Call for Applications

Digital technologies are rapidly changing how people live, work, learn, and manage their health. Digital health services, artificial intelligence (AI), and online information platforms are becoming part of everyday life. As a result, the digital world is increasingly shaping the social, economic, and political factors that influence health.

At the same time, the digital transformation of society is creating new challenges. For example, not everyone has equal access to digital tools and services. Misinformation is spreading quickly online. Data and algorithms can reinforce existing inequalities. Concerns about privacy, governance, cybersecurity, and public trust are also growing.

To address these challenges, strong and coordinated leadership is needed across sectors. Digital technologies should support better health and wellbeing — they should not become goals in themselves.

Against this backdrop, Sciana: The Health Leaders Network Cohort 9 will explore how leaders can take a whole-systems approach to health, care, and wellbeing in an increasingly digital world. The programme will focus on leadership for digital transformation in health systems, while also examining the broader digital environments that shape people’s behaviours, wellbeing, and health equity across the life course.

A central focus of the programme will be health system readiness and resilience in the digital age. Fellows will examine how health systems and workforces can prepare for digital environments while recognising the human, emotional, and psychological dimensions of care. The cohort will also explore the leadership skills needed to navigate ethical, legal, and cultural challenges linked to digital transformation.

Key topics will include digital divides and equity, data governance, accountability for algorithms and AI systems, and cyber resilience. Fellows will consider how to protect health systems, critical infrastructure, and public trust during crises, conflicts, and periods of geopolitical instability.

The programme will also explore the role of health communication in complex digital information environments. This includes digital literacy, health literacy, and influence literacy — as well as strategies to address the effects of social media platforms and AI on mental health, trust, and social cohesion.

Drawing on experiences from the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Germany, as well as other countries, Cohort 9 will support health leaders to ensure that digital transformation strengthens health, equity, and societal resilience within their systems.

The Sciana Network believes that transforming health systems requires more than organisational leadership. Systems leaders are people in key positions, who can operate across institutional, professional and national boundaries.

“Systems leadership is a set of skills and capacities that any individual or organisation can use to catalyse, enable and support the process of systems-level change. It combines collaborative leadership, coalition-building and systems insight to mobilise innovation and action across a large, decentralised network.

Transforming a complex system – such as [...] health systems – is a monumental task requiring coordinated action by people with very different viewpoints. These people are increasingly described as systems leaders.”
– David Nabarro, Co-Director, Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College London

Inspired by David Nabarro’s definition, the Sciana Network seeks leaders who influence beyond their formal authority – individuals who act as connectors, bridge-builders, and catalysts for structural change.

The Sciana Network values diversity, equity and inclusion. The Sciana Network is committed to fostering an inclusive community of leaders across different backgrounds, experiences, and ages, recognising that diverse perspectives are essential to drive innovation and creating more inclusive health systems, in line with Sciana’s mission. We actively encourage people of all genders, races/ethnicities, sexual orientation, people with disabilities, and individuals from historically underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

The Sciana Network’s 9th cohort will bring together leading health experts from the UK, Switzerland and Germany to work on advancing health in a digital world. Over two years and four residential meetings, fellows will work in groups, across countries and sectors, to incubate and explore new ways of introducing system interventions. They will exchange strategies, innovations, bold ideas and experiment with new cross-boundary collaborations through an applied leadership project called the “Sciana Challenge”.

The programme is led by Sir David Behan and Mary Helen Pombo, and supported by renowned national Sciana Advisors, the programme partners as well as international experts in the field.

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