Experts
Magdalena Häger, RN, MSc
Magdalena Häger is a teacher at the Nursing programme at Åland University of Applied Sciences. Häger is a registered nurse specialized in palliative care and holds a teacher degree. She is currently a Ph.D. student at Åbo Akademi, Vasa, Finland. Her research is a collaboration with Åland University of Applied Sciences
Her research focuses on health- and social care professionals' confidence in helping older adults with mental ill-health.
Virpi Sulosaari, RN, MNSc, PhD
Virpi Sulosaari is a principal lecturer in Turku University of Applied Sciences' Master School. She is a registered nurse and cancer nurse and holds a PhD in Nursing Science. Sulosaari has been involved in developing specialist and advanced practice education for nurses for several years in national and international contexts. She is currently leading national and Nordic APN educators’ networks, and is a member in Finnish Nurses Association Advanced Practice Nursing expert group.
Reet Urban, RN, MSc
Reet Urban is a principal lecturer at Tartu Health Care College. She has been involved in developing nurse-specialist and advanced practice education for nurses for many years in Estonia. Urban is currently leading a Master's Program in Health Sciences focusing on Advanced Practice Nursing education. She is also involved in developing a learning-centered learning process in his institution. The focus of Urban's teaching area is leadership and teamwork and multi-professionalism in health sciences. She acts as a supporting member of the Estonian Nurses Union.
Margit Lenk-Adusoo, RN, MSc
Margit Lenk-Adusoo is a principal lecturer at Tartu Health Care College's Nursing and Midwifery Department and a Mental Health Module leader in the Master’s program in Health Sciences. Lenk-Adusoo is a registered nurse, specialized in mental health and also holds a master’s degree in applied social work. She is currently a Ph.D. student at the University Of Tartu's Faculty Of Medicine. Her research focuses on patient safety in psychiatric care.
Josefin Bäckström, RN, PhD
Josefin Bäckström is a senior lecturer at the Department of Health, Education and Technology, Luleå University of Technology. Her main fields of teaching and research are aspects of organization and leadership in nursing, and contemporary images of the nursing profession – which she teaches on the bachelor's and master's levels. She also has extensive experience in managing education and has worked with the evaluation of higher education on a national level at the Swedish Higher Education Authority (UKÄ). She is an elected board member of the Swedish Society of Nursing, where she focuses on issues regarding the quality of nursing education, where the development and implementation of the APN role in Sweden is an essential matter.
Annelis Norlyk
Annelis Norlyk is a professor of nursing and study director, at the Department of Public Health, Aarhus University. Her research is primarily within in the areas of hospital-home transitions and community nursing such as patients’ recovery post discharge, existential dimensions related to living with chronical illness, and issues related to homecare nursing. Norlyk's work mainly draws on hermeneutic and phenomenological research approaches. She has a particular interest in methodological and ethical aspects related to qualitative research and has a long list of publications within this area. Norlyk is also a partner in the international and EU funded Marie Curie project ‘Innovate Dignity’.
Gudrún Kristjánsdóttir, RN, DrPH/PhD, FEAN
Gudrun Kristjansdottir, RN, DrPH/PhD is a Full Professor of Nursing and director of Children and family nursing at the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Iceland and is currently chair of research and development at the Landspitali University Children’s Hospital in Reykjavik. Her research focus has been children’s health and illness throughout childhood emphasizing symptom assessment, management and implementation of measures e.g. of pain in infants and children and of physical symptoms. She is a pioneer in the documentation of recurrent pain in school-age children as well as in the area of parental needs during a child’s illness.
Ragnhild Hellesø
Ragnhild Hellesø is a professor at the Department of Nursing Science at the Faculty of Medicine, UiO and an Honorary Skou Professor at the Aarhus University, Denmark. She also held a part time professorship at the Centre for Care Research, NTNU. She has been the Program Coordinator for the Master Program in Geriatric Nursing. This program was established in 2011 and was the first APN-program in Norway. Hellesø has extensive expertise in research and has conducted research projects addressing coordination, collaboration, and information exchange across health care sectors. She is also the supervisor for a PhD-project that investigates the APN from an educational perspective. Her research has gained national and international recognition and she has been awarded for her excellent research.
Hanna Hopia
Hanna Hopia is a principal lecturer of nursing at JAMK University of Applied Sciences, Finland. She is a registered nurse. In addition, she has a PhD in nursing science from Tampere University and a title of docent at the University of Eastern Finland. Her work focuses specifically on teaching evidence-based nursing, advanced nursing practice and professional ethics on master’s level education. She has published numerous of articles in nursing science in international and national academic journals. Recently her work is concentrated on designing curriculum for advanced practice nursing education and developing personalized digital learning environment for master students.
Johanna Heikkilä (RN, PhD, FESC)
Johanna Heikkilä is a senior advisor at JAMK University of Applied Sciences. She coordinates the network of nurse prescriber education institutions in Finland. Her work focuses on developing nursing education until PhD level and advancing evidence-based nursing practice also in Kazakhstan. Heikkilä has published numerous articles in nursing science in international and national academic journals. Recently her work has concentrated on leading a large international project funded by the World Bank ”Modernization of education system for nurses” in and ERASMUS+ CBHE programme ProInCa and AccelEd in Kazakhstan.
Aurelija Blaževičienė
Aurelija Blaževičienė is a professor in nursing and Head of the Nursing and care department at LSMU, member of working groups which prepared and launched first educational programme in Midwifery of Bachelor’s degree in Lithuania, first master programme Advanced Nursing practice in Baltic States. She is the program chair of study committee of Nursing, Leadership in Nursing and Advance Nursing practise. Blaževičienė contributes to preparation of legal documents for Lithuanian nurses in Lithuania Health Care Ministry and Fulbright Alliumni. Her work focuses specifically on teaching leadership in nursing, evidence-based nursing, advanced nursing practice and nursing ethics on master’s level education. She has published numerous of articles in nursing science in international and national academic journals. Recently her work is concentrated on end of life issue; long term care and intersectorial collaboration in health care system.
Salla Grommi
Salla Grommi is a lecturer in Turku University of Applied Sciences' Master School. She is a registered nurse, a vocational teacher and holds a master's degree in nursing science (leadership and management). She is currently a Ph.D. student in nursing science at University of Eastern Finland. Her research focuses on registered nurses pain documentation and knowledge in a hospital setting.
Network members
