Holly Louise Northam (née Terrell)

Dr Holly Northam OAM, (PhD, RN, RM, M CritCareNurs, SFHEA) is an Associate Professor in Nursing at the University of Canberra (UC).
Holly has a conjoint appointment with the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives (CATSINaM) as Director of the Leaders of Nursing and Midwifery Education Network (LINMEN).

Holly is a Churchill Fellow (2006); a 2022 Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy of the United Kingdom; and was the inaugural international visiting fellow at the Restorative Research, Innovation and Education Lab, Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Previously Head of Discipline for Nursing at UC (2018- 2021), Holly served as the elected academic representative on the UC Council and Academic Board (2018-2020). Holly is a Director on the boards of ShareLife Australia and Donor Families Australia. Holly played an instrumental role in establishing the ACT Organ and Tissue Donation Service- now DonateLife ACT. Holly's PhD study, ’Hope for a peaceful death and organ donation’ identified that more must be done to alleviate suffering caused by communication failures in healthcare. In 2021 Holly became the Convenor of the Canberra Restorative Community and transitioned it to the UC.

Teaching units such as Indigenous Health: Contemporary Issues- a large cross faculty & institution unit- has provided Holly opportunities to ‘nudge’ and help reframe the social justice responsibility held by academics in academic /student relationships – especially for Indigenous students. Evidence to support the transformational impact and outcomes of this shared work is evidenced in Holly and her 'Restorative Healthcare Team' being awarded the 2021 University of Canberra Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning. Category: Approaches to teaching and the support of learning that influence, motivate and inspires students to learn. Creating relationships of trust and hope for reconciliation and a new social contract of health equity for Australians.

Holly brings many years of clinical experience to her research and teaching practice. Holly has a strong social justice focus that is underpinned by her professional identity as a nurse and midwife. Holly’s research and teaching approaches are framed using the lens of hope and restorative practice to identify and support people who are vulnerable to poor laws, policies and practices in health and other institutional settings.