International Scientific Conference »Research and Education in Nursing«

 Professor of Nursing

College of Nursing and Health Sciences University of Massachusetts Boston

Professor Dr Jacqueline Fawcett is an internationally known metatheorist, with expertise in the nature and structure of the knowledge of nursology. She is considered as one of the most widely recognized authorities on nursing meta-theory, conceptual models of nursing, and nursing theory development. Nurses and nursing students know her as nursologist who has contributed to the formulation of the metaparadigm of nursolgy including the  interrelated concepts of human beings, environment, health, and nursologists’ activities (Fawcett, 2012) and to understanding of conceptual models as guides for developing different levels of theory (grand, middle-range, and situation-specific) (Clarke & Fawcett, 2013).

Professor Dr Fawcett has been a nurse educator and mentor for more than 50 years. Her teaching expertise includes issues in contemporary disciplinary knowledge and development of conceptual-theoretical-empirical structures for research, education, and practice.

Currently, Dr Fawcett is a Professor in the Department of Nursing, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Boston. Previously, she held faculty positions at the University of Connecticut and the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Dr Fawcett received her BS degree in Nursing from Boston University, AM degree in Parent-Child Nursing from New York University and PhD degree in Nursing from New York University. She has also received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Université Laval in Quebec, Canada.

Professor Dr. Fawcett’ ongoing programs of Roy Adaptation Model-based research have focused on adaptation to life events for more than 30 years. She has authored or co-authored in more than 200 journal articles, 11 books (including one fifth edition and two third editions), three monographs, and 95 chapters in books and monographs. Her most recent books are Applying Conceptual Models of Nursing: Research, Quality Improvement, and Practice (2017), and co-edited with Sarah Beckman, The Neuman Systems Model: Celebrating Academic-Practice Partnerships (2017).

She is also a recipient of various fellowships and awards:

• Fellow of Academy of Nursing Education and Fellow of American Academy of Nursing,
• Betty Neuman Award for Nursing Leadership from Walsh University Byers School of Nursing, North Canton, Ohio,
• Living Legend, Massachusetts Association of Registered Nurses, 
• Anne K. Kibrick Award for Excellence in Nursing Leadership, Theta Alpha Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau,
• Award for Leadership in Nursing Theory, Science, and Practice, Theta Alpha Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau,
• Distinguished Scholar in Nursing, New York University,
• Distinguished Alumna, New York University Division of Nursing,
• Chancellor’s Distinguished Scholarship Award, University of Massachusetts Boston.

In 2010 she was also named by The Web Nurse as “One of the Top 20 Most Influential People in the Nursing Field”.

Professor Dr Fawcett is also an active member of and blogger for the Nursology.net, a website that was launched by a small group of nursologists in 2018 and has been designed to serve as “a repository providing the most current and accurate information about [our] discipline‐specific knowledge that advances human betterment globally” (Fawcett, 2018).

Professor Dr Fawcett’s body of research has made a lasting impact on the discipline of nursology. She has dedicated her work to helping nursologists advance nursology through theory and research. She is convinced that “one of the most central matters to the survival of the discipline of nursing is an understanding of the nature and structure of nursing knowledge” and that “every [nursologist] must use an explicit nursing conceptual model and explicit nursing theories to guide activities associated with practice, research, education, and administration” (Fawcett, 2012). According her beliefs, nursologists are not only responsible for generating  and disseminating knowledge but also for using that knowledge in service to human beings.

Sources and additional information:

Clarke, P. N., & Fawcett, J. (2013). Life as a nurse metatheorist. Nursing Science Quarterly, 26(3), 238-240. doi:10.1177/0894318413489185

Fawcett, J. (2012). The future of nursing: how important is discipline-specific knowledge? A conversation with Jacqueline Fawcett. Interview by Dr. Janie Butts and Dr. Karen Rich. Nursing Science Quarterly, 25(2), 151-154. doi:10.1177/0894318412437955

Fawcett, J. (2019). Nursology revisited and revived. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 75, 919–920.  doi:10.1111/jan.13925

• Link to University of Massachusetts Boston Faculty Staff
• Link to Nursology.net
• Link to PubMed Articles

Professor in Nursing

Professor in Nursing, Department of Nursing, School of Health and Social Care, Staffordshire University, Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust

Wilf is Professor in Nursing, which is a shared appointment between Department of Nursing, School of Health and Social Care, Staffordshire University and the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust. Wilf is also Part-time Professor at VID University College, Bergen, Norway.

