LEAP-FAST’s future-oriented leadership development initiatives will be featured, demonstrating how early-career academics can gain the skills, values, and agency to navigate complex social realities and help build education systems responsive to regional challenges, especially in the Global South.

Participants will engage in dialogue around policy-relevant strategies for embedding collaborative governance, systems thinking, and inclusive innovation into academic leadership pathways. The session will also identify interest in regional adaptation and partnership, particularly in contexts where academic leadership ecosystems are nascent or fragmented, as well as strengthen global networks committed to fostering inclusive and locally grounded leadership programmes that align with global development goals.

Bringing together stakeholders from diverse regions and sectors, the session will invite ideas with a fishbowl-style discussion and close with a collective call to action - reinforcing higher education’s role in building the capabilities, values, and partnerships necessary for the social transformations envisioned in the WSSD Declaration.