Alison Kitson
Professor Alison Kitson RN, BSc(Hons), PhD, FRCN is Dean of Nursing at the University of Adelaide, Australia. She is also the Executive Director of Nursing (Innovation and Reform) with the Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN) and an Associate Fellow of Green Templeton College at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom.
Kitson is a health scientist and nursing leader whose innovative work on ways to close the knowledge to practice gap in healthcare has formed the basis for new ways of thinking about and exploring knowledge translation. She has demonstrated that effective knowledge translation requires the interplay of the nature of the EVIDENCE or knowledge being implemented, the CONTEXT into which the evidence is introduced and the way the evidence is FACILITATED. The conceptual framework, ‘Promoting Action on Research implementation in Health Systems’ (PARIHS) has shaped the way the scientific community has operationalised and studied knowledge translation.
Kitson and her colleagues were acknowledged in the 2014 Academic Ranking of World Universities (Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Thomson Reuters) list of high cite world researchers for their work. Kitson is an active researcher in the fields of Fundamentals of Care, Translational Science and Evidence-Based Practice
Kitson's publications include a book released in 2015. ‘Implementing Evidence-Based Practice in Healthcare’ is a facilitation guide co-authored with Professor Gill Harvey for healthcare practitioners in facilitation roles from novice to expert.
In 2013 Kitson was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Malmo in Sweden for her contribution to nursing scholarship and leadership. In 2008 Kitson was awarded a Fellowship in Business Enterprise from Oxford Brookes University for founding and establishing the International Learning Collaborative in association with Green Templeton College, University of Oxford. See Awards and Honours.
Before coming to Australia in 2007, Kitson had a long and successful career in executive leadership, education and research in the United Kingdom. She held a number of Executive Leadership positions at the Royal College of Nursing from 1997 to 2007 including Director of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Institute and Executive Director Professional Nursing. As Director she was responsible for leading the professional nursing agenda and supporting the development of a number of innovative projects including the Clinical Leadership Programme.
Awards and Honours
Kitson has had a distinguished academic and professional career. In 1991 she was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal College of Nursing for her work on Standards of Care. In 2002 she was awarded the Distinguished Graduate of the Year award from the University of Ulster. A prestigious prize awarded to Kitson for outstanding achievement and recognition of her contribution to nursing.
Kitson has published over 200 academic and professional articles and has appeared on numerous local, national and international media platforms.
Since 2008 Kitson has been a member of the Editorial Boards of Nursing Research and Journal of Evidence-based Health Care. And from 1995-2003 was an Associate Editor and Board Member for Quality and Safety in Health Care. Since 2009 she has been a member of the American Academy of Nursing and Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council (ANMC).