Joint Executive Master's Program in Leadership Education in Disability and Inclusion, Development Project
Project Description:
This Joint Master's program represents an ambitious cross-institutional effort to develop and certify a new international Master's degree by Fall 2026, preparing the next generation of leaders to advance inclusion for people with disabilities, neurodiversity, and mental health support needs as vital dimensions of human diversity. The development work builds on long-standing commitments to inclusive education, systems change, and leadership grounded in strengths-based, trauma-informed, and healing-centered frameworks.
The program is a formal collaboration between the University of Thessaly in Greece and Georgetown University in the United States, with added expertise from George Mason University's Center for Advancing System Science and Bioengineering Innovation (CASSBI). This multi-university partnership brings together faculty, students, and community partners across contexts to co-design an interdisciplinary curriculum, shape a governance structure that upholds participatory and culturally and linguistically competent practices, and ensure the program meets accreditation and certification requirements in both countries.
The development work centers the leadership and lived experience of people with disabilities and people with mental health support needs, including individuals with complex communication needs and those from historically minoritized groups. Engaging stakeholders with lived experience as co-designers is essential to the project's commitment to community-driven systems change and inclusive research. Faculty teams are working to integrate best practices in community-based participatory research, ethnographic methods, and mixed-methods approaches into the curriculum, ensuring that graduates have a solid grounding in inclusive, rigorous, and reflective research practices.
Key aspects of the program being developed include a blend of core courses and elective tracks. Core courses will provide students with knowledge in lifespan neurocognitive development, biopsychosocial and socioecological models, and global disability rights frameworks such as the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Elective tracks will allow students to specialize in Health, Mental Health & Education; Law & Public Policy; or Technology & Innovation, reflecting the cross-sectoral leadership the program seeks to build.
The program also features practical elements such as immersive study trips — one in the U.S. and one in Greece — to expose students to real-world examples of inclusive leadership and systems transformation. A signature Capstone Project, to be developed and piloted during the program build, will require students to collaborate with community, family, or industry partners to address authentic systems change challenges in local contexts.
Through the development phase, the project team is designing reflective practices that will be woven throughout the curriculum, building students' capacity to understand and navigate complex sociocultural contexts. This includes partnerships with leaders in assistive technology and bioengineering, ensuring that technologists and innovation leaders can also benefit from culturally and linguistically competent frameworks for disability inclusion.
The Joint Master's is ultimately about equipping emerging and mid-career professionals to design, lead, and sustain inclusive policies and practices that promote dignity, autonomy, and community well-being for people with disabilities and mental health support needs across the lifespan. The EU-funded support for this development process demonstrates a regional and global commitment to building capacity for inclusive systems change, with a vision that bridges local and international knowledge, policy, and innovation.
Keyword(s):
Adolescent Health, Mental/Behavioral Health – Autism, Maternal Health – Breastfeeding, Clinical Care, Developmental Disabilities, Early Childhood – Developmental Health (including developmental screening), Early Childhood – General, Health Care Transition, Health Equity, Life Course Approach, Maternal Health – Maternal Depression, Maternal Health – General, Maternal Health – Maternal Mortality, Medical Home, Mental/Behavioral Health – General , Nutrition, Maternal Health – Perinatal/Postpartum Care, Preventive Services, Social Determinants of Health, Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults with Special Health Care Needs, Mental/Behavioral Health – Substance Use Disorder(s), Telehealth
Core Function(s):
Training Trainees, Developing & Disseminating Information, Continuing Education/Community Training
Area of Emphasis
Education & Early Intervention, Health-Related Activities, Employment-Related Activities, Other - Cultural Diversity, Other - Leadership
Target Audience:
Students/Trainees (long or intermediate trainees), Professionals and Para-Professionals, Family Members/Caregivers, Adults with Disabilities, Legislators/Policy Makers
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Racial or Ethnic Minorities, Disadvantaged Circumstances, Limited English, Geographic Areas, Rural/Remote, Urban, Specific Groups
Primary Target Audience Geographic Descriptor:
National, International
COVID-19 Related Data:
N/A
