Catriona Kennedy, Honorary Doctor at the Faculty of health, science and technology
Catriona Kennedy was born and raised in the west coast of Scotland and has lived near Edinburgh, in the east of the country, since 1991. Her doctoral thesis focussed on district nurses knowledge and skills in first assessment visits and the decision making involved in planning care and support for people and families at home.
“At the beginning of my career in the 1970s I wanted to work as a community nurse. It seemed to me caring for, and supporting people at home, was likely to improve their outcomes given the strong connections between physical, mental and psychosocial health. It was never my intention to move to academia and pursue a research career – it just happened!”
Catriona Kennedy has worked in a range of academic posts since 1991; Queen Margaret University, Marie Curie Cancer Care Education Department, Edinburgh Napier University and latterly the University of Limerick in the Republic of Ireland before returning to Scotland in 2016 to Robert Gordon University.
“Each of these posts have given me a range of experiences, new people to meet and work with and opportunities to contribute to nursing and healthcare research. A highlight for me is supervising PhD and research students. My own research and publications span my interests in evidence synthesis, palliative and end of life care, management of long-term conditions, health inequalities and wellbeing.”
“Since 2008 a highlight of my career has been a longstanding association with the Department of Health Sciences and nursing colleagues at Karlstad University. I am very proud and honoured to accept this nomination as honorary doctor. A particular focus of many visits here has been working with post graduate students and staff on developing skills and expertise in evidence synthesis. Given the exponential growth in knowledge, skills in evidence synthesis are essential for all health care workers to ensure care and interventions are based on robust evidence. It is fantastic to see numerous published reviews now emerging authored by nursing colleagues and students”.
To relax, Catriona Kennedy enjoys Pilates, cooking, theatre and music concerts. She likes to spend time with her husband, two sons and four grandchildren.