A Teesside University lecturer has taken a northern England approach to joined-up healthcare education to South Africa, contributing to an international conference, a World Health Organisation and new teaching projects at the University of the Western Cape.
A Middlesbrough voice at an international conference
Dr Vikki Park, Senior Lecturer in Patient Experience, and Healthcare Leadership, represented the Middlesbrough university during a programme focused on interprofessional education. The term describes students and staff from different health and professions learning together, with the aim of preparing them to work more effectively across professional boundaries.
Park delivered a keynote at the fifth African Interprofessional Education Network conference. The official programme says the event ran from 1 to 3 September 2026 at the University of the Western Cape, bringing educators, and healthcare professionals together under the theme African Wisdom, Global Relevance: Reclaiming Interprofessional Futures.
During the visit, Park also joined a World Health Organisation consultation about placing interprofessional education within health-professions courses across Africa. At the University of the Western Cape, she taught postgraduate students and led a staff-development workshop connected with the launch of four interprofessional education projects.
Linking international work with a northern
The visit also gave Teesside University a platform to share work closer to home. Park co-presented the Northern Interprofessional Education Strategy with Professor Melissa Owens of the University of York. The five-year plan was developed by Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland, Teesside and York universities and launched in May.
Newcastle University’s account of the strategy says it is organised around five areas: cross-region collaboration, leadership and , staff development, and quality assurance. Dr Erica Clough, a Principal Lecturer in Learning and Teaching at Teesside, was one of its five authors; Park served as an expert peer reviewer and is a member of the Northern IPE Group.
For students in Middlesbrough, the practical issue is how well professional training reflects real health and care services. Nurses, doctors, social workers and allied health professionals rarely work in isolation. Shared learning can give students experience of communicating across those roles before they enter the .
What is confirmed, and what comes next
Teesside University says the South Africa programme opened further opportunities for collaboration, but it has not yet published a timetable, funding details or an evaluation showing how the visit will change courses or services locally. The strongest immediate is the exchange itself: a Teesside academic contributed to teaching and consultation abroad while sharing a regional developed with four other northern universities.
That distinction matters. The conference appearance, consultation and four projects are confirmed activities, while any longer-term benefit for local students, staff or patients will need as the partnerships develop.
Reflecting on the conference, Park said the discussions showed the importance of learning “with, from and about one another” across professions and cultures. That principle also sits at the centre of the northern strategy.
activity for the Northern Interprofessional Education Strategy is due to continue during 2026. Further detail on any resulting joint projects with the University of the Western Cape or other African partners has not yet been announced.