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Prime Minister of Aotearoa New Zealand (2017-2023); Patron, Christchurch Call Foundation; Board Member, The Earthshot Prize; Founder, Field Fellowship for Empathetic Leadership; Member of the World Leaders Circle; Distinguished Fellow, Blavatnik School, Oxford University 

The Right Honourable Dame Jacinda Ardern served as the 40th Prime Minister of Aotearoa New Zealand.  

Assuming office at just 37, Dame Jacinda championed an inclusive and empathetic leadership style that made bold policy change and successfully guided her nation through unprecedented global and domestic challenges.

During her time in office, Dame Jacinda confronted significant challenges, including a live-streamed domestic terror attack targeting Aotearoa New Zealand’s Muslim community, a volcanic eruption, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Responding with a people-first approach grounded in kindness, she helped Aotearoa New Zealand achieve one of the lowest losses of life during the pandemic among developed nations, instituted a ban on military-style semi-automatic weapons, and created the Christchurch Call to Eliminate Violent Extremism Online, for which she remains an active Patron. 

A champion of women's empowerment, Dame Jacinda saw Aotearoa New Zealand reach a historic 50 percent representation of women in Parliament, and on government appointed boards. Her administration also decriminalized abortion, strengthened pay equity laws, and extended paid parental leave to six months. Dame Jacinda is the second woman in history to give birth while leading a country. 

Today, Dame Jacinda continues to hold roles that allow her to “be useful” including as a Member of the World Leaders Circle and a Distinguished Fellow at the Blavatnik School at Oxford University. She is a member of the Global Advisory Council of LawZero, a non-profit focused on developing safe-by-design AI systems, and an active advocate for climate action, serving on the board of The Earthshot Prize and as the Oceania Special Envoy for COP. 

In 2024, Dame Jacinda founded Field, a first of its kind fellowship programme that fosters empathetic leadership in politics.

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Dr Ruth Mitchell is a paediatric and adult neurosurgeon at Sydney Children’s and Prince of Wales Hospitals in Sydney, Australia.

Dr Mitchell completed her neurosurgery training in Sydney and Melbourne and obtained Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (FRACS) in 2020. She subsequently undertook a fellowship in paediatric neurosurgery at British Columbia Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, Canada, from 2021 to 2022.

A passionate medical educator, Dr Mitchell is a Fellow of the Faculty of Surgical Trainers of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (FFSTEd), serves as Supervisor of Training at her hospitals, and is a member of the Advocacy Committee of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery (ISPN).

She has held numerous leadership roles, including serving as the trainee representative on the SET Board of Neurosurgery and as Chair of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Trainees’ Association.

Dr Mitchell is committed to improving access to surgical care and chairs the board of the Children First Foundation. Her research interests include brain tumours, craniofacial surgery, injury prevention and global surgery. She has also published on the impact of artificial intelligence on human health.

Beyond medicine, Dr Mitchell is an international public speaker on peace, security and equity, a leader in the anti-nuclear movement, and an advocate for diversity and inclusion in surgery, and science. She chairs the board of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) (Nobel Peace Prize 1985) and has provided leadership to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) (Nobel Peace Prize 2017) since its inception in 2007.

Her contributions to medicine, leadership and advocacy have been recognised through several prestigious awards, including AMA Doctor in Training of the Year (2016), the RACS John Corboy Medal (2019), and the Flinders University Convocation Medal (2022).

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Dr Daniel Nour is a Cardiology Advanced Trainee at Royal North Shore Hospital, with a particular clinical interest in interventional cardiology. Alongside his clinical training, Daniel is the founder of Street Side Medics, a nationally recognised not-for-profit delivering free healthcare to people experiencing homelessness through mobile medical clinics across Australia.

For his work addressing healthcare inequity, Daniel was named the 2022 Young Australian of the Year. He is also completing a PhD focused on homelessness and health, bringing together his interests in cardiovascular medicine, health equity and systems-level change.