Dr Tamer Al-ghraiybah is a dedicated nurse academic and researcher with expertise in nursing-sensitive indicators, patient safety, quality of care, nursing-sensitive patient outcomes, and healthcare risk management. With a background in clinical and non-clinical management, Tamer brings a strong clinical and research foundation to his work in nursing education and patient safety research.

Currently, Dr Al-ghraiybah is a nurse lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), where he plays an integral role in teaching, research, and service. His research focuses on understanding how nursing structures and processes impact patient outcomes, particularly in areas such as, but not limited to, patient mortality, hospital-acquired infections, hospital-acquired pressure injuries, patient falls, medication errors, missed care, and workforce management. His work is guided by the Donabedian model, providing a structured approach to evaluating healthcare quality.

Dr. Al-ghraiybah has a growing international research profile and is preparing to supervise master's students in 2025 through an WHO Collaborating Centre for Nursing and Midwifery and Health Development between UTS Faculty of Health and Fiji National University. His commitment to capacity building and researcher development aligns with his passion for strengthening the nursing workforce and advancing healthcare quality through evidence-based practice.

Before transitioning into academia, Dr Al-ghraiybah worked extensively in intensive care units (ICU, CCU, PICU) and in healthcare risk management. This frontline experience informs his research and teaching, ensuring a strong link between clinical realities and academic scholarship.

Through his teaching and research, Dr Al-ghraiybah is committed to improving nursing education, supporting evidence-based policymaking, and enhancing patient safety strategies. He strives to be a transformative educator, an innovative researcher, and a strong advocate for nursing workforce development and healthcare improvement.

I am an Adjunct Fellow at the University of Technology Sydney in the School of Nursing and Midwifery.

I hold the position of Senior Lecturer at the Australian Catholic University in the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine, North Sydney Campus. I am currently the National Curriculum Lead for first year in the Bachelor of Nursing. 

I am a Registered Nurse with over 25 years of clinical experience specialising in regional hospital and emergency nursing. Since 2012 I have been working as an academic with research, governance and learning and teaching expertise. My areas of interest include nursing education, empathy research and education, planetary health research and education, person-centred practice in healthcare and education, values, professional values and curriculum development.

Australian Financial Review Teaching and Learning Excellence - Finalists 2025

The 'The Virtual Empathy Museum' was a finalist in the AFR Teaching and Learning Excellence awards.

UTS Faculty of Health Deans award for Innovation in Learning and Teaching - Winner 2024

I was the winner of the UTS Faculty of Health Deans award for Innovation in Learning and Teaching  for the creation of Empathy and Compassion in Nursing Practice subject. This subject sits in third year in the Bachelor of Nursing and brings together industry leaders and nursing specialists to facilitate empathic and person-centred learning for graduating students.

UTS Vice Chancellors Learning Innovation and Enhancement Award - Winner 2024 

I was part of the team who were awarded the UTS Vice Chancellors Learning Innovation and Enhancement Award for our work developing 'The Virtual Empathy Museum' to support healthcare student’s empathy skills, an open access educational resource.

Co-lead - Empathy Initiative Research Group 

Member - Planetary Health Collaborative for Nurses and Midwives

Member - Australian College of Nursing (MACN)

Member - Person-centred Practice International Community of Practice (PCP-ICoP) 

Member - Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing (Xi Omicron at-Large Chapter)  

Dr Jessica Appleton is a registered nurse, senior lecturer and early career researcher. Child and family health and well-being have been part of her clinical practice and research since becoming a registered nurse. Jessica has clinical, teaching and research expertise in the child and family health specialty and paediatric nursing specialty. Jessica has research experience in mixed methods research with training and experience in qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. 

Jessica held a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship role with EPOCH-Translate CRE at The University of Sydney and continues as an affiliate with EPOCH-Translate CRE and Honorary Lecturer at The University of Sydney. In this role, Jessica explored how health promotion interventions (which prevent obesity and related chronic diseases) can be implemented into routine early childhood services. Using implementation science frameworks this project will provide an understanding of how interventions achieve adoption and integration in primary health care systems to reach the general and priority populations.

This postdoctoral work built on her PhD work which explored infant formula feeding in the context of rapid weight gain in infancy (a risk factor for later overweight or obesity). Her PhD identified a gap in evidence around knowledge of infant formula feeding particularly the information and advice, or lack thereof, provided by nurses, midwives and other health professionals to parents feeding with infant formula. Her PhD was a mixed methods research design and involved secondary analysis of a longitudinal infant feeding cohort and qualitative interviews with parents about their infant feeding experience. 

