I am a Professor (Education) with a programme of scholarship focused on co-designed digital education, knowledge translation and implementation in health and social care. My work positions education as an applied intervention to improve workforce capability, student development, care quality and support in complex and under-served areas of practice.

My research and doctoral supervision are organised across four connected programmes: 1) care-home workforce education and digital intervention research; 2) pancreatic cancer supportive care, education and psychosocial research; 3) interdisciplinary delirium education; and 4) healthcare decarbonisation and planetary health education. These programmes are connected by a shared focus on developing, evaluating and scaling education-based interventions that can improve practice, preparedness and care.

Alongside this research, I provide strategic leadership in postgraduate education, curriculum reform, digital pedagogy, student success, doctoral supervision and academic capacity-building. I am particularly interested in how serious games, e-resources, podcasts, virtual simulation, gamification, asynchronous learning and Artificial Intelligence in education can support evidence-informed practice, professional identity formation and scalable workforce development.

1. Care-home workforce education and digital intervention research

I lead a programme of applied research focused on care-home workforce education, digital intervention development and knowledge translation in non-hospital settings. This work addresses complex areas of resident care including diabetes, heart failure, restrictive practice, dementia, palliative care, oral health and frailty. The programme is concerned with developing practical, scalable education-based interventions that improve staff knowledge, confidence, decision-making and care quality in care homes/nursing homes and related community settings.

2. Pancreatic cancer supportive care, education and psychosocial research

I lead a growing QUB/NIPANC pancreatic cancer research cluster focused on supportive care, psychosocial experience, family/carer support, young people, public awareness, digital education and service evaluation. This includes work on public awareness through serious games, undergraduate health professional education, cross-cultural digital adaptation, communication skills training, patient experience, carer support, adolescents affected by parental pancreatic cancer bereavement, and realist/service evaluation of pancreatic cancer services in Northern Ireland. The programme aims to improve awareness, preparedness, support and care for people affected by pancreatic cancer and their families.

3. Interdisciplinary delirium education

I lead an interdisciplinary delirium education programme focused on improving health profession students’ preparedness to prevent, recognise and respond to delirium. This programme has developed from local teaching innovation into a published, funded and internationally scalable body of work, including face-to-face education, podcast-based learning, digital resources, student-informed co-design and an all-Ireland partnership between Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Limerick. The next phase of this work focuses on European collaboration and wider implementation of interdisciplinary delirium education.

4. Healthcare decarbonisation and planetary health education

I am developing an emerging programme of healthcare decarbonisation and planetary health education research, with a focus on health profession students, workforce capability and social care implementation. This work includes evidence synthesis, postgraduate curriculum development, gamified digital education, doctoral research and applied work on decarbonising social care. The programme connects sustainability, education, implementation and health/social care systems improvement.

Cross-cutting digital education and methodological expertise

Across these programmes, my work uses qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods approaches, including grounded theory, phenomenology, ethnography, realist evaluation, co-design, evidence synthesis, feasibility studies and implementation-focused research. My digital education work includes serious games, e-resources, podcasts, virtual simulation, gamification, asynchronous learning and emerging Artificial Intelligence in education. The common aim is to move from identifying practice and education gaps to developing feasible, scalable interventions that can improve education, practice and care.

I am Director for Postgraduate Taught Programmes in the School of Nursing and Midwifery and Education & Practice Research Theme Lead. My teaching leadership focuses on strategic curriculum reform, postgraduate workforce development, digital pedagogy, student success and academic capacity-building.

As Director for Postgraduate Taught Programmes, I have led major reform of commissioned postgraduate provision to strengthen academic coherence, workforce alignment, sustainability and progression. This work has included redesign of postgraduate architecture, development of new Level 7 provision, alignment with workforce and career frameworks, and sustained engagement with academic staff, commissioners, clinical partners and policy stakeholders.

My own teaching and scholarship focus on evidence-based practice, older people’s care, dementia, delirium, care-home nursing, health professions education and digital education. I develop and evaluate co-designed, gamified, asynchronous and interdisciplinary education interventions for health and social care students, professionals and support staff.

I also lead student and staff development initiatives that connect education, scholarship and impact. These include postgraduate care-home education, the Future Ready Evidence-Based Practice Champion Programme, Ambition to Success, doctoral mentoring, early-career academic development and support for Advance HE fellowship pathways. My teaching leadership is concerned not only with curriculum delivery, but with building academic confidence, professional identity, research literacy, leadership capability and progression into academic and education-focused roles.

I have produced more than 300 research outputs and have sustained an internationally recognised programme of pedagogical scholarship in digital health professions education, applied health/social care research and knowledge translation. My current Scopus H-index is 23 with more than 1,700 citations, and I have been recognised in the Stanford/Elsevier Top 2% of Scientists worldwide for five consecutive years.

I have contributed to studies with a total value of approximately £5.7m, including £1.1m as PI and £4.6m as Co-I. My funded work includes co-designed serious games, digital education resources, interdisciplinary curriculum interventions, care-home workforce education, pancreatic cancer education and supportive care, delirium education, and healthcare decarbonisation education.

Digital education outputs developed under my leadership have reached more than 15,000 users globally, been adapted or evaluated internationally, adopted across university curricula, and used to inform professional education, workforce development and national guidance.

Selected recognition includes MBE for services to nursing and healthcare education (2023), Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) (2026), National Teaching Fellowship (2025), Fellowship of the European Academy of Nursing Sciences (2025), Senior Fellowship of Advance HE (2021), Queen’s Nurse (2019), Student Nursing Times Post-registration Education Provider of the Year Award (2024) for the PGCert Nursing Care of the Older Person in Care Home Settings, Student Nursing Times Best Student Experience Award (2026) for the Ambition to Success programme, and six Queen’s University Belfast teaching awards since 2018.

I contribute to national and international education, research and professional leadership through external examining, editorial board membership, funding panel roles, professional regulation, guideline development and European doctoral education. I am an external examiner for postgraduate nursing provision at Kings College London, serve on editorial boards for leading nursing and gerontology journals, and contribute to national research funding through NIHR committee and panel roles, including social care and healthcare decarbonisation.

I am a member of Northern Ireland Practice Education Council (NIPEC) and contribute to professional and workforce education across Northern Ireland. I have also contributed to national clinical guidance through membership of the NICE Delirium Guideline Committee and to UK-wide professional leadership through the Royal College of Nursing Older People’s Forum. Internationally, I contribute to the European Academy of Nursing Sciences, including doctoral education, complex intervention development and European research capacity-building.

My wider professional leadership includes invited national and international presentations on digital nursing education, serious games, interdisciplinary education, delirium, care-home education and pedagogical innovation.