Driving Road Safety Leadership Forward: The GRSLI Alumni Fellowship

Last week in Baltimore, Maryland, the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) and the Johns Hopkins University International Injury Research Unit (JH IIRU) convened a powerful gathering of emerging leaders at the Global Road Safety Leadership Institute (GRSLI) Alumni Fellowship: Showcase & Engagement Workshop 2026. 

Held from May 5 to 8, the workshop is part of the GRSLI Alumni Fellowship Program, supported by the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS). The fellowship program forms part of the GRSLI suite of courses where GRSP’s global implementation expertise meets Johns Hopkins University’s academic leadership—to shape a new generation of road safety changemakers. 

This year also marks a milestone for the initiative—ten years of the Global Road Safety Leadership Course and six years of the Alumni Fellowship Program—reflecting a decade of building leadership capacity across the sector. 

From Learning to Leadership in Action 

The Alumni Fellowship supports graduates of the Global Road Safety Leadership Course (GRSLC), and facilitates the development of their applied leadership skills and their capacity to influence policy, mobilize stakeholders, and drive measurable change for safer roads in complex environments. 

This year’s workshop brought together two fellowship cohorts for peer exchange, reflection, and forward-looking collaboration:  

• Cohort 5, approaching the completion of their fellowship journey
• Cohort 6, stepping into their leadership roles 

Mentorship: Leadership Multiplied 

At the core of the fellowship program is a mentorship model, pairing fellows with leading experts across various disciplines in road safety. Mentors guide fellows through the full leadership cycle, and come from a range of areas of expertise: 

• Traffic psychology and behaviour change 
• Health systems and implementation research 
• Data, research, and surveillance 
• Road policing and enforcement 
• Health economics and financing 
• Road safety governance 
• Transport planning and urban development 

Mentors supporting the two cohorts include GRSP leaders: 

• Dr Britta Lang, Global Programme Manager 
• Dr Judy Fleiter, Senior Consultant 
• Dave Shelton, Manager, Global Road Safety Advocacy and Grants Programme 
• Cristina Inclan, Senior Officer, Global Advocacy & Grants Programme 
• Robert Susanj, Senior Officer, Road Policing, Budapest Office 
• Paul Simcox, Senior Officer, Road Policing, Kuala Lumpur Office 

Looking Ahead: A Pipeline of Global Leaders 

The GRSLI Alumni Fellowship is more than a program—it accelerates leadership growth, empowering professionals to work for safer roads in their own contexts. Through the continued partnership between GRSP and JH-IIRU, with support from BIGRS, the program is helping shape a future where leadership drives safer roads worldwide. 

PHOTO: GRSP Global Programme Manager Dr Britta Lang with Global Road Safety Leadership Institute Alumni (GRSLI) Fellows from Cohorts 5 and 6, at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health for the May 5-8, 2026 GRSLI Alumni Fellowship: Showcase & Engagement Workshop 2026