Project Team
Professor Isabel Higgins
Professor Isabel Higgins RN, MN PhD, FCN, FCNA is Professor of Older Person Nursing with the University of Newcastle and Hunter New England Health. Isabel’s role as a joint appointment with the Hunter New England Health means that she works very closely with practitioners in a range of settings. Through the School of Nursing and Midwifery’s Collaborating Center for Older Person Care (CCOPC) Isabel and her clinical nursing and academic colleagues work with the RCGHA to conduct research that focuses on providing optimal care of older people in a range of settings. Through the CCOPC Isabel collaborates and partners on research and scholarly activities which centre on person centered care, practice re design and capacity building for future generations of nurses.
Isabel's research focuses on pain and symptom management, end of life care, family members and needs of carers, practice issues and practice redesign. Her methodological expertise includes a range of qualitative methodologies, including phenomenology, critical ethnography, action research; quantitative approaches, and mixed methods studies. Current areas of study include pain and symptom management in older people with dementia, the prevention of delirium, nutrition and hydration at the end of life, and social support and needs of the relatives of older people. Isabel has supervised 6 students to successful completion of their RHD and 3 Hons students to class 1 level. Currently she is supervising PhD and Hons students undertaking studies relating to the CCPOC's research program. She is a member of the International Institute of Qualitative Methodology Review Committee and a visiting scholar with the University of Keele, Staffordhsire, United Kingdom.
Professor Mike Hazelton
Professor Mike Hazelton, RN MA PhD FACMHN is Head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery and Professor of Mental Health Nursing at the University of Newcastle and Hunter New England Health. He has worked in different parts of Australia, including Western Australia and Tasmania, and has had extensive experience developing and implementing nursing programs in countries such as Singapore and Malaysia. Professor Hazelton has previously held the positions of Head of Nursing at the University of Tasmania, and Head of Nursing and Midwifery at Curtin University of Technology, in Western Australia. He was recently appointed Honorary Director of the Halla /Newcastle Centre for Problem Based Learning, Cheju Halla College, Republic of Korea.
Professor Hazelton has a research background in both qualitative and quantitative methods, has published widely on mental health and mental health nursing and has undertaken consultancies for various governments, both Commonwealth and State in Australia. He is a past Editor of the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing and is currently a member of the editorial boards of the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, Nursing and Health Sciences and Mental Health and Substance Use: Dual Diagnosis. To date he has supervised 10 PhD students to successful completion; been the recipient of a number of awards for mental health nursing research; and in 2003 was made a Life Member of the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses, the highest honour awarded by that professional organisation.
Back to topProfessor Margaret McMillan
Conjoint Professor Margaret McMillan works within the School of Nursing and Midwifery in the Faculty of Health. Through the School’s Collaborating Centre for Older Person Care (CCOPC) within the Research Centre for Gender Health and Ageing (RCGHA), Margaret acts as a mentor for academic colleagues, many of whom are her doctoral graduates. She also sits on the Board of RCGHA to ensure a nursing contribution to optimal care of older people in a range of settings. Through the CCOPC Margaret encourages cross disciplinary collaboration on research and scholarly activities which centre on person centered care, practice redesign and capacity building for future generations of health care professionals.
Margaret's research over two decades has focused on practice and education issues and practice redesign. Her methodological expertise includes a range of qualitative methodologies, quantitative approaches, case study, mixed methods and action research studies. In particular, she has interest in critical ethnography, case study and action research, evaluation studies and the use of mixed methods. Current areas of research centre on the provision of social support for older Australians in the community, family strengths (through the Family Action Centre) evaluation of outcomes for carers, the use of volunteers and the nature and extent of the use of Advanced Care Plans and Directives for older Australians.
Professor Sian E Maslin-Prothero
Professor Sian E Maslin-Prothero is Professor of Nursing (Clinical) School of Nursing & Midwifery and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital Edith Cowan University, 270 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup, Western Australia 6027. Sian is Honorary Professor of Health and Ageing, Keele University, Staffordshire, UK and Conjoint Professor at the University of Newcastle, NSW. Sian's interests include aged care, interprofessional working in academia and practice, working in partnership with key stakeholders through education, research and practice.
