Community Nursing Research Forum

Forum for community nurses to support research and offer peer support and mentorship

This is a UK-wide Forum for nurses from Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England. We’re grateful to the cross-ARC Palliative and End of Life Care Collaboration for their support and encouragement.

The Community of Practice started in spring 2022. In July 2022, the Queen’s Nursing Institute began hosting us and we are now known as the Community Nursing Research Forum.

Please visit our new webpage to learn more.

Research funding and training opportunities for community nurses

See the opportunities on the Forum’s page on the QNI website

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Previous webinars

Our first Webinar took place on 15th June 2022

Presentations from the webinar

Why a new Community of Practice for community nurses?

Research led by community nurses is needed to generate high-quality evidence to advance patient-centred care.

Our editorial in the British Journal of Community Nursing explains that research opportunities, peer support and mentorship will help community nurses get involved in research.

"There is a dearth of nurses leading and contributing to research on community healthcare and generating evidence to underpin care. Lack of evidence impedes policymakers in commissioning high-quality community healthcare and optimising outcomes for patients and their families.

This editorial seeks to establish a Community of Practice for Community Nursing Research working group, collaborating with key partners such as the Queen’s Nursing Institute and International Collaboration for Community Health Nursing Research.

The Community of Practice would create a forum to share ideas, network and build research capacity in community nurse-led research.

So we invite community nurses and clinical academics to work with us and key partners to form a Community Nursing Research Community of Practice.

The new Community of Practice is for all community nurses, regardless of experience with research. We want to be inclusive and to reflect the priorities of members.”

– Ben Bowers (University of Cambridge) and Catherine Evans (King’s College London)

What will the Forum do?

The Forum aims to strengthen research capacity in community-based nursing research through activities like peer support, mentorship, promoting research opportunities and supporting personal development opportunities.

Who we are

The Forum was started by Ben Bowers, community nurse, end-of-life care researcher at Primary Care Unit, University of Cambridge and Catherine Evans, Professor of Palliative Care & Honorary Nurse Consultant at Cicely Saunders Institute, King’s College London and Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust.

Who do we work with?

We are working with partners in the worlds of applied clinical research and nursing.

If you are exploring community nursing research, the following links may be useful:

Association of District Nurse and Community Nurse Educators

International Collaboration for Community Health Nursing Research

NIHR integrated clinical academic pathway

NIHR Nursing Incubator

NIHR School for Primary Care Research

NIHR School for Social Care Research

Queen’s Nursing Institute

Interested?

Please sign up so you can get involved as we develop the Forum and decide how to make it work for community nurses. We need your involvement and input!

Would you like to be kept up to date as the Forum develops?
Would you like to get involved and help shape the Forum?
Do you have ideas about what the Forum should offer or how you think it should work?

Find out more

Do you have questions? Please get in touch

Ben Bowers, community nurse, end-of-life care researcher at Primary Care Unit, University of Cambridge: bb527@medschl.cam.ac.uk and via Twitter: @Ben_Bowers

Prof Catherine Evans, Professor of Palliative Care & Honorary Nurse Consultant, Cicely Saunders Institute, King’s College London and Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust: catherine.evans@kcl.ac.uk and via X/Twitter: @CatherineJanee1