Programs

2025 Program

The program started on 9 April 2025 and comprises five online workshops, and a five-day masterclass in Sweden (9–13 June 2025).

The program enrols 28 mid-career professionals from all regions of the world. It has a geographically representative and gender-balanced mix of participants from the public and private sectors and civil society. As an Executive Program we seek to attract participants with the following qualifications:

• Senior relevant and professional working experience from either public or private sector, civil society, international organisations or foundations.
• Specific experience from having managed or contributed to political processes at the regional or global level.
• Proven interest and commitment to global/regional health improvements.
• Excellent knowledge about the international system of relevance to health.
• Strong motivation for how this program will contribute to their continued career development, and ability to meet the required time commitment.

The mission over the next three years is to equip more than 100 emerging health leaders from the public and private sectors, and civil society, with the skills to effectively navigate in global and regional political settings of importance for health. We have designed the program to prioritize experiential learning over traditional teaching methods, focusing on real-world applications that empower future leaders. The work is grounded in collaboration and exchange, bringing together diverse expertise, perspectives, and experiences. Although the program is based on the theories that have shaped and explain the current state of the world, our focus is on the practical aspects of health diplomacy and considering what might be required for future health leaders to succeed.

The program is designed to cover six dimensions of health diplomacy:

1. The dynamics of formal and informal decision-making – where and by whom are real decisions taken?
2. Fostering trust, building networks, and nurturing relationships – how to do it?
3. Transformative leadership – how to identify and maximize/seize windows of opportunity?
4. Understanding and learning from entrepreneurship and the private sector.
5. Managing uncertainty and coping with failures – embracing failure, being courageous, and understanding oneself and one’s adversaries.
6. Effective communication – why do style, language, and timing matter?

Across these six dimensions, the cross-cutting theme of passion and clear personal values will also be present.  

A practitioner-to-practitioner approach – the program will be built on the sharing of present or past personal experiences from navigating in regional or global political contexts for health (including storytelling). There will be opportunities to learn from both successes and failures and to be inspired by recognized senior leaders as well as fellow colleagues (peer-to-peer learning). There will be no or very limited traditional teaching.

Debates and scenarios for simulations – The participants will be given a future scenario, allocated different roles, and asked to prepare for a simulation or a debate during the masterclass.

Learning material – Participants will be guided by relevant reading material (books and short articles) as well as existing short online video sessions and podcasts.

Professional network and institutional collaboration – The fellows will be part of a growing network of colleagues (former fellows and faculty) – the Health Diplomacy Community. A web platform will be established to support communication and exchange as well as recurrent events and seminars.

The fee for participation in the program is USD 12,000. The fee for participants working in the public sector (government institutions) is USD 2,000. The fee for participants working in civil society, and those from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is USD 1,000. 

The fee includes all costs for the in-person masterclass (accommodation, meals, etc.). Travel costs are not included in the fee.