Peter Mac and University of Melbourne Nursing Seminar Series 2025
Our event series
Peter Mac is proud to announce the complete 2025 program for our co-presented annual nursing seminar series.
This year we are presenting these seminars in collaboration with the University of Melbourne, The Royal Children’s Hospital, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, and the Royal Women’s Hospital.
We know that nurses play a crucial role in navigating timely access and advocating for system improvements to meet the diverse needs of our communities.
The four-part 2025 series will explore nurse-led models of care, optimised practice, and collaborative approaches to improve equitable access, quality, and outcomes in healthcare.
It also aims to foster networks and collaboration among nurses, consumers, researchers, and students.
This year’s series theme is :
Nurses Driving Change and Leading Impact: Evidence and Experiences from the Field
Purpose
Our four-part series aims to:
Explore: nurse-led models of care, focusing on equitable access, trauma-informed care, large data sets, pain management and systems impact on outcomes, care, and workforce.
Consider: optimising nurses' scope of practice and workforce to deliver safe, person-centred complex care and improve access, safety, and quality for all.
Foster: networks and collaboration among nurses, consumers, researchers, and students through evidence and experiences, addressing workforce challenges, digital health, and positioning nurses to lead impactful healthcare change.
View the complete program dates and seminar topics below, and find more information here.
Dates for your diary
Together we warmly welcome all of our colleagues, students and health partners across Parkville and beyond to join us in person.
In 1945, Sir James William Barrett made a bequest to The University of Melbourne to provide a lecture on a subject of interest to Nursing and Medical professors and 1953, an inaugural Marian Barrett Lecture was delivered. Since 1997, the Marian Barrett Lecture has become an annual event and a highlight of our Nursing calendar at The University of Melbourne. Watch a recording of last year's Marian Barrett Lecture here.
Digital ways of working have become routine for many parts of our lives, including in health and care environments. The increasing use of digital systems to collect and provide information to nurses to help support care has potential impacts on increasing safety and efficiency of practice. However, there are also concerns that this may lead to issues with access to and delivery of care in an equitable way across vulnerable populations. This lecture will explore the role of digital technologies in nursing practice. It will consider how nursing can adapt to an increasingly digital environment, exploring issues of equity and how we develop nursing knowledge and understanding to meet the demands of a digital future.
SPEAKER:
Professor Dawn Dowding
Prof Dowding is Professor in Clinical Decision Making in the School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester, and an honorary Professorial Fellow of the University of Melbourne. She is a nurse and health services researcher with expertise in the field of clinical decision making and nursing informatics. She is a Co-Director of the International Collaborative for Translational Digital Health (with the Universities of Toronto and Melbourne), the lead for the Digital Health theme in the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester, and leads the Digital Health and Social Care Research Group in the Division of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work at Manchester. Dawn is an elected Fellow of the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics, a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and a Fellow of the British Computer Society. She is also co-Chair of the eHealth forum at the Royal College of Nursing, and the Vice Chair for Working Groups for the International Medical Informatics Association Nursing Group.
This webinar explored the critical role of nurses in advancing trauma-informed care practices, emphasising prevention, safety, and equity in healthcare.
Key topics included building trust, the importance of psychological and culturally responsive care, and how nurses can lead in this space. Through presentations and a panel discussion, participants will gain deeper insights into trauma, prevention strategies, and the essential role of trauma-informed care in nursing practice.
Speakers
Ria Esberey, Head of Mental Health Liaison Nursing, Peter Mac
Kellie Gumm, Clinical Nurse Consultant (Trauma Program), The Royal Melbourne Hospital
Kelly Light, Clinical Nurse Educator - Ambulatory Services, The Royal Children's Hospital
Clare Manning, Director, Social Model of Health, The Royal Women's Hospital
Dr Hayley Packham, Living Experience Researcher / Mental Health Nursing Lecturer, The University of Melbourne
Facilitator: Bronwyn Tarrant, Nursing Lecturer, The University of Melbourne
