Conference Committees
The STTI European Conference is led and managed by the representatives and leaders of the European Chapters. These chapters are from England, Wales, The Netherlands, Sweden and Portugal. There is an overarching organising committee and then sub-committees delivering specific elements of the conference.
Conference Organising Committee
Dr Thóra B. Hafsteinsdóttir RN PhD, is the STTI Regional Coordinator for Europe and the President of the Rho Chi Chapter at Large. She is one of the founders of the Rho Chi Chapter and since becoming a STTI member, she has served in numerous chapter positions. In addition to being a member of the Rho Chi Chapter at Large she is a member of Zeta Omega chapter at Large.
Dr. Hafsteinsdóttir is an Associate Professor of Nursing, department of Nursing Science at the University of Utrecht and Allied Health care for people with chronic illnesses at the University of Applied Sciences, Utrecht, The Netherlands and an adjunct associate professor of nursing at the Faculty of Nursing, University of Iceland. After finishing her PhD in 2003, Dr. Hafsteinsdóttir supervised various research and development projects both in the Netherlands and Iceland. One of these projects resulted in the publication of the Clinical Rehabilitation Guideline for Patients with Stroke. Her current teaching responsibilities within the Master of Science in Nursing focus on Evidence Based Nursing, neuroscience and rehabilitation nursing, research and systematic reviews. Her expertise was recognized nationally when she received the Anna-Reynvaan Research Award in 2005 and the Johanna Diepenveen-Speekenbrink Award in 1994. Dr. Hafsteinsdóttir has various publications on nursing care and management of patients with stroke and gives lectures nationally and internationally.
Professor Dame June Clark DBE PhD RN FRCN FAAN
The Conference Co-ordinator and Chair of the Conference Planning Committee is Professor Dame June Clark. Following a distinguished career first in the National Health Service (NHS) and then in nursing education, June is now Professor Emeritus at Swansea University, Wales. A member of STTI for many years, she was instrumental in establishing the Upsilon Xi at Large Chapter in Wales, and has served on the STTI International Board of Directors.
She is probably best known in the UK for her work in the Royal College of Nursing, in which she served as President 1990-94, but she also has extensive experience of international nursing organisations and has participated as a keynote speaker in many international conferences. In 1995 she was invested by HM Queen Elizabeth as Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (the highest civil honour that can be given to a woman in the UK) “for services to nursing”.
Joy Merrell is Professor at Swansea University and was a founding member of the Honor Society at Swansea University and is currently President of Upsilon Xi at Large Chapter, Wales. She has served STTI at the regional and international level. She acted as co-ordinator of the STTI European Chapters and Honor Societies from 2009-2011.and at international level as a member of the STTI Health Policy Advisory Council (2009-2011) and as a member of Chapter Leadership and Mentoring Taskforce (2007-2009). She is also a member of Eta Iota Chapter at the University of New Hampshire, Durham, USA.
Joy’s professional background is in general nursing and public health nursing, She obtained her masters and Phd in Nursing from the University of Manchester and in 2003 was appointed to a Chair in Nursing at Swansea University. Her main responsibilities involve leading and conducting research and PhD supervision. Her research areas include minority ethnic health, public and user involvement in primary health care, promoting active ageing and community and public health nursing.She has a track record of funded research, publications and has presented at numerous national and international conferences. Her most recent completed projects include an ESRC funded project which explored Migration, Nutrition, And Ageing Across The Lifecourse in Bangladeshi Families (MINA) conducted in Cardiff and Bangladesh and a survey exploring European nurses’ views, expectations and experiences of STTI.
Dr Angela Kydd is a Senior Lecturer in research with a focus on care homes at the School of Health, Nursing and Midwifery at the University of the West of Scotland. She is a qualified general and mental health nurse and specialised in working with older people in both acute and long term care settings. She is a member of Upsilon Xi in Wales and currently her duties are secretary to the chapter and chair of the scientific conference planning committee.
Eileen Richardson has worked in Nurse Education for many years both as a teacher and educational manager. Her initial teaching preparation was at Edinburgh University. Eileen is a graduate of both the Open and Sussex Universities, obtaining a master’s degree in Education at the latter.
