Registration is open for the UNICON 2027 Directors’ Conference. Four days. Two cities. A first for the network: we open in Sydney with AGSM @ UNSW Business School and close in Melbourne with Melbourne Business School, May 4-7, 2027.
Register now Full agenda and hotels
Watch the invitation: Jenny George, Dean of Melbourne Business School, and Nick Wailes, Director of AGSM, invite you to Australia.
A dual-city immersion
Get ready for a first-of-its-kind UNICON experience: a dual-city immersion across two of Australia’s most dynamic leadership hubs. AGSM and Melbourne Business School will curate a unified programme that uses both cities to tell a bold, future-focused story about executive education in Australia: its momentum, creativity and global influence. All delivered through one seamless, fully coordinated journey. No logistics. No stress. Just transformative learning, connection and discovery.
Sydney · May 4-5 · AGSM @ UNSW Business School
Innovation-fueled, global energy.
Executive education in Australia, collaboration and connection, in plenary and small groups. Then out of the classroom: an Indigenous-led walking experience connected to Country, a cultural welcome and smoking ceremony, and an evening cruise on Sydney Harbour. Day two brings strategic alignment, the geopolitical landscape, a systems thinking challenge and an adaptive leadership masterclass, closing with dinner in a revolving restaurant above the city.
Melbourne · May 6-7 · Melbourne Business School
Design-led, academic depth.
Your hosts fly the whole group to Melbourne in the morning. Sessions on leadership and transformation, then Leadership in action at the Melbourne Cricket Ground: leadership, culture, teamwork and performance. The final day brings a transformation case study, AI and leadership, trust and technology, and a closing session that turns the week into action plans to take home.
The theme
Leading Through Transformational Times
Executive education is operating through a period of profound change. Economic and organisational pressures are colliding with rapid advances in AI, shifting expectations of leadership and the need to build capability for an uncertain future. The conference creates space to step back from the day-to-day, learn from Australia’s context and from one another, and explore how leaders and institutions can honour enduring principles while adapting for what comes next.
At the heart of this experience is Australia’s First Nations heritage. Delegates will engage with the world’s oldest continuing culture and its leadership principles, offering powerful insights into resilience, sustainability and community that strongly align with executive education’s evolving mission.
Who you will hear from
Faculty from AGSM, UNSW and Melbourne Business School, among them a former NASA technical lead who founded Australia’s National AI Centre, a Harvard PhD who taught at Chicago and MIT, an Oxford research fellow on corporate reputation, and the former CEO and Dean of Thunderbird.
Professor Nick WailesDean of Lifelong Learning UNSW; Director, AGSM
Professor Jenny GeorgeDean, Melbourne Business School
Professor Richard HoldenVice-Chancellor’s Professor and Chief Societal Economist, UNSW
Professor Catherine AlthausFounding Director, Academy of Adaptive Leadership, UNSW Canberra
Professor Will HarveyProfessor of Leadership; Director, Sustainable Value Creation Institute, MBS
Professor Jon WhittleProfessorial Fellow, Institute for Digital Innovation & AI, MBS
Professor Nicole GillespieChair of Trust and Professor of Management, MBS
Dr Sanjeev KhagramDistinguished Research Fellow, Hoover Institution; Foundation Professor, Thunderbird
Professor Stephen DohertyDeputy Dean (Education), Faculty of Arts, Design & Architecture, UNSW
Dr Shanie AtkinsonAdjunct Faculty, AGSM at UNSW; strategy and innovation consultantRegistration
Conference fee
A$2,850 per participant (approximately US$2,000)
The fee includes the conference programme and host-arranged travel between Sydney and Melbourne. Accommodation is booked separately; preferred hotels in both cities, with group codes, are listed on the conference page.
Register for the Directors’ Conference
Getting there
Australia is closer than you think. From Europe, most routes involve one stop (around 22 to 26 hours). From North America, nonstop options exist from the West Coast (around 14 to 17 hours). From Asia, direct services take around 8 to 10 hours.
Fly into Sydney and home from Melbourne; the leg in between is arranged by your hosts and included in the fee. Booking three to six months ahead keeps fares reasonable.
Questions about routing or timing? Send the hosts an enquiry.
Immersive, high-quality, culturally grounded, and absolutely unforgettable. We hope to see you in Australia next May.