Professor Brendan McCormack, Head of Division of Nursing at Queen Margaret University (QMU), Edinburgh, has been awarded a prestigious Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Fellowship.
Celebrating the very best in nursing, the annual RCN Awards present Fellowships, Honorary Fellowships and Awards of Merit to those who have given an outstanding contribution to nursing.
RCN Fellowships are awarded to RCN members who are registered nurses in the UK and who have made an exceptional contribution to nursing or health care.
Professor McCormack is an internationally-renowned authority on the nursing of older people, person-centred nursing, and practice development. His seminal work, ‘Practice Development in Nursing’, explores the basis of practice development, its aims, implementation and impact on health care.
The Professor was appointed Head of Division of Nursing and Research Professor at QMU earlier this year, having left his post as Director of the Institute of Nursing and Health Research, and Head of the Person-centred Practice Research Centre, at the University of Ulster.
He brings a wealth of experience in academic leadership to his new role and his appointment underlines QMU’s commitment to its established international agenda and focus on research development.
Commenting on his RCN Fellowship award, Professor McCormack, said: “I’m really proud to have been awarded this honourable title from the UK’s official nursing industry body.
“Over the years, I have been keen to bring a different perspective to the professional development work of the RCN, enthusing QMU students and colleagues with passion for patients, so it’s hugely rewarding to have been recognised by my industry peers.”
In recognition of his continuing research commitments, he was awarded the status of ‘Senior Distinguished Research Fellow’ by the University of Ulster in 2011, and ‘Researcher Hall of Fame’ by Sigma Theta Tau International in 2014.
Professor McCormack was also recently named one of only 11 researchers in Irish universities on a list of the world’s top 3,000, compiled by the multinational media body, Thompson Reuters. Inclusion means that the research of each academic is listed in the top one per cent for the number of times their work has been cited by other scientists.
Those selected will also be published in a new book – the Thompson Reuters 2014 World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds. Inclusion in this publication means the researcher is among those ‘who are on the cutting edge of their fields. They are performing and publishing work that their peers recognise as vital to the advancement of their science.’
Professor McCormack is editor of the ‘International Journal of Older People Nursing’ and has more than 160 peer-reviewed publications, as well as eight books published. For the past five years Professor McCormack was also President of the All-Ireland Gerontological Nurses Association [AIGNA], Chairman of the charity ‘Age Northern Ireland’ and a Fellow/management committee member of The European Academy of Nursing Science.
Nursing has a long history at QMU and is one of the original subject areas which led to the creation of QMU as we know it today.
Over the years, the nursing portfolio has rapidly grown and today a number of nursing and nursing related courses are on offer. In addition to the BSc (Hons) Nursing programme, QMU offers a number of postgraduate and post-registration courses.
Lecturers teach across all courses and are constantly in contact with all levels of the nursing profession, which greatly benefits students. QMU also has important links with international nursing departments through staff exchanges.
For more information on annual RCN Awards and Fellowships, visit www.rcn.org.uk