2025 IPALA Leadership Academy

This program is designed to support and equip pediatric academic leaders, those who are long-standing in leadership positions but particularly those emergent, in leadership capabilities. This program to support leadership development is run over an 8 month period. The monthly webinars cover all key aspects of management and leadership, with the material available both synchronously but also asynchronously. There is a parallel leadership practical exercise and report, with a concurrent mentor program to support each participant. 

At the completion of this course the participants would be well trained in leadership skills, and awarded a Certificate of Leadership by IPALA.

There are two sessions per month: (a) theory and (b) reflections (approx. 1.5 hours each)

• Module 1: 11th March. Introduction

Chaired by Prof Kevin Forsyth and Dr Alicia Mitchell. Key attributes of leaders, the challenges they face, their personal leadership journey, strategies they have found useful to be successful. Introduction to Mentorship Program. Finally, a brief overview of the global child health scene will discussed.

• Module 2: 8th April and 6th May. Managing self and others 

Chaired by Prof Carol Maher. Self-knowledge and self-awareness, communication skills, listening and responding skills, receiving feedback, insights into personal emotional intelligence and its development, time management, balancing rest with work expectations and promotion of wellbeing at the individual level. Developing insights into individual and group behaviours and responses, managing teams, influencing culture, giving feedback, performance management of high and low performing people.

• Module 3: 13th and 27th May. Finance

Chaired by Prof Jon Klein. Skills for managing personal finances, research funds, grants and private practice/departmental financial management. Developing a strategy and a subsequent business case, how to read a financial statement. This is particularly when negotiating with your Dean for resources, for work on Boards and Committees and for giving advice to governments.

• Module 4: 10th and 24th June. Advocacy

Chaired by Dr Camilla Kingdon.  Analyses of systemic inequalities in minority representation in positions of leadership within paediatric medicine and research. How to advocate for your patients and global health care changes. 

• Module 5: 8th and 22nd July. Being an effective academic

Chaired by Prof Haroon Saloojee. Leveraging roles for success in academia. Understanding the pressures of clinical service, research and teaching, developing strategies to manage the pressures of high expectations and high outputs, yet support and develop staff and teams. Succession planning and legacy.

• Module 6: 5th and 19th August. Leading in Learning. 

Chaired by Prof Amy Gray. Understanding modern medical education principles, including self-directed learning, curriculum development, assessment principles, educational metrics. This will give a sound basis for education understanding.

• Module 7: 9th and 23rd September. Research Enabling.

Chaired by Prof Sarath Ranganathan. Understanding modern research methodologies within the context of a paediatric academic. Key broad directions in child health research. Translating clinical and public health problems into research projects, effective research grant writing, key principles for publication success, developing research collaborations. Research quality, translation, equity, advocacy and impact.

• Module 8: 7th October. Conclusion and Debrief. 

Chaired by Prof Kevin Forsyth and Dr Alicia Mitchell. Summary of the management and leadership program. What has worked, examples of personal change in the workplace as a result of this course, improvements.

Attending the academy is free for members of IPALA. Registration for the 2025 academy is now closed.

Please stay tuned for details on our next academy in 2026.