I am a Lecturer in Palliative and End-of-life care in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB), and a Marie Curie Honorary Research Fellow.

I graduated from QUB with a BSc Psychology (hons) in 2007, and a MSc Cert in Applied Applications in Clinical Psychology from Newman University, Birmingham in 2009. I then completed a PhD in Palliative and End-of-life care in 2014 which explored factors affecting the successful implementation and sustainability of the Liverpool Care Pathway for dying patients using realist methods. I was the first postdoc researcher in Northern Ireland to have secured a prestigious Marie Curie Senior Research Fellow post in 2019-2024. During that time, I established collaborations locally and internationally (America and South America) and secured £743,630 from competitive funders (NIHR). I joined the School of Nursing and Midwifery at QUB as a Lecturer in April 2024.

Realist Evaluation

Realist Review

Randomised Controlled Trials

Palliative Care

End-of-life Care

Music Therapy

My research interests include improving access to palliative care for those with cancer and non-cancer life-limiting conditions; Music Therapy within palliative and end-of-life care, including bereavement, and alleviating loneliness among those impacted by life-limiting illness. 

Current and recent projects

Principle Investigator/joint lead:

McConnell T., Reid J., Hill L., Patynowska K., Stone C (2024-2025). Mapping supportive, palliative and end-of-life care services for people with heart failure in Northern Ireland - Magill Family Charitable Trust

McConnell T., Reid J., Blair C., Bradley N., Patynowska K., Finucane A., Orr A, Harrison C., Hudson B., Paradine S., McCullagh A. (2023-2024) Loneliness from the perspective of those with life-threatening illness and their informal carers: an integrative review – Marie Curie Small Research Grant

McConnell T., Reid J. (2022-2024) Marie Curie Personal Senior Research Fellowship – Marie Curie

McConnell T, joint lead with Reid J., Bradley N., O’Halloran P., Prue G., Blair C., Wong G., Roberts N., Banks E. (2022 – 2024) Integrated Palliative Care in Oncology: Realist Synthesis (IPCO) – NIHR HSDR

McConnell T, joint lead with Reid J., Howie C., Blair C., Wong G., Duddy C., Hill L. (2021 – 2023) Integrating Palliative Care and Heart Failure: Realist Synthesis (PalliatHeartSynthesis) – NIHR HSDR

McConnell T, joint lead with Graham-Wisener L., Kirkwood J., Thomas D., Potvin N. (2021-2022) Building the evidence base for music therapy interventions with informal carers of people at end of life – Music Therapy Charity

Co-investigator

McNeilly P., Kerr H., McConnell T., Reid J. (2023-2024) The all-island CO-DECIDE Study: Co-production of a decision-making framework for planning the place of end-of-life care for children, young people and their families on the island of Ireland - HEA North-South Research Programme 2021

Best P., McConnell T. (2023) Behavioural activation and Virtual Reality based exercise for those with Parkinson's – Marie Curie Small Research Grant

O’Halloran P., Brazil K., McConnell T., McVeigh C., Noble H., Reid J. (2022-2023) NIHR Palliative Care Research Partnership for Northern Ireland – NIHR

Reid J., McConnell T. (2021-2022) : Loneliness among people with a terminal illness and their carers in Northern Ireland - Marie Curie Small Research Grant

External Roles

• Marie Curie Honorary Research Fellow
• Committee member of the Palliative Care Research Forum Northern Ireland (PCRFNI)
• Member of the All Ireland Hospice and Palliative Care (AIIHPC) Palliative Care Research Network (PCRN)
• Member of the Action Group on Loneliness Policy (ACLP). The action group was set up in 2019 and has already worked with MLAs in the Northern Ireland Assembly to set up an All Party Group on Loneliness, calling on the Assembly to develop and implement a strategy on loneliness for Northern Ireland.
• Member of the Mental Health and Wellbeing in Advanced Illness Network (MAIN)
• Member of the AIIHPC Psychological, Social and Spiritual Care research Special Interest Group
• Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Leadership Roles

• Co-lead QUB School of Nursing and Midwifery Athena SWAN Student Group
• School of Nursing and Midwifery representative on QUB PPI Network

• Member of SWAN Culture Working Group

Undergraduate modules:

Evidence Based Nursing 2 - Year 2 (NFM 2121)

Working inter-professionally to improve mental wellbeing – Year 2 (NSY 2124) - Module Co-coordinator

Postgraduate modules:

Master class workshops – PhD students

Evidence Based Practice (HSN 7076) - Module Co-ordinator

Current Graduate Supervision
MSc students

PhD students