stagnate, and a change is most definitely as good as a rest; you come back with a newfound enthusiasm for teaching the action potential (for the 20^th year running!). Teaching has a routine and fixed ratio reward schedule, something research can lack, and I really value it but had lost sight of that a little before I took study leave.

Advice for anyone thinking of taking study leave?

Having experienced study leave has made me even more supportive of colleagues wanting to step back from teaching and focus on their research. But it has also given me firsthand experience of the challenges from isolation, workload and education creep.

With other colleagues from the BSc Psychology team, we created a tips document for those planning study leave which includes ideas to optimise the timeframe, set targets and manage the transition, including keeping in touch days.

If I could give my personal three top tips, they would be:

1. Plan for a mix of activities leaving space to say ‘Yes’ to opportunities you did not know existing when you planned your leave.
2. Factor in some development time – do a course, go to a different conference, reflect regularly.
3. Don’t forget to stop. Although it rarely feels like it in practice, teaching does have quiet periods, but research is really only paused when you stop thinking about it so don’t forget to stop working and take your annual leave.

For me, life after study leave is continuing nicely within the BSc team. While I have not been great at keeping up my reflective diary and gold stars, I have continued to carve out a small amount of time each week to focus on research. Study leave has helped me to make better use of that time, and my brain feels like a newly oiled engine since returning, ready for another year!

If you're interested in taking academic study leave at IoPPN, you can find out more information here.