Barlow, Emily-May

My move to the University of Dundee is from a previous academic role, where I also worked as a lecturer in mental health nursing. I progressed to this role from the position of ‘Clinical Academic Fellow’, whereby I worked in academia for 50% of my time and clinically for the other 50%. My clinical experience includes substance misuse detoxification, intensive psychiatric care, and forensic care. My passion for mental health nursing (clinically, academically and for research) is driven by a desire to improve the quality of people’s day to day lives; ensuring humanity, hope and joy is consistent in people’s care. 

My research history has loosely orientated around (or has themes of) the clinical decision-making processes of mental health nurses i.e. when to give PRN, when to give leave, how to accurately assess. At present, this work is orienteted around 'leave'; for those who aren’t familiar with this practice, leave occurs when mental health patients are authorised time out of hospital by their consultant psychiatrist. Leave was the topic of my 'Masters by Research' thesis, whereby I completed a policy review of all NHS leave policies. I intend to explore this topic in more detail, as part of a doctoral degree.

I thoroughly enjoy participating in community engagement. For example, one of my career highlights was project leading on the ’Future of Mental Health Nursing Conference’ which took place in the Summer of 2019. The event was a huge success; the team sourced and spent over £40,000, had 500 attendees, provided celebrity guest speakers, workshops, and interactive activities.