Visiting Professors
Prof Maria Ela L. Atienza
Prof Maria Ela L. Atienza is Professor and former Chair of the Department of Political Science, University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman.
She is Editor of the Philippine Political Science Journal, Chair of Division VIII (Social Sciences) of the National Research Council of the Philippines, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Social Weather Stations, Inc. and the Social Sciences and Philosophy Research Foundation. She also served as Co-Convenor of the Program on Social and Political Change, UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies (CIDS) (2018-2023), and President of the Pi Gamma Mu Honor Society in Social Sciences (Philippine Alpha [UP] Chapter) (2022-2025).
Prof Atienza’s research interests cover local governance and devolution, human security, health policy and politics, and constitutional reform, and she has published extensively in these areas. She is the recipient of the first Young Scholar Dissertation Award (2006) from the International Society for Third Sector Research/Institute for International Policy Studies, and the 2014 National Research Council of the Philippines’ Achievement Award for Division VIII (Social Sciences) and conferred Scientist III by the UP Scientific Productivity System for 2020-22 and 2023-25.
Prof Atienza is also active in training and extension programmes for social sciences and political science teachers, policy staff, development workers, personnel of government agencies, local government officials, and bureaucrats, as well as serving as resource person on key political and social issues for several Philippine legislative committees, executive agencies, professional associations, the private sector, and media (international and local).
Helen Balsdon
Helen Balsdon is the National Chief Nursing Information Officer for NHS England, where she provides professional nursing leadership across the country on digital health. This work seeks to ensure nurses and midwives are equipped to practice and lead in a digitally enabled environment, where technology and data science supports practice.
Helen has an extensive portfolio that includes digital nursing and midwifery, digital clinical safety, and clinical leadership to National Digital Programmes including Single Patient Record and Frontline Digitisation & Productivity. She has over 30 years’ experience as a registered nurse, in practice, management and leadership roles in cancer care, patient experience, end of life care and digital health.
During her career Helen has demonstrated the ability to re-design services, leading, supporting and motivating others to deliver meaningful, effective and sustainable data-driven improvement and change the way they work harnessing digital. Helen is also a Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Social Care at ARU.
Dr Emily McWhirter
Dr Emily McWhirter is Honorary Visiting Professor of Healthcare Leadership at ARU and Associate Director of the Nursing Leadership Academy, part of the Institute for Nursing Excellence at the Royal College of Nursing (RCN).
Emily is a senior healthcare practitioner with a PhD in Nursing Leadership and Strategic Health Care Management Education from Harvard Business School. She has worked across teaching hospitals, specialist centres and district general hospitals in the NHS and the independent and charity sectors for more than 35 years. This includes having led the transformation of healthcare systems, the development of the nursing workforce and over three and a half years in a senior consultancy role supporting the Chief Nursing Officer at the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva.
Emily's extensive global network and combination of academic, strategic and operational leadership experience bring global nursing knowledge and leadership expertise, grounded in the day-to-day realities of frontline practice, offering opportunities for collaboration and partnership from across the world.
Prof Meg Morris
Distinguished Professor Meg Morris is a physiotherapist and global leader in allied health research, Parkinson's disease, workforce redesign and falls prevention. She is ranked in the top physiotherapists worldwide for hospital falls prevention and exercise for Parkinson’s and related conditions.
Co-produced with consumers, Prof Morris’ research has improved health and well-being in people living with chronic diseases, as well as hospitalised patients. Meg leads health services projects on movement rehabilitation, falls and injury prevention, patient reported outcome measures and patient experience. She has a strong management background, having served as the Head of Allied Health at La Trobe University.
Prof Morris is currently the Director of the Academic and Research Collaborative in Health (ARCH) at La Trobe University. She has graduated more than 40 PhD students, mentored post-doctoral research fellows, and frequently presents invited addresses and keynotes at international and national conferences.
Prof Joanne Reid
Prof Joanne Reid is Professor of Cancer and Palliative Care in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queens University Belfast. She leads world-class research into her areas of expertise. Her research has demonstrable impact, such as being cited in 2023 UK Parliament Select Committee Publications and international evidence-based guidelines (e.g. 2022 European Society for clinical nutrition and metabolism - ESPEN guideline on clinical nutrition in hospitalized patients with acute or chronic kidney disease), translating current best evidence into recommendations for clinical application.