Back to topAssociate Professor Pamela van der Riet
Associate Professor Pamela van der Riet is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery. She has had extensive experience in nurse education in both the university sector and the private and public health care systems. For over 20 years Pamela has worked in the tertiary education sector in universities in NSW and Victoria and has taught in both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. While at the University of Newcastle she has served as Bachelor of Nursing Program Convenor, Postgraduate Program Convenor and currently as Deputy Head of School (Academic). During her time in university nurse education Pamela has contributed to the development and upgrading of nurse education through off-shore teaching programs in Hong Kong, Singapore and Bhutan. She has recently established links with nurse education and health-care facilities in Thailand as part of the University's international cooperation with tertiary education institutions in the Asia Pacific region. Her research and publications are in the areas of palliative care and complementary therapies.
Dr Jane Conway
Dr Jane Conway works as a workforce development consultant specialising in health workforce education and training to a range of project teams engaged in health workforce, education and training. Prior to undertaking consultancy work, Jane gained broad experience as a clinician, educator and manager in aged care, community and health and higher education sectors. Jane has worked nationally and internationally in health workforce development in areas as diverse as workforce and service planning, curriculum design and development for health and non-health programs using PBL, organisational change and policy development. She has experience in both the vocational education and training as well as higher education fields, particularly with regard to policy and health workforce reform.
Back to topJenny Day
RN, ADCHN, BHSc(Nursing), MEd(Adult Education), PhD Candidate, University of Newcastle
Jenny Day has been employed as a lecturer in nursing at The University of Newcastle since January 2006. Prior to this she gained extensive domcilliary community nursing experience in Sydney. Much of this experience involved working in partnership with older people and their formal or informal carers and included clinical care, education and senior management dimensions of practice. Jenny has remained passionate about improving the quality of care for older people and their family members and has developed an interest in the experiences families during care of the older person. As a PhD candidate her current research interest focuses on families and older people who have delirium.
Dr Sarah Jeong
Dr Sarah Jeong is a registered nurse specialised in aged care. Her recent PhD research investigated the phenomenon of Advance Care Planning (ACP) in residential aged care facilities. She has extensive experience in clinical practice and nursing education. Her clinical and research interest lies with the older person in the areas of residential aged care and community care with a particular focus on ACP, practice development and education, and scope of nursing practice. Sarah’s research includes clinical teaching and learning, aged care, tertiary teaching and internationalisation of nursing. She has been involved in the development of nursing curricula applying the concept and principles of problem based learning in Australia and Korea. She has research experience in both quantitative and qualitative methods. Her expertise in data collection and analysis through observation and interview is highly respected. She is a reviewer for three international nursing journals. Sarah was awarded an Early Career Researcher Grant and a research scholarship for her PhD from the University of Newcastle.
Back to topDr Sharyn Hunter
Dr Sharyn Hunter holds a PhD (Nursing) and is a lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery (SoNM) at the University of Newcastle. She has been involved in a number of research projects in the areas of aged care and nursing education where collection and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data occurred. Her interests include the development of the RN’s role in relation to nursing older people and the development of student nurses for this role.
Prior to her position with the SoNM, she was employed in a number of managerial and senior clinical roles in aged care. Whilst in the senior clinical roles she was involved in the development of the care practices with all levels of staff to improve the clinical outcomes of older people.
Dr Sharyn Hunter has been awarded an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning for 2010. Sharon has been awarded for redesigning a course on nursing older people that incorporates sustainable strategies which challenge nursing students’ attitudes and prepares them for professional practice
Dr Vanessa McDonald
Dr Vanessa McDonald is a senior lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery and holds a Conjoint Senior Lecturer appointment in the School of Medicine and Public Health. She is an active researcher and a practicing clinician as a respiratory clinical nurse consultant in the Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at John Hunter Hospital. Vanessa is a post doctoral researcher in the HMRI's VIVA programme and the Priority Research Centre for Asthma and Respiratory Disease. Her research programme is based on the development of models and care and treatment interventions that improve outcomes for people with chronic respiratory disease, in particular older people with asthma and COPD. Vanessa is the deputy convenor of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand's COPD special interest group, is the nursing representative on the Australian Lung Foundation's National COPD Coordinating Committee and is co-lead on the HMRI Nursing Research Network.
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