Karen Spilsbury

I joined the University of Leeds in March 2015 as Chair in Nursing. I am a registered nurse and applied health and care researcher. My expertise extends to fields central to contemporary nursing practice, demonstrated by the development of a programme of policy and practice relevant research in the areas of the health and care workforce and care for older people. In particular, I am interested in evaluating how changes in the composition, organisation and management of the workforce impact on quality of care and outcomes.

I was awarded my personal Chair at the University of York in 2012. I am an Honorary Professor at the University of East Anglia and Queen Margaret University (Edinburgh).

I am Academic Director for Nurturing Innovation in Care Home Excellence (NICHE-Leeds), a partnership between care (providers and local authority) and science (University of Leeds, with Leeds Beckett University and Maastricht University). I provide the leadership and research expertise required to engineer interdisciplinary collaborations to help care homes innovate effectively, efficiently and sustainably to enhance quality.

I am an NIHR Senior Investigator (2023-2027). I was a full member of HEFCE’s REF2021 Sub-panel 3 in Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy (2021-2022).

I was a member of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Research for Patent Benefit Programme Yorkshire and Humber Regional Funding Committee (2009-2013) and NIHR Health Services and Delivery Research Programme Commissioning Board (2014-2018). I am currentlly a core member of the NIHR PRP Commissioning Committee (July 2022-) and panel member for the NIHR DLAF. My editorial duties included an Associate Editor role with the International Journal of Nursing Studies (2010-2018).