News and Events - Industry Grant Wins Strengthen Community Engagement
News & Events
Industry Grant Wins Strengthen Community Engagement
Three industry grants to enhance ECU-community linkages and build leadership capacity of community nurses are good news for the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Postgraduate Medicine.
Professor Cobie Rudd, Head of School, said she is pleased to announce these three wins that “are a good boost for ECU’s community engagement agenda and our related research.” Professor Rudd said a common theme links these initiatives:
“All the projects have a role in forming sustainable partnerships, building social capital and fostering community capacity. They also serve to expand community access to the University’s resources, and create and support community coalitions to achieve practical solutions for real-world problems.”
The first is a $45,000 grant from the Department of Health WA to undertake the research and develop a Community Partnerships Tool Box. This community-based study will develop and test a new and innovative ongoing approach to developing leadership capacity in community nurses. This project is centred on developing a stronger sense of civic responsibility amongst community nurses and nursing students. Professor Rudd said: “The project is unique because it aims to embed a different way for community nurses to view their profession in terms of its role in the broader community as well as a greater service orientation. For example, the project serves to reinforce the role community nurses can have in influencing behaviour within the community”.
Also, the School has been awarded a seeding grant of $10,000 to commence the joint planning (in partnership with the Department of Health WA) for a Community Nurse Leadership Conference.
In addition, the School is to be sponsored by the Department of Health Western Australia for an industry awards for community engagement gala event later this year. The awards will serve to specifically acknowledge staff/teams from the School who work collaboratively across the University and with industry to respond to community identified needs. Professor Rudd said: “This is another great outcome from our strategic partnership with the Department of Health in Western Australia. I’m delighted that Dr Phill Della, the Chief Nurse, Department of Health WA, is supporting this important initiative and providing the sponsorship”.
Professor Cobie Rudd
