Anne-Wil Harzing is Emerita Professor at Middlesex University. She did lots of research, published many things, won awards, and practiced leadership. However, what has been most important to her is improving our research processes, making our research assessment more inclusive, and supporting other academics with staff development and free resources. That’s why she loves supporting Christa as a co-founder of Positive Academia CIC.

​Positive Academia is a professional reform movement that advocates a transformation of our academic values and interactions to develop sustainable and inclusive universities. It transforms our knowledge into positive impact for our academic communities and society at large through our high-quality, societally relevant, research – underpinned by research processes that are sound, open, and inclusive – our holistic and synergistic careers, including our research-informed teaching and leadership, and our external engagement that is focused on co-creation. It is realized by emphasizing our power of dialogue, voice, and action, and supported by our multi-faceted collegiality and care.

1. Building a strong research foundation that outlines not just desirable outcomes, but also the process of moving towards a more positive academia.
2. Empowering individual academics and the wider academic community to initiate a bottom-up change process, whilst working with university managers and institutions to realise structural changes.
3. Unleashing a collective transformation through engagement in daily micro-practices rather than advocating top-down and bureaucratic initiatives that ultimately are often “paper only”.
4. Focusing on the causes of current dysfunctionalities in academia rather than isolated symptoms such as research misconduct, lack of research impact, and toxic research cultures, by proposing different academic values and interactions that should gradually prevent these symptoms.
5. Being both international and interdisciplinary in scope, instead of focused on a single country/region or discipline.
6. Leveraging collaborations of academics at different career stages, learning from each other rather than reinforcing hierarchical academic systems.
7. Bridging and amplifying current initiatives but also contributing novel approaches and points of view.

Positive academia evolved from Anne-Wil’s leadership in the past decades in creating collaborative, inclusive, and supportive research cultures. Anne-Wil recognized that academia often operates in silos of competition, where kindness, gratitude, and mutual support are undervalued. In 2021 her bold response #positiveacademia – the spark in the dark during the COVID-19 pandemic – reflects a movement dedicated to fostering collaboration, care, and the recognition that small acts of kindness can create ripples of positive changes.

Anne-Wil’s vision has always been both practical and inspiring. Her work has demonstrated that a positive academic environment is not only a lofty ideal but a tangible reality that can be cultivated through intentional action. Her vision resonated deeply with academics across disciplines and career stages, planting the seeds for a movement that continues to grow.

For Christa, Anne-Wil’s vision and passion was an awakening. In Anne-Wil’s actions and words, she saw a pathway to a more humane academia and a blueprint for the legacy she has aspired to leave since 2019 through her deep drive for positive change-making in academia. Anne-Wil’s wisdom, enthusiasm, and uplifting humour became a triggering force in Christa’s journey and the close friend who holds the rope and pulls it down to the ground when needed.