Author Biographies
Ernest Asante is a third-year PhD candidate at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, QUB. His doctoral research is titled: Nurse-led mobile phone intervention (NMPI) to promote self-management in type 2 diabetes in Ghana: a randomised controlled trial. He was awarded a Medicine, Health and Life Sciences & International Office PhD scholarship in 2018. Ernest is a registered nurse (adult) in the Northern Health and Social Care Trust, Northern Ireland. He has been a nursing lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana since 2013.
Maternal and Child Health, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) PhD Title: Social Inclusion for Children and Young People (CYP) with Complex Disabilities This research project was co-created with the Mae Murray Foundation (MMF) and will underpin their ongoing work in social inclusion. The MMF is a Northern Ireland (NI) charity that strives for true participation for all in leisure and social settings, regardless of age or ability.
The project aims to understand social inclusion from the perspectives of CYP with complex disabilities in NI. Supervisors: Dr Claire Kerr; Dr Bronagh Byrne; Dr Fiona Lynn; and Dr Karen McConnell; with Alix Crawford and Kyleigh Lough from MMF on the research project team. Over 22 years qualified in Social Work with the latter 10 years of practice in the Adult Mental Health Directorate of the NHSCT; I subsequently spent 5 years as an Independent Social Worker, SW Educator, Professional Trainer and Policy Consultant.
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Corinna is currently a PhD student with the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Queens University. Her interests focus on the effects of performing arts interventions on maternal mental health. She plans to assess whether it is feasible to evaluate a music-based parent and child intervention with socially disadvantaged postnatal mothers within a randomised controlled trial.
"I am Esther Dadzie, a midwife from Ghana, now pursuing an MPhil program at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen’s University, Belfast (QUB). My area of research is maternal and child healthcare. Currently, I am researching into “the association between mindfulness and anxiety in postnatal mothers during this Covid-19 pandemic”. In the future, I would like to use my acquired knowledge and skills to enhance maternal and neonatal healthcare which are part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Ghana and Africa."
Suzie Heaney is a registered midwife and 2nd year PhD student in the School of Nursing and Midwifery. Suzie’s clinical experience is mainly within midwifery-led settings in London and Belfast. She is also a hypnobirthing and active birth teacher, and a trained reflexologist. Her interest and passion for research began as an undergraduate midwife when she participated in the School research internship programme and had three articles published in peer-reviewed academic journals. Her current PhD project is a qualitative study exploring the healthcare experiences and needs of parents who had a termination of pregnancy following an antenatal diagnosis of fetal anomaly on the island of Ireland. The aim of the study is to improve care in what is a very new area of clinical practice, both North and South.
Suzie received the Mona Grey Award (2019-2020) which she used to develop an animation recruitment video which has successfully recruited parents to the study. Her study also includes health professionals. Suzie has experience of teaching midwifery students on the new Termination of Pregnancy Guidelines in Northern Ireland and the implications for their practice. Suzie has two young kids and spends most of her free time outdoors with her family. Her guilty pleasure is having her nails done regularly which was not possible when working in a clinical setting.
"I completed my BSc in Psychology at Queen’s University Belfast in 2010 and graduated from my Diploma in Applied Psychology at Queen’s University Belfast 2017. In between studying, I worked as an assistant psychologist in the NHSCT child ASD intervention service and supported children with acquired brain injury at Brain Injury Matters NI. My PhD project aims to describe the prevalence and nature of sleep disturbances in children aged 3-18 years resident in NI and explore parent perceptions of sleep disturbances within the family."
Dr. Karen McConnell was awarded a PhD by the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen’s University Belfast in 2012. Her doctoral research evaluated management of the upper limb in children with cerebral palsy. She is currently working as Research Fellow to the Northern Ireland Cerebral Palsy Register (NICPR) within the School of Nursing and Midwifery.
Karen's research interests include trends in the prevalence and characteristics of cerebral palsy over time, the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions for the cerebral palsy population, and patient and public involvement in research.
"Coming from an exercise physiology background, my research interests are focused on the benefits of lifestyle modification on reducing the risk of developing chronic diseases, particularly that of CVD. My PhD project is focused on the co-design of an eHealth intervention to reduce CVD risk in male taxi drivers here in Northern Ireland. The research presented on my poster is a systematic review and meta-analysis on the effectiveness of eHealth interventions on reducing CVD risk in men. This research has recently been published in Preventive Medicine."
Katarzyna Patynowska is a Practice Development Facilitator in Marie Curie and currently completing PGDip ‘Developing Practice in Healthcare’ at Ulster University. She is a nurse and sociologist with the interest in staff education and support, workplace culture and its impact on individuals and practice. Katarzyna's recent experience of supporting new members of staff during the pandemic inspired her to focus her research in this area to provide data for further improvements and developments of practice.
Katarzyna is also a passionate runner and busy mum!
"I began my journey at Nursing college and graduated with Bachelor in Nursing Science from King Saud University, KSA in 2010; and in 2015, a Master in Nursing Studies from Salford University, UK. I worked as a Clinical Nurse Manager for four years in King Saud Medical City."
"I am a second year PhD student at QUB currently working with Prof. Christine Brown Wilson, Dr. Gillian Carter, and Prof. Kevin Brazil on a feasibility study of an educational intervention for adult-child carer of People living with dementia. Back in Indonesia, I am working at Department of Mental Health and Community Nursing, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia, and actively involved in Alzheimer's Indonesia as a certified trainer as well as a volunteer."