Call for Nominations: 3rd International Politics and Diplomacy for Health Executive Program
The program is organised by the Partnership for International Politics and Diplomacy for Health – a collaboration between the Stockholm School of Economics and Karolinska Institutet. The aim is to equip emerging generations of health leaders with health diplomacy skills; to build a network and community of practice of organisations and individuals committed to the improvement of health; and generate insights about the evolving nature of politics and diplomacy for health through research.
Nominations should be submitted no later than 3 December 2025. No direct applications, only potential candidates who have been nominated by a senior colleague will be considered. Based on nominations received, potential candidates who fulfil the requirements will be invited to submit a full application.
The program will enrol up to 28 mid-career professionals from all regions of the world. It will have a geographically representative and gender-balanced mix of participants from the public and private sectors and civil society. As an Executive Program we are seeking to attract participants with the following qualifications:
- Specific experience from working with political processes and settings at regional or global level.
- Senior relevant and professional working experience (10-15 years) from either public or private sector, civil society, international organisations or foundations.
- Excellent knowledge about the international system of relevance to health.
- Proven interest and commitment to global/regional health improvements.
- Strong motivation for how this program will contribute to their continued career development, and ability to meet the required time commitment.
A practitioner-to-practitioner approach – the program is built on the sharing of present or past personal experiences from navigating in political contexts for health (storytelling). There will be opportunities to learn from both successes and failures and to be inspired by senior leaders as well as fellow colleagues.
The program is designed to cover six dimensions of health diplomacy:
- The dynamics of formal and informal decision-making – where and by whom are real decisions taken?
- Fostering trust, building networks, and nurturing relationships – how to do it?
- Transformative leadership – how to identify and maximize/seize windows of opportunity?
- Understanding and learning from entrepreneurship and the private sector.
- Managing uncertainty and coping with failures – embracing failure, being courageous, and understanding oneself and one’s adversaries.
- Effective communication – why do style, language, and timing matter?
The program will start in April 2026 and comprise five online seminars and a five-day in person Masterclass in Sweden.
Read more about previous programs here.