Jessica is a coordination committee member for EPOCH-Connect Community of Practice which aims so support research students and EMCRs from diverse disciplines and research institutes to connect and collaborate on activities to improve child health in the early years. https://earlychildhoodobesity.com/about-us/epoch-connection-community-of-practice/

Since her PhD Jessica worked as the Research Manager (2020-2022) at Tresillian Family Care Centres - Australia’s largest early parenting service. She has been and continues to be involved in a number of research projects in the areas of infant health, parenting, parental mental health, child and family health nursing and health service evaluation.

Dr Carmen Axisa currently works as the Course Director Postgraduate Nursing and is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney (UTS). 

Carmen completed her PhD at Sydney Medical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney in 2021 and the focus of her doctoral work was physician mental health and wellbeing. Thesis title: Doctors’ Wellbeing: A study of Burnout and Psychological Distress in Australian Physician Trainees.  She received a Research Training Fellowship from the NSW Institute of Psychiatry and has presented research findings at national and international conferences and meetings.

Carmen previously worked as Medical Education Officer for the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) where she led the implementation of the RACP’s education program known as the Physician Readiness for Expert Practice program in NSW and ACT.

In 2007 Carmen completed a Master’s Degree in Clinical Nursing with majors in Cardiothoracic and Education. She has extensive clinical and education expertise in cardiopulmonary transplant and cardiac medical devices at St. Vincent’s Hospital Sydney, including the development and implementation of a remote discharge program for LVAD (left ventricular assist devices) heart failure patients.

 
Carmen has peer reviewed book chapters and journal articles. Carmen’s publications cover the topics of physician mental health and wellbeing, physician psychiatric morbidity and burnout, cardiopulmonary transplantation, ventricular assist devices, learning analytics and classroom simulation.

Professor Kathleen Baird, PhD, SFHEA, GAICD
Head of School, Nursing and Midwifery 

Professor Kathleen Baird is an internationally recognised leader in midwifery, currently serving as Head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Technology Sydney. With an extensive clinical and academic career spanning the United Kingdom and Australia, she brings visionary leadership to education, research, and advocacy in women’s health.

A passionate advocate for woman-centred care, Professor Baird has built a distinguished reputation in midwifery education, championing innovation, excellence in teaching, and the integration of research into clinical practice. Her principal research focus is family and domestic violence, with a specific interest in how social and structural vulnerabilities—especially within Culturally and Linguistically Diverse communities—shape health outcomes. Professor Baird’s expertise in Intimate Partner and Family Violence has been acknowledged through high-profile appointments, including Deputy Chair of the Queensland Death and Homicide Review Board and a long-standing member of the Queensland Domestic and Family Violence Implementation Council (2016–2023).

She currently holds prominent national leadership roles, including:

• Chair, Midwifery Advisory Committee, Council of Deans Nursing and Midwifery (CDNM)
• Executive Member, CDNM
• Board Member and Reviewer, Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC)
• Executive Member, SPHERE Clinical Academic Group for Women, Children and Newborns
• Executive Member, Australasian Nursing and Midwifery Clinical Trials Network
• Co-Assistant Secretary-General, Global Network of WHO Collaborating Centres for Nursing and Midwifery

Her influence extends across policy and education, having worked in collaboration with the UK Home Office, the Department of Health (UK), the Queensland Government, the Royal College of Midwives, and the Australian College of Midwives. She also chaired the Australian Midwifery Accreditation Committee from 2019 to 2023. As a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Professor Baird is committed to shaping the next generation of midwives and nurses. Her leadership is underpinned by a deep belief in the power of research-informed practice to improve outcomes for women, babies, and families across all contexts of care.

I am a nurse, academic and advocate whose body of work relates to the health and wellbeing of children in out-of-home care and their families. I do this through finding better ways of supporting foster, kinship and adoptive parents, and through understanding and advocating for children in care.

As Professor and Head of Discipline of the UTS School of Nursing and Midwifery, I embrace a learner-centred philosophy, recognising the importance of life-long learning for everyone in the University context, not just the students. To that end, I work to create an environment that is conducive to learning and rewards innovation. I seek to support staff in their career progression while ensuring the delivery of quality programs and the conduct of rigorous, impactful research.

My overarching goal is to support rapid translation of evidence into practice through research, teaching and mentoring, in collaboration with health and social services.

I am a mother of four and have fostered an additional four children from infancy. My experiences of the system have shown me first-hand how improving support and understanding could transform outcomes for children in out-of-home care.

