Annual research conference

Helen is a leader of large scale change, an innovator and an activist in health and care. She is currently Professor of Practice in Health and Care Improvement at Warwick Business School at University of Warwick and a Strategic Advisor to the NHS Horizons team.

She has spent more than three decades working in England's National Health Service, focusing on large scale transformational change. She has led and facilitated many nationwide improvement initiatives, including those in cancer services, urgent and emergency care, and dementia care and treatment. Helen acts as an advisor and teacher to leaders of health and care in many other countries.

Helen has an ability to connect directly with thousands of people working at the point of care as well as with people who use services. She is one of the top social influencers in health and care globally, reaching more than a million people each month through her social media connections, virtual presentations, commentaries, and blogs.

Prof. Carolyn Wallace has extensive nursing experience in the National Health Service as both practitioner and manager, working in hospital and community settings, particularly in integrated care and reablement.

She is currently a Professor in Community Health and Care Services at the University of South Wales and Lead for the University’s Research and Innovation Group for Health, Care and Wellbeing. She has been developing expertise in qualitative methodologies and applied mixed methods research since 2004, particularly Group Concept Mapping and Realist Review and Evaluation.

Carolyn is also an Associate Director of the PRIME Centre Wales, launched in 2015, and founding Director of the Wales School for Social Prescribing Research, launched in 2020. 

Michael West CBE is Senior Visiting Fellow at The King’s Fund, London and Professor of Organisational Psychology at Lancaster University, Visiting Professor at University College, Dublin, and Emeritus Professor at Aston University, where he was formerly Executive Dean of Aston Business School.

He graduated from the University of Wales in 1973 and was awarded a PhD in 1977 for research on the psychology of meditation. He has authored, edited and co-edited 20 books and has published more than 200 articles in scientific and practitioner publications on teamwork, innovation, leadership, and culture, particularly in healthcare. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, the American Psychological Association (APA), the APA Society for Industrial/Organisational Psychology, the Academy of Social Sciences, the International Association of Applied Psychologists and the British Academy of Management. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and an Honorary Fellow of Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery. 

He led the English Department of Health Policy Research Programme into cultures of quality and safety. He also led the NHS National Staff Survey development and initial implementation. He assisted in developing the national framework on improvement and leadership development in England (Developing People, Improving Care – 2016) and in Northern Ireland in developing the Collective Leadership Strategy for Health and Social Care (2017). He is supporting Health Education and Improvement Wales to develop the national health and care compassionate leadership strategy in Wales.

He co-chaired, with Dame Denise Coia, the two-year inquiry on behalf of the UK General Medical Council into the mental health and well-being of doctors Caring for Doctors, Caring for Patients (2019). He led the review for The King’s Fund (commissioned by the RCN Foundation) into the mental health and well-being of nurses and midwives across the UK, The Courage of Compassion: Supporting Nurses and Midwives to Deliver High Quality Care (2020). His latest book (2021) is Compassionate Leadership: Sustaining Wisdom, Humanity and Presence in Health and Social Care (London: Swirling Leaf Press).

He was appointed a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2020 for services to compassion and innovation in healthcare.

Annette Kennedy was elected 28th President of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) in June 2017 after serving four years as Vice President.

She served as a Commissioner on the WHO Independent High-Level Commission on NCDs (2017-2019) and has been a board member of the Nursing Now Campaign Board.

Previously, she held the position of President of the European Federation of Nurses. She served as a member the Governing Authority of University College Dublin and the National University of Ireland Maynooth.

Annette established the Professional Development Centre in the INMO, was was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from both Dublin City University and the University of Toronto, and received the WHO Director General Leadership Award from Dr Tedros in 2021, the first nurse to receive this award.

Annette has also received an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

Annette, although retired, has recently established a group representing voluntary, statutory, professional and academic agencies with the objective of increasing awareness and education of health professionals in the identification and care of victims of human trafficking, namely the Health & Social Care Education Human Trafficking (HSCEHT) group.

Annette is currently working with multidisciplinary groups on a number of initiatives including the education of professionals in caring for patients with NCDs in West Africa, and  is a member of the advisory group of WGH Ire and the Jordan Journal of Nursing Research.

She is chair of ICN Florence Nightingale International Foundation. 

Brenda Courtney is currently the COO of healthcare software company Infocare Healthcare systems – a company that specialises in developing innovative technology solutions aimed at facilitating patient-provider collaboration through intelligent clinical workflow solutions.   

Brenda started her career as a general nurse and qualified as a paediatric nurse in Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children where she worked as a staff nurse for a number of years. She had an ongoing interest in technology and continued her studies in DCU, attaining a first class honours degree in Computer Applications. Her studies continued in Trinity College Dublin where she was awarded a Masters Degree in Health Informatics.

She has held a number of positions in the Irish healthcare, academic and technology domains including EY, Tallaght Hospital, RCSI, TCD, Temple Street Hospital and Cape Technologies. She is passionate about harnessing the power of technology and innovation for the benefit of all patients in mainstream healthcare.

Annree Wogan is a leadership consultant, and an executive and team performance coach for clients in the healthcare sector. She is an expert in organisational leadership, collaborative engagement excellence, and interpersonal communication. She has worked successfully in the pharmaceutical industry for over 20 years, in a variety of positions with extensive experience in marketing, sales and medical affairs. 

She is passionate about unlocking the potential of people and optimising team health and performance. She forms long-term strategic partnerships with healthcare leaders to help them, their team and organisation win. She aligns her success with the KPIs that her clients are tasked to deliver. 

Annree is an inspirational communicator. She gives herself fully when delivering leadership keynotes and masterclasses to ensure that every person in the audience leaves with practical leadership tools that they can immediately apply to their everyday life, both personally and professionally.

Annree is Vice-Chair of the Board of Myeloma Australia, a for-purpose organisation that provides services, resources and events for people affected by multiple myeloma. She is an Industry Mentoring Network in STEM (IMNIS) Mentor, educating our next generation of STEM professionals.

She holds a Bachelor of Science (Genetics) from Trinity College Dublin, a Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a Certificate in Health Technology Assessment from Sheffield University. 

Annree is originally from Drogheda. She now resides in Melbourne, Australia with her husband Rob and her two teenage children, Aniela and Oscar.