Prof Reid has a track record of securing successful grant funding and a sustainable plan for future income. Her leadership roles include: Associate Editor, BMC Palliative Care, Chair of Postgraduate Research Committee and Staff/Student Consultative Committee, and Member of the NCRI psychosocial oncology and survivorshop CSG. She has also undertaken a range of university leadership roles including Deputy Head of School, Director of Postgraduate Research, and Director of Research.
In 2023 she was elected Board Director at the All-Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care (AIIHPC) where she was chair of the Palliative Care Research Network (PCRN). The AIIHPC conducts interdisciplinary research across Ireland, with €3m funding leveraged by PCRN collaborations. Prof Reid is a member of the co-authorship team on the European Association of Palliative Care (EAPC) Task Force on Family Carers White Paper.
Prof Reid was appointed as a Global Nurse Consultant specialising in palliative care (PC): research and policy by the International Council of Nurses (ICN) as a measure of esteem that underscores her international reputation for excellence within the discipline and facilitates contribution towards global initiatives, consulting with governments, healthcare institutions and NGOs on worldwide health issues. This builds on pre-established global citizenship e.g. World Health Organisation (WHO), where she co-authored a policy statement, delivered at the WHO 72nd European Regional Committee and papers in Q1 journals.
Prof Reid's leadership in palliative care is recognised by key awards such as Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Fellowship (Ad Eundem) within the School of Nursing; and being named as one of 30 global pioneering palliative care nurses by St Christophers Hospice London, recognised internationally as a beacon of palliative care excellence.
Prof Laura Serrant CBE
Prof Laura Serrant CBE is a multi-award-winning global diversity and inclusion specialist with over 40 years’ experience in leadership and policy development. She was listed as the eighth most influential Black person in Britain by Powerful Media UK. In 2024 she was made a Freeman of the City of London and was awarded a CBE by King Charles II for services to leadership and health policy.
Prof Serrant is one of the few Black female research professors in UK and has an extensive experience in national and international research and service improvement practice with specialist input on racial and ethnic inequalities and enacting social justice in practice. Having published over 100 articles, Laura’s research interests relate specifically to health disparities and the needs of marginalised and ‘seldom heard’ communities. She authored a framework for conducting research, policy and improvements in this area, The Silences Framework (Serrant-Green, 2010), which has been used to guide policy/organisational practice by public and private sector organisations in the UK and overseas.
Laura is one of the 2017 BBC Expert women, previous Chair of the Chief Nursing Officer for England's BME Strategic Advisory group and a 2017 Florence Nightingale Scholar. She is an ambassador of the Mary Seacole Memorial Statue and the Equality Challenge Unit Race Equality Charter for Higher Education. She was named as one of the top 50 leaders in the UK by The Health Services Journal in three categories: Inspirational Women in Healthcare, BME Pioneers and Clinical Leader awards.
Laura’s successful podcast series Speaking for Ourselves is available across most media platforms. Her seminal poem ‘You Called...And We Came’ commemorating the anniversary of the Empire Windrush landing and the creation of NHS in England stands as the inscription on the National Windrush Monument in Waterloo Station, London.
Prof Andrew Sixsmith
Prof Andrew Sixsmith is the Director of the STAR Institute and a Professor in the Simon Fraser University SFU Gerontology Department. He was the Scientific Director of AGE-WELL NCE between 2015-2020 and the Associate Scientific Director, 2020-2022. He is now an AGE-WELL Network Advisor. He is past President of the International Society of Gerontechnology and was previously Director of the Gerontology Research Centre and Deputy Director of the IRMACS Centre at SFU.
Prof Sixsmith's research interests include ageing, social isolation, technologies to connect people, technology for independent living, technology policy and the digital divide, theories and methods in aging, and understanding the innovation process. His work has involved him in a leadership and advisory role in numerous major international research projects and initiatives with academic, government and industry partners.
Prof Sixsmith received his doctorate from the University of London and was previously a lecturer at the University of Liverpool in the Institute of Human Ageing and Department of Primary Care.