My research has shown a lack of training and support for carers in even the most basic elements of caring for children who have been removed from their parents, and a lack of cohesion between health and social services to monitor children long-term.

I have a vision for a nursing service that provides sustained, in-home support for families who take children into their care, in order to improve long-term outcomes for children, support the wellbeing of parents, and maintain supply of foster carers.

My nursing career began in the Intensive Care Unit of Blacktown Hospital and I also worked as a Clinical Nurse Consultant in the Infection Control Department of Blacktown Mt Druitt Hospital. I became Associate Lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Western Sydney University (WSU) in 2007 and was later promoted to Associate Professor in 2022.

My doctoral work looked at the experiences of women who provide long-term foster care in Australia, which showed that stigma around their role, an inability to acknowledge them as mothers and a lack of maternal autonomy and support were contributing to a high rate of attrition.

I held numerous governance positions in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at WSU, including Deputy Director Casual Workforce, Deputy Director Clinical, Coordinator for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, and most recently Director of Engagement. I served as a Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Director for the Translational Research and Social Innovation (TReSI) group, located at the Ingham Institute from 2019-2023. I also served as the School’s Director of Research in 2023.

While at WSU, I established a series of training courses] for foster carers in infant care, trauma-informed care, management of prenatal substance exposure in children, and coping with the grief of giving up a foster child. This training resulted in a 2017 nomination for Australian of the Year.

My ongoing research and advocacy work centres on raising awareness about the issues that still face children and families in the out-of-home care system.

My work has contributed to the introduction of integrated birth certificates, which include information about an adopted person’s parents and siblings at birth, as well as their parents and siblings after adoption. I have also highlighted gaps in providing mothers’ breastmilk to infants who are removed at birth, and a lack of follow-up health support for children who were exposed to alcohol or illicit substances in the womb.

Christine Catling is an NHMRC Research Fellow within the Faculty of Health, and conjoint Professor of Midwifery Research between UTS and Northern Sydney Local Health District.

A former Director of Midwifery Studies at UTS, she is currently conducting a five-year research project involving 12 maternity sites in a project called Group Clinical Supervision for Midwives in Sydney. This cluster randomised controlled trial will examine the relationship between attendance at Clinical Supervision (a facilitated, structured, reflective process), burnout, sick leave and attrition in the midwifery workforce.

“Even before the pandemic we had over 80 per cent of midwives reporting some form of burnout. This has been greatly exacerbated by the effects of COVID 19 and the ongoing staffing crises,” Christine said.

“My research focuses on helping midwives cope with the emotional aspects of their job.”

“Where many other health professionals (psychologists in particular) have facilitated and structured support embedded into their discipline, that is not always the case for midwives.”

After working as a registered nurse in the UK, Christine moved into midwifery and became passionate about the extensive benefits of midwifery-led continuity models of care.

“After working in acute medical/coronary care settings, I found the whole spectrum of pregnancy, labour, birth and early parenting period fascinating,” she said.

“Midwifery is pivotal to the well-being of childbearing women and their families in so many ways and encompasses their culture and values in a partnership that can greatly augment and ensure women’s safety (physical and psychological) are central to the relationship.”

She is the past co-lead of the Sydney Partnership for Health, Education, Research and Enterprise (SPHERE) Maternal and Women's Clinical Academic Group.

Previous roles include Director of Midwifery Studies, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow with the WHO Collaborating Centre, Research Assistant within the Centre for Health Services Management and Centre for Midwifery, Child and Family Health, coordination of the National Publicly-funded Homebirth Consortium, Clinical Midwifery Consultant at St George Hospital (policy development), clinical midwife and Antenatal Educator.

Currently she is the Chair of the Australian Midwifery History Project. She supports and supervises many Higher Research Degree students within the Collective for Midwifery, Child and Family Health, which she co-leads.

Her published work comprises papers on homebirth (her PhD topic) normal birth after caesarean section, evaluations of simulation activities for midwifery students, and midwifery workplace culture, amongst others. Her h-index is 30.

Director - Global Health and Digital Innovation (Technologies and AI) Research Collective

Member - Health Equity Research Collective

Dr Muhammad Chutiyami is a community health nurse and academic whose research is grounded in a sustained commitment to health equity. His scholarly focus originates from his early professional work in under-resourced communities in Nigeria, where he delivered primary healthcare services and led community outreach initiatives, including vaccination campaigns and health education programs. These formative experiences shaped a research trajectory centred on addressing structural inequities in health access, outcomes, and wellbeing. His work examines how social determinants of health - including socioeconomic conditions, education, faith/spirituality, and cultural contexts - shape health experiences and healthcare delivery, particularly among underserved and marginalised populations.

