Adjuncts to the school

Fiona Dykes is Professor of Maternal and Infant Health and leads the Maternal and Infant Nutrition and Nurture Unit (MAINN), School of Community Health and Midwifery, University of Central Lancashire which she established in 2000.

Fiona is an Adjunct Professor at Western Sydney University (WSU) and holds a Visiting Professorship at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.  Fiona has a particular interest in the global, socio-cultural and political influences upon infant and young child feeding practices; her methodological expertise is in ethnography and other qualitative research methods.

Fiona is the Conference Convenor and Chair of the Scientific Review Committee for the MAINN Conference, a three day, international, peer reviewed event established in 2007 and held bi-annually in the UK and, more recently, on alternate years overseas (Sydney, Australia, Sweden and Florida).  Abstracts are published in Maternal and Child Nutrition, the Wiley-Blackwell published international journal.  Fiona is a member of the editorial board.

Fiona is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has worked on WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, EC, DH NHS, NIHR, Wellcome Trust, British Council, British Academy Newton Fund and Australian Research Council (ARC) funded projects. Fiona is author of the monograph Breastfeeding in Hospital: Mothers, Midwives and the Production Line (Routledge) and co-author of  Banking on Milk: An ethnography of donor human milk relations. She is also joint editor of several books including Infant and Young Child Feeding: Challenges to implementing a Global Strategy (Wiley-Blackwell) and Ethnographic Research in Maternal and Child Health (Routledge).

Email:  fcdykes@uclan.ac.uk

RN, RM, Post-reg. Dip(Health Care Education), MBA, MSc(Hospital & Health Mgt), Hon Doctor (Health Sciences), FHKCHSE, FACHSE, FAAN

Professor of Health Services Management,Tung Wah College, Hong Kong.

Professor Fung is the former Chief Manager (Nursing) of Hospital Authority (HA) taking charge of more than 20,000 nurses. She is now the professor in health care management for the School of Nursing and the School of Management at the Tung Wah College. She is a leader in many professional associations and government consultative committees locally and internationally. She is now the member of the Council on Human Reproductive Technology in Hong Kong as well as the International Observer Trustee of the U.S. Commission of Graduates from Foreign Nursing Schools.   Professor Fung was awarded the prestigious Florence Nightingale Medal in 2005 by the International Red Cross for her commitment and contribution to nursing services and mankind, the Bronze Bauhinia Star Medal in 2013 by the Hong Kong SAR Government for her dedicated services to the healthcare of Hong Kong, and the Leader of the Year in 2014 by SingTao Newscorp as, as well as the Child Health Medalist Hong Kong Paediatric Society.

Email:  s.fung@westernsydney.edu.au

Dr Karleen Gribble (BRurSc, PhD) has held an adjunct position at Western Sydney University since 2003 and is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Nursing and Midwifery.  Her interests include infant and young child feeding in emergencies, relactation and adoptive breastfeeding, long-term breastfeeding, peer-to-peer milk sharing, the marketing of breastmilk substitutes, the parenting and care of maltreated children, child-caregiver and caregiver-child attachment, children’s rights, adoption reform, and the treatment of infants and young children within the child protection, immigration detention and criminal justice systems. She has published research on these subjects in peer-reviewed professional psychological, social work, and health journals, provided commentary in the media, contributed to government enquiries, provided expert opinion for courts, and engaged in the training of health professionals, social workers, and humanitarian workers on these subjects. Karleen is an Australian Breastfeeding Association Community Educator and Breastfeeding Counsellor and is a two-time winner of the Mary Paton Award for Breastfeeding Research. Since 2010 she has been an member of the international interagency collaboration the Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies Core Group and has been at the forefront of the development of policy, training and research in the area of  infant and young child feeding.

Email:  k.gribble@westernsydney.edu.au

Deborah Parker (RN, BA, MSocSci, PhD) has held an adjunct position at Western Sydney University since 2016 and is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Nursing and Midwifery.  Her primary areas of research are palliative care for older people, dementia and health services evaluation in aged care. She is co-lead on End of Life Directions in Aged Care, a federally funded program to improve palliative care and advance care planning for older Australians. Deborah is President of Palliative Care New South Wales, Board Director of Carrington Care and Leigh Place and Chair of the Ageing Policy Chapter for the Australian College of Nursing.

Email: deborah.parker@westernsydney.edu.au

Lyn Stewart (RN, RM, BHSc (Nsg), MEd. (Adult Ed), Cert IV, Teaching and Assessment (TESOL)) has held an adjunct position at Western Sydney University since 2018 and is currently an Adjunct Fellow in the School of Nursing and Midwifery.  Her interests include Adult Learning; Literacy and Numeracy development; transfer of nursing knowledge to practice and transition to graduate practice.  Her past clinical experience has included Intensive Care, Spinal Injuries, Neurosurgical, Perioperative, Cardiac, and Midwifery practice.  Lyn has extensive experience in teaching undergraduate nursing students over more than two decades in primary health care, Aboriginal health and professional practice. My research has included intervention strategies to support student learning in the development of literacy and numeracy.  She was a co recipient of an Australian Learning and Teaching Commission (ALTC) Award, 2008 and a VC Teaching Excellence Award, 2012 for the development and implementation of Numeracy and Literacy programs to support student learning.  Her previous governance roles have included both Unit and Campus Coordination of theoretical and practice-based units of study, across the Bachelor of Nursing degree and was also the Director of Clinical Education, 2006-2008.  Lyn has had the privilege to teach across the Bachelor of Nursing degree in both theoretical and practice development units. Prior to retirement in 2018 Lyn was teaching fundamental units in Primary Health Care and Professional Practice Experience as well as a final semester unit to assist students to make the transition from University to Professional Practice as a Registered Nurse or Midwife. 

Email:  lyn.stewart@westernsydney.edu.au

CEO, RN, M.Mgt, Dip.App.Sci (Nursing), Acute Care Cert., FACN, Wharton Fellow, MAICD

Adjunct Professor Kylie Ward FACN is a renowned leader and a passionate CEO who has shaped the Australian College of Nursing (ACN) to become a prominent and influential professional organisation.  As well as leading a strong and collective voice for the nursing profession to improve patient outcomes and the social determinants of health for all Australians, Kylie is also driven to improve gender equality and diversity as well as promoting the importance of women in leadership roles both nationally and internationally.

Kylie’s distinguished career spans almost three decades, and has seen her hold Executive positions in the largest health services in NSW and Victoria. Through her commitment to reform, transformational change and leadership development, she has been awarded honorary Professorships from Monash University, Deakin University, University of Technology Sydney, Western Sydney University and Federation University.

Kylie is the first nurse to be appointed by the Federal Minister as a Board Director of the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA). She is a Board Director of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Advisory Council (ANMAC), as well as serving Ministerial appointments to the Aged Services Industry Reform Committee (IRC) and the Health Translation Advisory Committee (HTAC) of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

Dedicating her career and purpose to empowering others, Kylie has received widespread recognition and received multiple awards  including the 2017 ACT Telstra Business Woman of the Year Award for Social Purpose and Enterprise and 2018 Western Sydney University Prestigious Alumni’s Award for Professional Excellence.

Kylie is an inspiring leader with a flair for inspiring others and promoting a socially responsible and progressive culture. A motivational executive, Kylie has led thousands with her holistic, innovative and transformational approach to leadership, focusing on building resilience and empowering people to meet organisational challenges.

Email:  Kylie.Ward@acn.edu.au