News roundup

A three minute video has been made about the research being undertaken by Ann Ashburn and her team which is studying the effect of ballroom dancing on balance for patients with Parkinson's disease, an illness which is estimated to affect over six million people worldwide.

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James Wilson received great feedback and interest following his presentation of the Faculty's work using forum theatre and other interactive theatre-based methods to the Council of Deans ‘Educating for excellent care: Innovation teaching and learning' seminar last week.  The Faculty's work was selected as one of three innovations invited to present at the event out of a list of 200 entries submitted from other HEIs.

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Two of our student nurses have been shortlisted for a prestigious national award which recognises exceptional professional skills and potential. Alex Collyer and Annette Welch have been nominated for the UK's only scholarships for Student Nurses and Midwives run by Cavell Nurses' Trust. Alex has been shortlisted for the Edith Cavell Leadership award and Annette is in the running for the Community title.

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Dr Ann-Marie Hughes ran two workshops on "Consortium Cooperation and Agreement" at the recent Erasmus Coordinators Meeting in Brussels in January. These events facilitated the exchange of experiences between coordinators who may face similar challenges over the course of their projects. Key issues addressed were financial and reporting issues, conflict resolution and intellectual property rights.

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Dr Ann-Marie Hughes, with Trish Sampson, also led a successful Multiple Sclerosis Project Dissemination event yesterday, attended by people with MS and their carers, and professionals working with MS. 30 people attended to hear about the MS project the two academics had just run, as well as MS research in Ireland.

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Congratulations to Stephanie Meakin who successfully defended her thesis and was awarded her EdD with minor amendments. The title of Stephanie's thesis is ‘Exploring the potential of the pre-registration programme for developing student nurses as future clinical leaders in contemporary healthcare.'

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Congratulations also goes to Debbie Thackray for passing her EdD viva.  Debbie gave an excellent defence of her thesis: An investigation into the clinical reasoning of cardiorespiratory physiotherapists using a simulated patient and high dependency unit'.  Examiners described her work as 'magnificent' and highlighted its importance in education and clinical practice. 

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In next week's issue of the British Journal of Nursing Professor Alan Glasper discusses a new Government initiative allowing mental health nurses to work with police stations and courts in managing offenders with mental health problems.

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