Building on this foundation, his research program integrates community engagement, policy-relevant scholarship, and practice-informed inquiry. He has led and contributed to projects examining health promoion, health literacy, culturally responsive care, and workforce development in resource-constrained settings. His work consistently looks into initiatives to promote the health and wellbeing of the under-served/vulnerable and inform equitable health systems. This focus is also reflected in his mentorship of clinicians and academics working in underserved regions.

Chutiyami has an emerging interest in global health, where he is an active collaborator within the Global Burden of Disease Study network at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington. Through this collaboration, he contributes to large-scale epidemiological analyses assessing the distribution and determinants of disease burden globally, with particular attention to the Australia-Asia regions. His involvement in this prestigious international network strengthens the global dimension of his research while maintaining a clear focus on equity-driven health metrics.

In addition to his research, Muhammad brings over a decade of clinical and academic experience across Nigeria, the United Kingdom, and Australia. His background in community and population health continues to inform his scholarship, teaching, and leadership. He remains committed to advancing equitable healthcare access through research that bridges community realities and global evidence.

Through this integrated program of work, Chutiyami’s research is unified by a clear and coherent focus: advancing health equity through community-engaged scholarship and globally informed evidence that improves health outcomes for underserved populations.

Michelle Cleary [RN, PhD] is Professor of Nursing at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and an internationally recognised nurse researcher whose scholarship spans mental health, health services, and workforce research. She brings extensive academic leadership experience across Australian and international universities. Professor Cleary has held senior academic leadership and governance roles, including Associate Head (Global), Associate Head (Capacity and Capability), Academic Lead, and Director of Research. These positions have involved responsibility for research performance, academic standards, international engagement, workforce development, and strategic initiatives supporting research excellence and organisational development.

She is also an Honorary Professor at the Sydney Nursing School, University of Sydney, and an Adjunct Professor at Adelaide University, the University of Southern Queensland, and Charles Sturt University. She has also held visiting and honorary appointments internationally, supporting research collaboration, capacity building, and knowledge exchange.

Her research program has a strong translational focus, addressing complex clinical, organisational, and social challenges to improve health outcomes and service delivery. Her work encompasses mental health and wellbeing, trauma-informed care, substance use, and recovery-oriented practice, as well as burns and critical care research. This includes studies examining patient outcomes, symptom burden, rehabilitation, and recovery across the care continuum.

Professor Cleary's research also explores workforce sustainability, leadership, and workplace culture. Her scholarship has advanced understanding of issues such as leadership fatigue, ethical practice, incivility, and bullying in healthcare and academic settings. She has also contributed to innovation in healthcare, nursing education, and research methodology.

She has an extensive and highly cited publication record and is consistently ranked among Elsevier's World's Top 2% Most Cited Scientists, including ranking in the top 2% globally for career impact. Her work has attracted approximately AUD $2.6 million in research funding and has informed policy, clinical guidelines, and service models nationally and internationally. An invited keynote speaker at national and international conferences, Professor Cleary has led major conferences and symposia and is recognised for her contributions to research leadership, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the translation of evidence into practice.

Professor Cleary currently serves as Editor of the Journal of Advanced Nursing, is an Editorial Board Member and Column Editor for Issues in Mental Health Nursing and is also appointed to the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing.  She is also an Author-in-Residence for the Nurse Author & Editor journal. Through these roles, she contributes to advancing nursing knowledge, research quality, integrity, and impact across the discipline.

Professor Cleary maintains extensive collaborations across national and international academic, clinical, and policy sectors, and currently supervises PhD and higher-degree research candidates, having supervised numerous research students to successful completion. Her work is underpinned by a commitment to equity, inclusion, and workforce capability.

A/Prof Dominiek Coates is a trauma therapist, translational researcher, educator and senior leader with expertise in childhood abuse and neglect, complex trauma, mental health, domestic and family violence, women's health, self change, trauma-informed and evidence-informed practice, implementation science and translational research. She has extensive experience leading large teams or projects across a range of settings, including universities, hospitals, government and community managed organisations.

Over the previous 20 years, Dominiek has authored over 100 peer reviewed publications, led a number of research teams, led 25 studies as the principal investigator, and mentored in excess of 200 students and multidisciplinary healthcare professionals undertaking research. She is an Adjunct Associate Professor with the Faculty of Health at the University of Technology Sydney.

