Free WHO Systems Thinking Summer School
- Organization: WHO Regional Office for Europe
- Type: Workshop
- Location: Global
- Deadline: November 23, 2026
- Funding: No Funding
The WHO Regional Office for Europe, working with its Collaborating Centre at Université Côte d'Azur and Ulysseus European University, is selecting 30 people for four days of in-person training on preventing noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes, and on supporting healthy ageing, by looking at the whole system behind a health problem rather than one factor at a time. WHO and international experts teach through lectures, workshops and real-life scenarios, and you apply the methods to a project of your own. It is free to attend, with lunches and a welcome dinner included, but you pay your own travel and accommodation in Nice. **What you get:** - A free place: WHO/Europe and its partners provide the summer school free of charge - Lunch and coffee breaks every day, plus a welcome dinner on 21 July 2027 - Four days of teaching from WHO experts and leading international specialists in systems thinking, NCD prevention and control, healthy ageing, public health innovation and multistakeholder engagement - Hands-on, project-based work applying systems-thinking methods to your own project - A certificate of participation - A small cohort of 30 researchers, practitioners and policy-makers to learn and collaborate with **What you'll do:** - Attend keynotes, lectures and workshops, and train on real-life scenarios - Learn systems-thinking theory, techniques and tools, including systems archetypes and policy scenarios - Analyse key problems in NCD prevention and healthy ageing, keeping solutions rooted in what people actually need - Practise with decision-making tools and learn to design studies informed by systems thinking - Explore policy innovation in public health, the opportunity AI offers public health, and innovation ecosystems - Build skills to turn research into policy **Key dates:** - Call published 15 October 2026 - Applications close 23 November 2026 (no closing time given) - Successful applicants are informed by 18 December 2026 - Summer school runs from 09:00 on 20 July 2027 to 14:00 on 23 July 2027, in Nice, France - Welcome dinner on 21 July 2027 **More information:** - Delivered in person and in English, with 30 places - The curriculum is still being finalised; listed topics include systems archetypes, decision-making tools, policy innovation and AI for public health - Applications go through WHO's online application form, which has 19 questions - The programme was developed with technical support from Queen's University Belfast and York University - The call page links WHO/Europe's published guidance on bringing systems thinking into noncommunicable disease prevention policy
