Prof Nicola Jane Roberts
| Biography | Dr Nicola Roberts is a Professor in respiratory healthcare delivery in the School of Health and Soclal Care. She is an experienced researcher with an international reputation on the delivery of care for respiratory long term conditions. Nicola is co-lead for research in the nursing subject group, she is a visiting senior lecturer at Kings College and has been an honorary research advisor in long term conditions programme within NHS Lothian (2019-2021). Funding Nicola has secured over £500k in competitive funding and won Respiratory Researcher of Year from the Association of Respiratory Nurses (2022). Recent work has focused on smoking behaviours and the impact on health (funded - Association of Respiratory nurses (ARNS) exploring the experiences of nurses exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke when visiting patients at home (PI). A research study funded by the Burdett Nursing Trust (2023) will explore the prevalence of nurses who smoke and digital smoking cessation support (PI). Nicola is also co-investigator for another Burdett project (2023) which involves co-creation of a Continuing Professional Development Toolkit to enable pre-registration nursing students acquire the skills and knowledge to enable individuals with learning disabilities to self-manage respiratory health issues. Research areas Nicola has an interest in the use and implementation of digital technologies in respiratory care, she was a co-investigator on a Scottish Inward Investment catalyst fund project from the Scottish government led by Professor Porter Armstrong (2022), she is a collaborator on a European Respiratory Society clinical research collaboration (2022) on moving multiple digital innovations towards connected respiratory care. She was also a specialist committee member for a recent National Institute for Clinical Excellence Early Value Assessment on digital pulmonary rehabilitation technologies for adults with COPD. Work led by Nicola carried out during the COVID pandemic focused on the health and wellbeing of respiratory nurses working in the frontline, this received significant publicity and she was invited to present the findings at meeting of the Scottish Government Lung Health Cross Parliamentary Group, LCNUK RIG (2022), ARNS annual conference (2020) and the programme of work was included in the CNO (in full) England nurse portfolio. In total 4 publications arising from this work were published in top-rated respiratory and nursing journals (BMJ Open Respiratory Research, Respiratory Medicine, Journal of Clinical Nursing, Nursing Times) as well as 4 blogs/articles (Evidence base Nursing, The Alliance, Media Planet [guardian], The Conversation). Her research spans across all healthcare interactions in respiratory healthcare from diagnosis to end of life care. An area of focus has been the delivery of pulmonary rehabilitation, a well evaluated intervention for respiratory conditions. Her work has explored how the education component of pulmonary rehabilitation is delivered to patients, she received knowledge exchange funding from ENU to explore patients' experience of what they want to be taught (2022). She has been invited to speak at a symposium at the American Thoracic Society in San Diego (2024) on tailoring patient education for those with different needs and the findings from the ENU funded knowledge exchange project have also been accepted for an oral presentation. Nicola has been an invited lecturer to conferences held in the UK, Singapore the United States, and has chaired symposia at conferences organised by the British Thoracic Society, Association of Respiratory Nurses and others. Professional activities Nicola is co-lead for the pulmonary rehabilitation specialist advisory group for the British Thoracic society. She also contributes and leads components of the BTS pulmonary rehabilitation fundamentals and advanced pulmonary rehabilitation courses. She was a member of the British Thoracic Society pulmonary rehabilitation clinical statement group at the (published 2023). She is a member of the Scottish Government short life working group for pulmonary rehabilitation (2023), a member of the National Respiratory Audit Programme (NRAP) pulmonary rehabilitation advisory group, and a member of the BTS Pulmonary Rehabilitation professional framework working group. She is a member of conference organising committee within the Pulmonary Rehabilitation assembly in the American Thoracic Society (ATS). She has had similar roles for the BTS and ARNS. She is also an editorial board member Nature Publishing Journal - Primary care Respiratory Medicine. She was a steering group member for the International Coalition of Respiratory Nurses (ICRN), contributing to several publications, and high profile presentations at international respiratory conferences. Nicola is a member of Asthma + Lung UK Research Review Panel (RRP) for their new Healthcare professional PhD bursary awards (2024). She has recently spearheaded the launch, with colleagues at Southampton and Bournemouth universities, of an academic respiratory research alliance network (ARRA) to bring together non-medical respiratory researchers to provide collaborative opportunities information, guidance and signposting for researchers. Publications Nicola has written numerous peer-reviewed abstracts and publications in the top-rated respiratory journals including the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Thorax, European Respiratory Journal and Respiratory Medicine. Post graduate supervision She has supervised more than 30 MSc students, and has 6 PhD completions to date. She has 5 current PhD students, 2 of which are funded ENU studentships (one as DoS) •the impact of anterior chest wall deformity in a paediatric population •Co-design of educational resources for children and young adults with asthma to manage their condition independently •Exploration and development of asthma and respiratory self-management strategies for young people with intellectual disabilities •Identifying potential opportunities and challenges of using a therapeutic music technology to support home-based singing activities for individuals with COPD Nicola welcomes contact from potential collaborators and research students. |
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| Research Interests | delivery of respiratory care; nursing education, patient experiences, health literacy, ehealth, mhealth, patient outcomes, pulmonary rehabilitation |
| Scopus Author ID | 8682473200 |
| PhD Supervision Availability | Yes |