Professor Aisha Holloway, Chair of Nursing Studies, provides strategic leadership to support the propagating and delivery of the School and College academic, research within the Subject Area. Leading learning, teaching and research activity at all levels in the disciplines relevant to Nursing Studies including internal- and external-facing dimensions, and including local, national and international contexts. Directly responsible for the management, leadership and effective administration of activities and resources of the Edinburgh Global Nursing Intiative and research programme contributing to the development and implementation of the School and University strategic plan.

Aisha is the Co-founder and Co-Director of the Edinburgh Global Nursing Intiative (EGNI) and holds a number of Advisory and Board roles within the UK and Internationally.  

Overarching research programme has two distinct elements: 1) a global public health and alcohol related harm and 2) nursing workforce with a strong professional health policy and political nurse leadership focus. The main aims of both programme are to reduce the risks and harms of alcohol in  society, influencing and shaping alcohol policy alongside alongside, development of an evidence base focused on global political nurse leadership. Programme of research funding by MRC-PHIND, NIHR-PH, CSO, ESRC, NIHR-GCRF and Alcohol Change UK as well as others.

Alcohol related harm focuses specifically on (i) the development and evaluation of nurse led alcohol brief interventions (ABIs) across a wide range of health related settings, (ii) the education and teaching development of the nursing workforce in responding to alcohol-related harm and (iii) the use of innovative multi-disciplinary, public engagement methodologies for co-production of alcohol research.

Nursing workforce focuses on (i) political leadership in nursing (ii) nurses influence on health policy and  (iii) innovative nurse and midwifery advanced clinical practice and leadership development in Africa

Alongside this, Aisha has a larger focus on global public health and health related factors with a particular interest in Low and Middle Income Countries and developing countries where health workforce and its contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals is fundamental. With the Global Health Academy at the University of Edinburgh and the Director, Professor Liz Grant, Aisha launched the Edinburgh Global Nursing Initative in 2020.  Developing strategic and operational opportunities for clinical academic research application to strengthen the positioning, role and educational attainment of nurses and midwives globally, with a particular focus on Africa as well as LMICs . This is particularly relevant to Aisha's professional and political nurse leadership collaborations and partnership with Governments and her work as Programme Lead for Research and Evidence for effective practice for the  Global Nursing Now campaign and partners, ICN and WHO. Here she looks to advise, influence, inform and shape health policy and the global position of nurse leadership through development of a strong evidence base.

With a strong interest in nurse political leadership both nationally and globally, Aisha works at the interphase between nurse led health and social care research and influencing relevant health and social care policy. She was previously an Hon Nurse Consultant for Alcohol Policy and Research at Scottish Government. In 2016, Aisha also submitted written evidence on political leadership in nursing to the All Party Parliamentary Group (UK APPG) on global health, Chaired by Lord Crisp. This evidence was subequently used in the Triple Impact report published by the APPG http://www.who.int/hrh/com-heeg/triple-impact-appg/en/   Invited to submit written and oral evidence to the Scottish Health & Sports Committee. Scottish Parliament, Round table evidence session at Scottish Parliament as part of the Prisoner Health Inquiry.  

Awarded a Florence Nightingale Leadership Scholarship, which provided a bespoke programme of strategic leadership development, Aisha completed a Leadership programme at Harvard Business School and visited Congress, Washington DC, USA as part of the Scholarship working with Nurse leaders in the USA to explore the development of nursing political and strategic leadership to influence health policy.