Dean of the Faculty of Community and Health Sciences, Prof Anita Padmanabhanunni, by Prof Gérard Filies, conference treasurer Dr Abigail Dreyer and Dr Luzaan Africa. Image: SuppliedThe Faculty of Community and Health Sciences proudly hosted the 5th Africa Interprofessional Education Network (AfrIPEN) Conference at UWC’s Bellville Campus from 31 August to 3 September 2026.
Chaired by Prof Gérard Filies (AfrIPEN Chairperson) and conference chairperson Dr Luzaan Africa, the event marked the Faculty’s first major conference on campus.
The theme, African Wisdom, Global Relevance, highlighted how African knowledge systems, practices, and values can shape the future of interprofessional education and collaborative practice worldwide.
Delegates explored subthemes such as:
- Ubuntu in Practice – Indigenous knowledge and collaborative care
- Context Matters – Designing IPE for African realities
- Reclaiming Power – Decolonial pedagogies in IPE
- Community-Led Innovation – From grassroots to system change
- Researching with Africa – Methodologies and models that matter
The conference underscored Africa’s leadership in developing contextually responsive, community?driven and culturally grounded approaches to interprofessional education and collaborative practice.
As a gesture of appreciation, AfrIPEN donated R15,000 to UWC’s student food security programme, Udubs Cares. The cheque was formally handed over during the opening ceremony to the Dean of the Faculty of Community and Health Sciences, Prof Anita Padmanabhanunni, by Prof Filies, conference treasurer Dr Abigail Dreyer and Dr Luzaan Africa.
This milestone event reinforced UWC’s commitment to advancing equitable care, health systems strengthening and globally relevant education models rooted in African contexts.
Prof Filies Receives Global Leadership Award
Prof Gérard Filies received the Global Leadership Award from the President of Interprofessional Research.
Prof Gérard Filies. Image: SuppliedGlobal (IPR.Global), Dr Hossein Khalili, at the 5th Africa Interprofessional Education Network (AfrIPEN) conference, recently held at the University of the Western Cape’s Faculty of Community and Health Sciences, Bellville Campus.
The reviewers were highly impressed with Prof Filies’ outstanding leadership and contributions to advancing interprofessional education and collaborative practice (IPECP). His work reflects a strong commitment to collaboration, innovation and impact in the field. The IPR.Global Distinguished Leadership Award recognises outstanding leadership of an individual or team who made transformative, inclusive, measurable and sustainable contributions to the promotion, implementation, evaluation and/or advancement of interprofessional education, collaborative practice and/or research in and across their country and regional settings, along with a significant global impact.
This award, presented at the conference on 1 September 2026, has three tiers: Regional, Global, and Distinguished Global Leadership. The IPR.Global Best Research and Leadership Awards aim to honour innovative interprofessional scholarly work in the form of partnership, evaluation, research or dissertation work, accompanied by outstanding interprofessional leadership that has had a positive, sustainable impact on the academic, practice or community setting, with notable contributions to the field of interprofessional education and collaborative practice at the global level.
Prof Filies currently holds the following leadership positions:
- Chairperson: Interprofessional Education Unit (IPEU) (2023 – current)
- Chairperson: Africa Interprofessional Education Network (AfrIPEN) (2023 – current)
- Co-Chair & Steering Committee Member: InterprofessionalResearch.Global Communications Working Group
- Served on a Curriculum Development Advisory Group (CDAG) of the WHO Regional Office for Africa who undertook an adaptation of the WHO Global Competency Framework for UHC in the development of prototype competency-based curricula (CBC) for selected health professions for the African region.
- International Advisory Board member: Western Norway University of applied sciences (HVL) and University in Bergen – application for Centre for Excellence in Education (2022 - approved in 2024).
- International scientific advisory board member – Ghent University: 5 year project in Flanders, aiming at developing a core set of primary care competencies (to be translated into primary care entrustable professional activities for education) and at describing the concept of ‘a primary care professional identity’ (2023 – current).
- As part of a team he was appointed as convenor for driving the process for registration and accreditation of the Postgraduate Diploma in Interprofessional Education in Health – a first of its kind in the Western Cape, if not a first in South Africa. The programme was launched in August 2021.
- He was selected as one of twenty-five people across the world to present his research at the All Together Better Health (ATBH) X Reinvented Webinar Series in 2021.
- He participated in the first Townhall meeting of the review of the Interprofessional Core Competencies developed by the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) in Washington and represented South Africa.
- Prof Filies is currently engaged with health innovation initiatives through exploring, with 3D printing, and how this could be used in interprofessional education and collaborative practice through the establishment of a 3D Printing Lab in the Faculty of Community and Health Sciences.
Image: SuppliedAhead of the recent 5th Africa Interprofessional Education Network (AfrIPEN) conference, a one day partnership meeting was held with key stakeholders to align health priorities for Africa. Prof Filies co-ordinated and built links with his AfrIPEN team and the following key stakeholders were represented at this important discussion at UWC on the 31st of August: the World Health Organization African Region; Western Cape Government Health and Wellness; Paediatric-Adolescent Treatment Africa; Southern African Association of Health Educationalists – SAAHE; Interprofessional.Global; InterprofessionalResearch.Global; Stellenbosch University; Centre for the advancement of interprofessional education [CAIPE (UK)]; Interprofessional Education Unit (UWC); and, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University.
In November this year, Prof Filies will be representing South Africa as the Chairperson of both IPEU and AfrIPEN, at the 6th Interprofessional.Global (IP.G) Partnership Symposium in Winterthur, Switzerland, followed by a two-day conference (360° Winterthur Symposium) to present some of his latest research with fellow colleagues.
