I am a registered adult and children’s nurse with extensive leadership experience both in NHS settings (primarily supporting children with complex surgical needs) and academia. My joint appointment between Sheffield Hallam University and Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust enables me to use my experiences to support nurses to develop the confidence and capabilities to embed research into practice and education.

I co-lead the Child, Young Person and Family Group within the Centre for Applied Health & Social Care Research in the Department of Nursing and Midwifery, College of Health, Wellbeing and Life Sciences. My specific research interests relate to developing interventions to support children, young people and families in the context of childhood long-term / life-limiting conditions.

ORCID ID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0974-3591

I was appointed as Professor of Nursing in Child Health as joint appointment between Sheffield Hallam University and Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust in October 2023, with a specific remit to shape the nursing research agenda and build on existing collaborations between both organisations. Before joining SHU, I worked for over 15 years in the NHS leading and developing services for children with long-term conditions and complex surgical needs in acute care settings.  With a natural progression to academia, I have worked in several Universities over two decades, drawing on my clinical experience to inform both teaching and research. I am passionate about ensuring nurses use the best available evidence to underpin practice, and developing the next generation of nurse researchers.

I co-lead the Child, Young Person and Family Group; group members undertake national/international Applied Health Research to inform policy and clinical practice in children and young people's long-term condition management. We use age/developmentally appropriate qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods to undertake research that improve clinical outcomes for children with long-term conditions, specifically in the co-design, co-production and evaluation of digital self-management interventions. My research focuses on developing interventions in relation to two areas:

1) Involving children, young people with a long-term condition and families in care decisions;
2) Interventions, in particular digital applications, to support children and young people with life limiting / threatening conditions that meet their psychological and existential needs.

My academic outputs include over 90 publications including peer review journal articles (H-index 23 / i10 index 35), authored book and book chapters, and over 50 conference presentations. I am particularly keen to support nurses to share research findings/ service improvements and good practice through presenting and publishing.