From 1993 to 2007, Eileen was a member of staff at the School of Health and Social Care at Bournemouth University where she held a number of posts. These included Programme Leader for Adult Nursing and Placement Co-ordinator. From October 2000 to 2007 Eileen was employed on a part-time basis as International Project Officer for Nursing. This involved, amongst other things, managing two transatlantic projects one relating to multicultural workforces and the other ‘health inequalities in rural communities’. Now retired Eileen continues to be involved in a number of activities both locally and internationally.
Professor Elizabeth Rosser is Associate Dean (Nursing) at Bournemouth University and is academic head of Nursing in the School of Health and Social Care. Elizabeth leads the new all-England Phi-Mu Chapter together with a vibrant and enthusiastic leadership team from across the country. The Chapter is hosted by Bournemouth University. As a member of the Central Governance committee of Sigma Theta Tau International, Elizabeth works with the small team responsible for the overall governance of the society. As President of the Phi Mu Chapter, she sits on the newly established European Regional Committee though previously has been a core member of the European Chapters committee. Elizabeth’s research interests lie in the area of health and social care workforce development. She has a passion for research and publication and she is keen to support others in this endeavour. She firmly believes in developing and actively promoting the leadership and scholarship agenda for nursing.
Gerry Bolger MHM, RN is a leading nurse of over 25 years, with vast experience in the NHS, having led a number of national change programmes both in health and central government. He leads transforming care resulting to efficiency at Imperial College Healthcare in London. Previously he led the measurement and quality outcomes agenda for general nursing care as the Programme Director for the Quality in Caring for the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) at the Department of Health for England and was the policy lead for the preventable pressure ulcers. As a transformational programme lead, he has led the national delivery with the London Deanery of the Hospital at Night programme with wide-uptake across the UK and internationally. Gerry was invited to be an honorary visiting lecturer in the School of Health & Human Sciences at the University of Huddersfield in 2011 on health policy. Gerry holds a Masters’ in Health Management and regularly writes for professional and journals. He is well established in nursing leadership, quality of care and team based solutions. He leads communications for the Welsh Chapter – Upsilon-Xi at Large and is a member of it’s governance committee.
Marie-Louise Luiking As a member of the general organizing committee I represent the Dutch Chapter Rho-Chi Chapter at Large. In my research into professionalisation in nursing the diversity and variation of nurse roles have shown to be an important factors for the international different processes of nurse professionalisation.
Harshida Patel
Is a lecturer at the Institute of Health and Care Sciences, The Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Harshida is also a member of Tau Omega Chapter, Sweden. Her role in the conference is both planning committee, Scientific advisory committee & student session.
Dave Dawes is a nurse and has been a founding member of 4 social enterprises over the last 8 years. He is the first nurse to be elected to the Council of the Social Enterprise Coalition and the first social entrepreneur to be elected to the Council of the Royal College of Nursing. He was one of the youngest Chief Executives in the NHS and had held a number of NHS management posts in Health Authorities and Hospital Trusts and have published extensively in nursing and management journals. He is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences on social entrepreneurship, e-learning and leadership. He jointly led the e-learning programme which won the Institute of IT Training Award for e-learning project of the year in 2003.
Aida Cruz Mendes is Coordinating Professor of the Scientific-Pedagogical Unit of Mental Health and Psychiatrics, Researcher of the Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing, where she is coordinating the research line “Well-being, health and illness”, in Coimbra, Portugal.
She gives lessons and conducts research in the area of mental health and liaison psychiatry in the following domains: Hospital stress and emotional responses during hospitalization; emotional adjustment to the illness process; therapeutic management; prevention of alcohol use/abuse; occupational health.
She has published several papers and has supervised master and PhD dissertations. She is currently Vice-president of the Nursing School of Coimbra and President of the Phi Xi Chapter (Coimbra, Portugal) Her CV is available here
Dr Margret Lepp, RN, RNT, PhD is Professor at the Institute of Health and Care Sciences, The Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. She has an international reputation in drama in education and applied theatre in professional health care education. For over twenty years she has involved drama in her work as a researcher and consultant involving students, patients, academics, nurses and other health care professionals. She has been an active member of 251 Kappa Nu in Chicago, USA since 1999 and she is the current president of the Tau Omega Chapter, in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Scientific Committee
Angela Kydd Elizabeth RosserMargaret Lepp
Harshida Patel
Joy Merrell
Thora Hafsteinsdottir
