Novo Symposium 2026:
Leadership for Tomorrow’s Healthcare – Turning Challenges with Digitalisation into Sustainable Solutions 

Novo Symposium 2026

The healthcare sector faces unprecedented challenges that demand effective and innovative leadership. The theme of our symposium underscores the critical need for dynamic and efficient leadership to navigate these complexities. As we integrate perspectives of work environment, efficiency, and quality of care, our goal is to pave the way for a sustainable and resilient future. 

Our discussions will encompass a range of pertinent topics in health care, including sustainable leadership, data-driven strategies, emerging digital tools, and teamwork. The NOVO Symposium 2026 is an essential confluence of ideas and solutions tailored for those committed to shaping the future of sustainable healthcare. Your participation will contribute to a vibrant dialogue on developing leadership strategies that not only meet current healthcare demands but also enhance and sustain the work environments where healthcare professionals thrive. 

We invite you to join us in Stockholm 7th – 8th of May 2026 for insightful discussions, networking opportunities, and the chance to contribute to transformative healthcare strategies and leadership. 

We welcome presentations in these aspects from a wide range of disciplines.

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Target group

This symposium seeks to gather a diverse mix of healthcare professionals, academics, and PhD students to discuss recent research about perspectives of work environment, efficiency and quality of care – to support sustainable healthcare systems.

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Topics of Novo 2026

• Digital Transformation in Healthcare: Leveraging technology and digital services to enhance patient care, streamline administrative processes, and support data-driven decision-making for healthcare employees. 
• Artificial Intelligence and Ethical Leadership: Exploring the use of AI in healthcare — its potential for improving efficiency and HRM, as well as the ethical considerations for leaders and practitioners. 
• Leadership for AI-Driven Change: Understanding how leaders can dynamically use AI and other forms of digitalization for developing sustainable healthcare. 
• Sustainable Leadership for Healthy Work Environments: Crafting leadership strategies that promote both operational efficiency and employee well-being, fostering resilience and long-term sustainability in healthcare organizations.
• Teamwork, Learning, and Professional Development: Building collaborative cultures that promote continuous learning, trust, and collective excellence across professional groups. 
• Healthy Healthcare Systems: Evidence from Practice: Presenting successful cases where leadership, collaboration, and organisational culture have led to sustainable work environments and improved patient outcomes. 
  
  We prefer abstracts on these topics, but other options are also welcome. Overall, the abstract should highlight that improving the work environment in healthcare must be linked to efficiency and quality aspects — combining good working conditions with high performance for long-term organisational sustainability. 
  
  We further call for proposals for interactive workshops on project ideas that can lead to funding and joint projects.  
  
  The symposium is cross-disciplinary, and we expect both professionals and managers from healthcare as well as academics from a wide array of academic disciplines such as nursing, public health, operations management, and occupational health.  
  
  We look forward to welcoming you to an engaging and inspiring symposium!

Location:

KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

Conference Fee: 

350 € including coffee, lunches, dinner and social program 

Organising Committee

Andrea Eriksson
Professor, Division of Ergonomics,
KTH Royal Institute of Technology 
andrea4@kth.se 

Anna Dahlgren
Assistant Professor, Stockholm university
anna.dahlgren@su.se 

Kasper Edwards
Associate Professor, Technical University of Denmark 
kaed@dtu.dk