Drawing upon findings from a UK-based and -funded study of academic leadership provided by (full) professors, this article focuses on research leadership as perceived by those on the receiving end of it. Research leadership is defined as the influence of one or more people on the research-related behaviour, attitudes or intellectual capacity of others. Three specific features of professorial research leadership are identified and examined: influence that enhances people's capacity to make appropriate choices, to achieve requisite standards, and to effect processes, within research activity. The author's conceptual model of researcher development is presented as an indicator of research leadership and its multidimensionality.