Ground-breaking international empathy conference will return
A pioneering network dedicated to championing the use of empathy in healthcare consultations has confirmed its ground-breaking international conference will return in 2027.
This autumn around 120 healthcare professionals, researchers and educators from across the world arrived in Leicester to take part in the Global Empathy in Healthcare Network Symposium.
The conference showed how healthcare professionals can use empathy to rehumanise healthcare in an era of technological advancements and remote interactions and was so successful that work is already underway on plans for the network’s next conference.
Professor Jeremy Howick, Co-founder, with Catherine Eyres, of the Global Empathy in Healthcare Network, and Director of the Stoneygate Centre for Empathic Healthcare at the University of Leicester, said:
“Healthcare professionals and educators are increasingly realising the importance of practising empathetically because it leads to better outcomes for both patients and clinicians.
“Our symposium this autumn brought together the very best empathic healthcare experts from around the world who shared their expertise through a series of lively debates, engaging workshops and insightful talks.
“The feedback we received about the event was hugely positive and we’re confident it will have helped to drive forward the use and development of empathic healthcare around the world.
“We’re delighted to now announce that work is underway on plans for our next symposium.”
The next Global Empathy in Healthcare Network symposium will be hosted by network member, the Center for Empathy in Healthcare in Brazil in São Paulo.
The Global Empathy in Healthcare Network is made up of key international empathic healthcare leaders and organisations, including the Stoneygate Centre for Empathic Healthcare. Its members are dedicated to promoting empathic healthcare education and to working together to encourage countries to put empathy at the health of healthcare.
The network is currently shortlisted for the International Collaboration of the Year title in the Times Higher Education (THE) Awards 2025 which recognise excellence and innovation across the UK higher education sector. The winners will be announced on Thursday, November 13.
For further information about the network, visit https://www.global-empathy-in-healthcare.com/
If you want to learn more about teaching empathy, the Stoneygate Centre for Empathic Healthcare is running its flagship course, Educating for Empathy in Healthcare, from April 20 to April 22, 2026. To find out more about the course, visit https://le.ac.uk/empathy/study/educating-empathy
The directors of the Global Empathy in Healthcare Network