Wilf has had a career in nursing working as a Registered Nurse primarily within Acute Hospital Care. His interest in the spiritual dimension developed alongside a realisation that this aspect of care was neglected and forgotten by some healthcare professionals. He has published several books and many articles addressing different aspects of the spiritual dimension such as educational issues, and spiritual assessment. He completed his doctoral studies at Leeds Metropolitan University in May 2005 researching ‘The meaning of spirituality and spiritual care: An investigation of healthcare professionals, patients and public’s perceptions’. In 2010, Wilf lead on a piece of work for the Royal College of Nursing exploring members perceptions of spirituality.

Wilf is a founding and executive member of the British Association for The Study of Spirituality (BASS) (http://www.basspirituality.org.uk/about-us/) and a Principal Fellow of The Higher Education Academy. In 2012 he was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing for his unique contribution to nursing in the areas of spirituality and dignity. Wilf is currently leading a large European project titled Enhancing Nurses Competence in Providing Spiritual Care through Innovation Education and Compassionate Care (EPICC) http://www.epicc-project.eu/

Professor & Dean, Hariri School of Nursing, American University of Beirut (Beirut, Lebanon)

Dr. Abu-Saad Huijer received her BSN from AUB and her Masters and PhD from the University of Florida, USA. Her career span includes professorial positions at the University of California, San Francisco, University of Maastricht, the Netherlands, University of Surrey UK, and currently AUB. During her academic tenure in the Netherlands as head of the Nursing Science Program, she was instrumental in developing the MSN and PhD programs, and in establishing the Centre for Nursing Research. Since her appointment at AUB in 2003 she has launched the MSN, RN-BSN, (bridging degree), and BA/BS-BSN (second degree) programs of study and has coordinated the accreditation of both BSN and MSN programs by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) in the USA. More recently, she developed the PhD program in Nursing Science which was launched academic year 2018-19. Dr. Huijer’s program of research is on pain management and palliative care in children and adults. She is currently involved in a number of studies addressing chronic pain and palliative care in Lebanon. She is past president of the Lebanese Society for the Study of Pain and Vice-President of the National Committee on Pain Relief and Palliative Care. Dr. Huijer is the author of more than 300 scholarly publications and 2 books.

Dr. Huijer received many awards & recognitions for her research work: Life Time Achievement Award from the McMillan Cancer Fund in London; Pioneers Award from the Order of Nurses in Lebanon; distinguished researcher award from the Scientific Society of Arab Nursing Faculties. She was also inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame, awarded the International Association for the Study of Pain Honorary membership, received the Princess Mona Regional Award for her significant contribution to the nursing profession, and most recently received the National Center for Scientific Research career award for her life time research achievements.   

PhD student

Nataša Mlinar Reljić is graduate of Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Maribor (1996, 2000) and Faculty of Organisational Sciences University of Maribor (2001). She obtained Postgraduate 2nd degree study programme Management in Health and Social organization also at Faculty of Health Sciences University of Maribor (2012). Currently she is a PhD student of Nursing at Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Maribor. Nataša has worked for twelve years in the clinical environment as a registered nurse. For 6 years, she worked at the regional hospital and for the 5 years at the primary health center. Since 2008 she has been employed at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Maribor as a senior lecturer for subjects: Nursing care on geriatric field and Spirituality in nursing care. She is a Head of Chair of Nursing Care since 2017. Her research work has been presented at the international conferences and published in journals and in a book section. Nataša have some experiences on the different projects in nursing field.