AI and changing professional roles
Study how technology changes tasks, leadership responsibilities and the contribution of experienced professionals. Translate the findings into practical positioning and development questions.
RESEARCH & INNOVATION
NEXTCHAPTER
Research & Innovation Unit
Understanding workplace change. Developing career solutions. Advancing the NEXT Framework.
A permanent mandate to keep learning.
The unit's remit is to connect credible research with the practical work of career architecture. It provides the structure for monitoring change, developing and testing solutions, and governing the evolution of NEXTCHAPTER's methods.
Our founding research agenda focuses on technology, professional relevance, leadership transitions and institutional adaptation.
FOUNDING RESEARCH AGENDA
Four connected priorities.
Skills, relevance and career mobility
Examine emerging capability requirements, cross-sector transitions and the evidence professionals need to demonstrate future value.
Executive and later-career transitions
Explore leadership identity, portfolio careers, professional conversion and the decisions that shape consequential transitions.
Workforce adaptation and institutional responsibility
Investigate outplacement, redeployment, leadership continuity and the design of humane, effective organisational transition programmes.
FROM EVIDENCE TO PRACTICE
Research must change the quality of the solution.
Monitor and interpret
Track labour-market evidence, technology developments, employer expectations and practitioner insight. Distinguish durable signals from short-lived enthusiasm.
Design and test
Formulate a defined problem, develop a diagnostic or intervention, and evaluate it through a bounded pilot with clear success criteria.
Review and refine
Assess client and practitioner feedback, limitations and observed outcomes. Refine the solution before incorporating it into standard practice.
Approve and document
Record the evidence, changes and review decisions behind each methodological release. Preserve a clear version history and identify what practitioners need to learn.
EVOLVING THE NEXT FRAMEWORK
A recognisable architecture.
Methods that advance.
The four pillars remain the organising structure: Narrative Repositioning, Executive Alignment, eXternal Market Strategy and Transition Execution. Research informs how their diagnostics, evidence requirements, tools and delivery methods evolve.
The NEXT Framework supports an approved-source research inbox, separate evidence and methodology approvals, fictional scenario comparisons and versioned releases. Findings do not change client plans automatically: affected engagements are flagged for an adviser-led impact review. Source availability, collection history and approvals are managed in the private Research desk.
Explore the NEXT FrameworkRESEARCH OUTPUTS
A growing body of practical knowledge.
The publication programme will include workplace intelligence briefs, research papers, solution notes and framework development updates. Dedicated unit outputs will be published here as they are completed and reviewed.
Explore existing NEXTCHAPTER insightsCONTRIBUTE TO THE WORK