Bulletin

Issue: January/February 2006

People

Workplace relations and mental health researcher appointed Professor of Nursing

A leading researcher in mental health nursing and workplace relations in the nursing profession, Dr Gerald Farrell, has been appointed Professor of Nursing and Head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery at La Trobe University.

Currently Professor and Head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Tasmania, where he has worked since the early 1990s, Professor Farrell takes up his post at La Trobe in March 2006.

Professor Farrell is keen to further develop multidisciplinary research, promote the internationalisation of the curriculum, and enhance the partnerships between academics and clinicians that champion the relevance and reputation of courses.

Professor Farrell has about 15 years experience as a practising psychiatric nurse and educator at Littlemore Hospital and John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. He holds a Diploma of Nursing from the University of London, an MSc in Social Research, University of Surrey, and a PhD in Social Science from the University of Tasmania. With extensive teaching experience in Australia and the UK, where he lectured at Oxford Brooks University, Professor Farrell has taught mental health nursing and research methods and, more recently, communication skills for Bachelor of Nursing undergraduates. He has also supervised a wide range of postgraduate research.

Professor Farrell is involved in the nursing profession at both national and international levels. Until recently he was a member of the Executive Committee, Deans of Nursing and Midwifery (Australia and New Zealand), and is a reviewer for a number of international nursing journals.

His recent research projects include a collaborative study of staff relationships in the workplace, conducted with industry colleagues and the Australian Nursing Federation, which involved a survey of all nurses in Tasmania. Professor Farrell also is pursuing projects with a UK expert in Clinical Psychology, to investigate patients’ demand for medical care in the absence of physical pathology, in addition to exploring the management of other ‘challenging behaviours’ amongst patients and colleagues at work.