Prof Alison Kitson is recognised internationally as a leading research translation scientist, nurse leader and champion of improving fundamentals of nursing care research and practice. Her experience spans establishing national programmes on standards of nursing care, supporting the development of national clinical guidelines and running a series of highly successful national clinical leadership programs in the UK while she was at the Royal College of Nursing (RCN). She has also established an international network (the International Learning Collaborative, ILC) in collaboration with Green Templeton College University of Oxford and other leading organisations dedicated to the improvement of fundamental care across health and care systems globally.

Prof Alison has spent several years in executive and academic leadership roles in the UK before moving to Australia to take up the role of Head and Dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Adelaide in 2009. During her time as Head and Dean, the school quadrupled in size and was one of the top performing nursing research groups in Australia. Between 2013 and 2015, Prof Alison was the Executive Director of Nursing at Central Adelaide Local Health Network (a joint appointment between the university and the health network), where she was responsible for the nursing innovation and reform agenda. In 2017, she was appointed as the inaugural Vice President and Executive Dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders University, South Australia. She established the Caring Futures Institute in 2019 – the first research institute in Australia fully dedicated to the study of care and self-care solutions to today’s complex health challenges.

Prof Alison’s contribution to nursing and health service research continues to be recognised. Honours include, Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science (2015), an Honorary Doctorate from Malmo University (2013) Sweden and a Fellowship of the American Nurses Association (2011) for her work on standards of nursing care. In 2022, she was awarded the Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor title in recognition for her outstanding research leadership.