Former New Zealand prime minister Dame Jacinda Ardern has taken up a post at a major Australian university.
Dame Jacinda, who was her home country's leader from 2017 to 2023, will soon begin guest-lecturing, running masterclasses and mentoring students and researchers at the University of Sydney.
She has been appointed a professor of practice - a part-time role for people with extensive leadership experience outside of academia - in the school of public health.
Her work will focus on areas including empathetic leadership, social cohesion and civic trust.
She led New Zealand through the terrorist attacks on two mosques in Christchurch in March 2019, the deadly Whakaari volcanic eruption in December that year, and the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 46-year-old resigned as prime minister and leader of the Labour Party in January 2023, saying she did not "have enough in the tank" to carry on.
"I've found myself especially focused on the question of leadership since leaving office, and how we can better support and encourage the kind of leadership needed to tackle our many global challenges.
"I'm looking forward to working alongside the brilliant students, faculty and wider University of Sydney community, as we share experiences, explore and develop ways to better serve our communities, and help solve the issues facing so many today."
Since leaving office, Dame Jacinda has held fellowships at Harvard and Oxford universities and founded an international programme that promotes empathetic leadership.
University vice-chancellor Mark Scott said he had long admired Dame Jacinda for the courage and humanity she brought to public life.
"Her leadership demonstrated that empathy and resolve do not compete with one another; each can strengthen the other.”
Students would meet not only a former prime minister, but a thoughtful teacher with a great deal to share about public leadership and service, he said.
Dame Jacinda spoke at a gender equality conference in Melbourne in April, which was attended by delegates from 185 countries.
She also recently attended the Pre-COP31 meetings in Fiji alongside Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Dame Jacinda, husband Clarke Gayford and eight-year-old daughter, Neve Gayford, moved to Australia earlier this year. They had been previously living in the United States where Ardern was working for Harvard University.
In March 2025, she joined Oxford University's Blavatnik School of Government as a Distinguished Fellow and member of the world leaders circle.
Dame Jacinda recently released a memoir, A Different Kind of Power, and a children's book, Mum's Busy Work.
- additional reporting RNZ