The second annual 3U Leadership Symposium will take place on Saturday, 1 March at NUI Maynooth.

Following on from last years' successful event, the theme of leadership and professionalism will be further developed with keynote speaker, Professor James P. Spillane, School of Education & Social Policy, Northwestern University, Illinois, USA addressing delegates on the theme of distributed leadership in organisations residing in a pluralist environment. 

Other key contributors to the symposium include Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Frances Fitzgerald; Professor David Coghlan, Organisation Development, TCD; Professor Freddie Wood, President of the Medical Council: and Tomás Ó Ruairc, Director of the Teaching Council.

The symposium will also feature research by graduates of:

• Postgraduate Diploma in Educational Leadership (Tóraíocht) offered by the Education Department in NUI Maynooth, in partnership with Professional Development Service for Teachers' (PDST)
• MSc programmes in Leadership at RCSI's Institute of Leadership

The symposium organisers, Paula Kinnarney, Education Department (NUI Maynooth) and Dr Pauline Joyce, Institute of Leadership (RCSI) believe that "this symposium is unique as it addresses a gap in research into educational leadership spanning both the teaching and healthcare sectors”.

This one-day event offers both academics and postgraduate students the opportunity to learn about emerging practice in action-oriented research and to share their leadership experiences within two very different but complementary sectors.