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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, Ms Ardern 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, Ms Ardern 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, Ms Ardern 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. Ms Ardern is the second woman in history to give birth while leading a country. 

Today, Ms Ardern 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, Ms Ardern 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.

Dr Ella Smalley

Dr Ella Smalley is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow whose research focuses on the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying pulmonary fibrosis. Her work investigates macrophage-epithelial cell interactions, genetic contributions to lung disease and development of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived models to study disease pathogenesis.

Ella is committed to supporting early-career researchers, fostering collaborative scientific communities and promoting wellbeing in academia. Her work integrates discovery science with a strong commitment to advocacy, mentorship and creating positive change in the research sector.

Professor James McMahon

Professor James McMahon is the Chief Research and Innovation Officer at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and an Infectious Diseases physician at the Royal Melbourne and Alfred Hospitals.

He is the current President for Australasian Society for HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine, ASHM. His research interests include clinical trials focused on HIV Cure and antiretroviral therapy and strategies to improve immunity to COVID-19 in immunocompromised hosts.

Dr Ranjana Srivastava OAM

Dr Ranjana Srivastava OAM, is an oncologist, Fulbright scholar and award-winning writer. She is the recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia for her contribution to the field of doctor-patient communication and a 2004 Australian-American Fulbright Award to gain an ethics fellowship at the University of Chicago's MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics.

In 2020, Ranjana received a second prestigious Fulbright award and the John F Kennedy Merit Award to obtain a Master in Public Administration at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

Educated in India, the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia, Ranjana graduated from Monash University with a first-class honours degree and has been awarded several awards in medicine.

She has since worked in the public hospital system of Victoria and specialises in geriatric oncology, the holistic care of elderly patients with cancer. She has a keen interest in serving patients from culturally and linguistically diverse communities, who are often disadvantaged and vulnerable.

Ranjana is an award-winning writer for The Guardian newspaper, where she writes on the intersection of medicine, ethics and humanity. She is the winner of the 2025 Kennedy Award for Outstanding Columnist, the winner of an international award for writing with context and clarity and a two-time finalist for the Walkley Award for Excellence in Journalism.

In 2014 Ranjana was recognised by Monash University as the Distinguished Alumni of the Year and later appointed a Professor of Practice in the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences. Ranjana was included in Westpac's 100 Influential Women of 2015.

She has published multiple books, including:

• Tell Me the Truth: Conversations with My Patients about Life and Death, which was shortlisted for the New South Wales Premier's Literary Award
• Dying for a Chat: The Communication Breakdown between Doctors and Patients won the Human Rights Literature Prize.
• Her two books on navigating cancer; A Cancer Companion and After Cancer: A Guide to Living Well
• What It Takes To Be A Doctor: An Insider's Guide, finalist in the Australian Career Book Awards.
• A Better Death: Conversations about the Art of Living and Dying Well
• Every Word Matters: Writing to Engage the Public.

Associate Professor Amy Peacock

Amy Peacock is an Associate Professor, National Health and Medical Research Council Emerging Leadership Fellow and Deputy Director of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW. She is also Program Lead for Drug Trends, a national monitoring system identifying trends in illicit drug use, markets and harms that is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.

Professor Ian Anderson

Dr Lloyd Nash

Dr Lloyd Nash is a General & Acute Care Physician and Head of Department of Medicine at the Albany Hospital in Western Australia.

He is Network co-DPE for the WACHS Physician Training Network and led the establishment of the WA Rural Physician Training Pathway.

Dr Nash has previously been a Director of RACP, Global Health Alliance Australia and Global Ideas.

Dr Simone Ardern-Holmes