PhD scholarship announced for nursing leadership in digital health

To advance nursing leadership in digital health, ACU (Australian Catholic University) has partnered with the Australian College of Nursing, Ausmed and Monash Health to launch a PhD scholarship program named after Ausmed founder and nursing education champion Cynthea Wellings.

Worth $89,000 over three years, the scholarship will support research into informatics and digital health, including areas like AI in nursing, standardised nursing terminologies and co-designing digital health technologies with patients.

“Nursing leadership is integral to the success of digital health,” said Adjunct Professor Kathryn Zeitz, ACN chief executive. “This new scholarship represents a significant investment in the future of nursing practice in Australia.

“By fully embracing digital health and informatics, we’re ensuring that patients and the health system will benefit from nurses’ expertise in healthcare innovation and deep understanding of the realities and needs of healthcare delivery.”

The working group responsible for implementing the initiative is being led by ACU Associate Dean of Learning, Teaching and Professional Experience Professor Stephen Guinea.

Potential research areas include:

• Contemporary application of artificial intelligence to nursing work;
• Exploring the impact of co‐designing and co-evaluating digital health technologies with patients and consumer;
• Exploring the impact of integrating standardised nursing data into local and national ecosystems;
• Investigating digital health workforce requirements for successful health transformation;
• Investigating the relationship between standardised nursing terminologies taught in education and those used in electronic medical records;
• Strengthening nurse care planning and multi‐disciplinary care coordination through digital technologies; and
• Understanding the use of standardised nursing terminologies in advancing the visibility and value of nursing care.
   

Expressions of interest close 27 February, with full applications due 1 April 2026.

More information, including how to apply, is available here, via the ACU website.

Image credit: iStock.com/ljubaphoto