She also has a private practice as a trauma therapist.

Jack Cornish is a lecturer and registered nurse with a passion for teaching and learning. Jack's clinical background is in cardiothoracic intensive care, (where he maintains casual employment), and he currently works in a full-time continuing role at UTS.

Jack teaches widely across the undergraduate nursing curriculum at UTS. He coordinates foundational theory subjects and specialty critical care subjects within the Bachelor of Nursing. Jack also holds leadership roles within the School of Nursing and Midwifery and the Faculty of Health at UTS, wherein he serves as Assistant Course Director (BN) and First and Further Year Experience Coordinator respectively. 

Jack is currently completing a Doctor of Philosophy and his research interests include critical pedagogy, activism, planetary health and inclusive education. Jack is also very passionate about widening participation in higher education and works to support priority learners from diverse educational backgrounds to find entry into health degrees.

I have been an academic at the University of Technology Sydney since 2022 and am a proud UTS alumna. I completed a Master of Advanced Nursing Education in 2022 and a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education Teaching and Learning in 2024. Before entering nursing, I worked as a Chemical Engineer in Brazil, which continues to inform my interdisciplinary perspective on education and practice.

With 15 years of nursing experience across perioperative, community, and rehabilitation settings, I bring substantial clinical expertise to my academic work. My background includes Nurse Educator roles, where I collaborated with NSW Health agencies, including the Agency for Clinical Innovation and the Clinical Excellence Commission, on quality improvement initiatives and the development of professional learning programs for graduate and postgraduate nurses. 

My academic identity is strongly centred on teaching, student learning, and the ongoing professional formation of nurses across the career continuum. I have taught clinical and theoretical subjects across undergraduate and postgraduate programs and am passionate about designing learning experiences that build confidence, capability, and professional identity in both future nurses and registered nurses seeking to specialise or advance their practice through postgraduate education. I am particularly committed to supporting learners to become safe, thoughtful, reflective, and capable practitioners. In February 2026, I was awarded an Advance Higher Education Fellowship, recognising my sustained commitment to evidence-informed, inclusive, and reflective teaching practice in higher education.

My work also includes contributing to curriculum delivery and enhancement, with a strong focus on student engagement, inclusive learning environments, and the delivery of high-quality educational experiences.

Alongside my teaching, I have a strong interest in environmentally sustainable nursing and healthcare practices and am currently a PhD candidate in this field of work.

I bring extensive leadership experience across Local Health Districts, University Schools, and the Ministry of Health. My research drives improvements in person-centred public mental healthcare, enhancing the experiences of people with lived experience, their carers, and the mental health nursing workforce. This work shapes nursing education and workforce development across industry, academia, and international settings. My commitment to person-centred care also extends to the experience of students, including research on the needs of under-served student groups. In parallel, my global health research strengthens nurses' capacity to influence upstream social determinants of health, informing curricula, policy, and professional development that equip nurses to lead, advocate, and innovate. 

Tran Dinh-Le is a Nursing Lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery. She has worked in a wide range of clinical fields as a registered nurse including Medical, Surgical, Neonatal, Paediatric, Oncology, Haematology, Palliative Care, Geriatric, Mental Health, Community and Critical Care. She has a great passion for teaching and has taught nursing students from both the Vocational and Higher Education Sectors since 2013. Tran has a strong research interest in AI and health education.

Rosalind Elliott is affliated with the University of Technology Sydney, Faculty of Health. Her professional role is research manager (intensive care), Royal North Shore Hospital, Northern Sydney Local Health District. She is a Clinical Associate Professor at University of Sydney (Sydney Nursing School).

Dr Elliott is a nationally and internationally recognised researcher, clinician, supervisor and teacher in critical care. Her clinical and academic endeavours focus on translating evidence into clinical practice. She leads collaborative eclectic clinical research to enhance patient experience in acute care settings. 

Dr Elliott has over 30 years’ intensive care nursing experience. She is a clinical role model and mentor. She provides consultation on critical care nursing nationally in her capacity as an active member of the Australian College of Critical Care Nursing, for example, she was a member of the National Taskforce National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce (convened by Australian Living Evidence Consortium, Cochrane Australia). She is an editor for the journal Australian Critical Care.

Dr Elliott has an extensive clinical research track record relative to opportunity. She is an experienced clinical academic and research degree supervisor. Her publication record demonstrates a strong theoretical and practical understanding of quantitative research methods.