BeWell Final Conference

The BeWell Final Conference took place in Brussels on Thursday, 07 May 2026.

The event was organised in hybrid format.

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Moderators:
Dr Matthias Wismar, Programme Manager, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies
Natalia Allegretti, Senior International Project Manager, Global Health Connector

Links to presentations:

• Europe’s health workforce at a turning point 
• Building skills intelligence: evidence for action 
• Shaping the future of health workforce skills: the BeWell Skills Strategy

9:30 – 10:30: Welcome coffee and registration

10:30 – 11:00: Europe’s health workforce at a turning point  – Project vision and setting the scene: Federica Margheri, European Health Management Association (EHMA) and BeWell project coordinator – Opening remarks: Dr Petronille Bogaert, DG SANTE, European Commission – Opening remarks: Sonia de Melo Xavier, DG EMPL, European Commission

11:00 – 12:00: Building skills intelligence: evidence for action  – Key findings from the skills intelligence: Dr Gemma Williams, Research Fellow, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and Prof. Ronald Batenburg, Programme Leader, Nivel – From competences matrices to training programmes: Rolf Aslaksrud Kristiansen, EUROMASC and Carmen Fusilli, ITS – Training the professionals – Lessons learnt from the pilots: Efstathia Koitsanou, University of Thessaly and Petra Ziegler, WIAB – Panel discussion

12:00 – 12:45: Shaping the future of health workforce skills: the BeWell Skills Strategy – Presentation of the Skills Strategy by Federica Margheri, European Health Management Association (EHMA) – Panel discussion on how the strategy responds to the needs of the health workforce with: o Josefine Declaye, Policy Officer, ESNO o Sarada Das, Executive Director, CPME o Loredana Simulescu, Executive Director, BiomedAlliance o Jorge Batista, Senior Professional Affairs Advisor, PGEU o Adam Rogalewski, Policy Officer Health and Social Services, EPSU

12:45 – 14:00: Lunch + celebration + Skills initiatives across Europe: projects in action: o AMR-EDUCare o H-PASS o JA HEROES o XiA o BRIGHTskills

14:00 – 14:30: Hearing from the training participants Testimonials from training participants – Comment from Dr Monica Brinzac, Babes-Bolyai University – Comments from Prof Todorka Kostadinova, Medical University Varna

14:30 – 15:45: Implementing the Skills Strategy – multistakeholder panel – Michele Calabró, Director, EUREGHA – Nicola Scomparin, Health Workforce Communication Expert, ProMIS – Caroline Trillingsgaard Mejdahl, Researcher at DEFACTUM, Region of Central Denmark – Diane Whitehouse, Principal eHealth Policy Consultant, EHTEL – Gabriella Sutton, Project Coordinator, EuroHealthNet

15:45 – 16:00: Closing remarks

16:00 – Onwards: Networking and coctail