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Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a highly successful university with an applied emphasis in courses and research where real-world experience is an essential part of education.
Always at the cutting edge of its field and with more than 30 years of industry consultation and experience, the School of Nursing has established a strong national and international reputation for its excellent research training opportunities and focus on a range of priority health issues.
Director of Research: Professor Debra Anderson 
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Research Strengths
The School of Nursing’s research activity focuses on a broad range of contemporary nursing and health-care issues. Many researchers are international leaders in their field allowing the School to forge strong, multidisciplinary programs of research. These include:
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Research Collaborations
Research programs are supported by industry, government, and the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI), QUT’s purpose-built research facility at Kelvin Grove. IHBI fosters multidisciplinary research in health, biomedical engineering, and biomedical science in world-class laboratory and teaching facilities. We collaborate and are associated with a number of national and state-wide research centres. These include:
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We also collaborate with a number of governments, nursing schools, and universities around the world.
External Research Funding
The School has had an annual research income of more than $6 million since 2007. Sources of funding include the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Cancer Council Australia, the Department of Health and Ageing, and the Australian Research Council.
Research Training
QUT’s reputation for research that solves real-world problems is based on the University’s collaborative, multidisciplinary, and purpose driven approach to research and research training. As a member of the School of Nursing’s dynamic research community, students have access to extensive support services and opportunities to engage and collaborate with some of QUT’s top researchers. We offer quality Honours, Masters, and Doctoral research programs. For more information visit QUT's PhDs and research degrees page.
Masters by Research
A research masters provides an opportunity to pursue a significant piece of supervised research. At QUT, a masters by research normally consists of a relevant coursework component, preparation of a research hypothesis and methodology, and the presentation of the results of the research through a Thesis.
Doctor of Health Science
This doctoral research program allows students to identify problems that are relevant to their health profession and develop real outcomes that contribute to their workplace and personal growth as a health professional. Students undertake coursework units in nursing and in research methods and theory before completing a research component that consists of a single or series of research workplace-based on industry-linked projects.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
This program provides in-depth research training in a particular area of health while broadening a candidate’s knowledge in one or more discipline areas. Research can be undertaken in any area of our research specialisations.
Flexible delivery
Our flexible learning environment is designed to fit alongside your work and family commitments and our staff can help you devise a course of study that meets your professional development goals. Our courses are delivered full-time or part-time and are coordinated by leading academics in the field.
Research Environment
The School of Nursing strives to provide a dynamic environment that:
- Develops collaborative research opportunities with industry, government and multidisciplinary groups.
- Collaborates with local, national, and international research groups.
- Fosters an environment that facilitates high-quality research.
- Undertakes high-quality research which contributes to improving the health and wellbeing of society.
- Extends the social and community impact of research through contribution to health service health improvement and health policy at community, state, national and international levels.
- Disseminates research outcomes to the academic and professional community in ways that achieve high impact and promote transfer of findings to health policy and practice.
Fields of Research
Ageing and Dementia Care - Elizabeth Beattie
This program focuses on: dementia related stigma; interventions to support carers; sexuality and sexual expression in residential aged care; the development of non-pharmacological interventions to ameliorate behavioural symptoms; nutritional status; improving the acute care experience; respite care in dementia; palliative care; and decisional capacity issues in dementia.
Cancer Care - Alexandra McCarthy
This program seeks to better understand, prevent and manage the shortand long-term outcomes of cancer and cancer treatments, including fatigue, neurotoxicities, menopausal symptoms, psychosexual sequelae, and cognitive and affective changes. Studies include trials of nursing interventions to prevent and reduce the effects of these sequelae on people’s lives, and evaluation of models of cancer service delivery.
Health Services - Glenn Gardner
This program involves research into models of health service reform and the influence of advanced practice nursing and nurse practitioner roles. Staff in this program are lead investigators on several major studies into nurse practitioner service and development in Australia, including research and development of nurse practitioner competency standards.
Learning and Teaching in Nursing - Robyn Nash
This program seeks to better understand and/or improve the quality of learning outcomes associated with educational programs/strategies in nursing. The program includes studies of educational interventions to facilitate high quality learning, the impact of assessment on learning, developing and trialling models of clinical supervision and curriculum evaluation.
Palliative Care - Patsy Yates
This program aims to improve management of symptoms associated with advanced progressive diseases, and includes clinical trials evaluating interventions for people experiencing cancer pain, breathlessness, fatigue and nausea. The program also focuses on developing and trialling innovative workforce development and service delivery models to ensure quality end-of-life care.
Women’s Health - Debra Anderson
This program explores the development, implementation and evaluation of interventions to decrease menopausal symptoms in well women; decrease risk factors in women who have a chronic disease; decrease menopausal symptoms in women who have breast cancer; enhance Indigenous women’s wellness; and explore healthy ageing in a multi-ethnic cohort of midlife and older women.
Wound Healing - Helen Edwards
This program seeks to improve assessment and management for people with chronic wounds and to evaluate contemporary models of care. Studies include: developing new wound risk assessment tools to improve clinical decision making; proof of concept studies and/or clinical trials on wound interventions; developing strategies for the prevention of wounds and scar minimisation; and translating evidence-based care into practice.
Chronic Kidney Disease - Ann Bonner
This program seeks to better understand, prevent and manage the short- and long-term outcomes of chronic kidney disease and for people who require renal replacement therapies. Studies include improving management of symptoms such as fatigue, activity levels, breathlessness, and improving overall quality of life. The program also focuses on developing advanced practice nursing and innovative service delivery models.
Cardiovascular Disease - Robyn Clark
This program of research is focused on exploring the issues and developing innovative methods of clinical practice to improve access to cardiovascular health care services for rural and remote and disadvantaged populations groups, using information communication technology the bridge the gap in access and developing innovative methods of clinical practice for nurse-led post discharge cardiovascular disease management initiatives. This program also includes developing systematic reviews on topics in this area.
Research Projects
For a broad-scope overview of the research activities of the School of Nursing, see the "Research - At A Glance" page on the Faculty of Health website. For specific details about the research projects being conducted within the School, and follow the research projects links to the left of this page.