We have various Honours and Higher Degree Research (Master/Doctor of Philosophy) projects as part of the QASC Research Program.

Our students receive a unique opportunity to work collaboratively with our world-class team of nursing and allied health researchers at the Nursing Research Institute to learn about and be involved in implementation science with a view to transforming stroke clinical practice nationally and internationally. Students will also work alongside clinician researchers from St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney and Melbourne and participate in seminars and conferences.

If you would like to get in contact with us about current student opportunities, please email QASC@acu.edu.au

Meet our current students

Brett Jones

Brett is a full-time Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) student and nurse practitioner in the Canberra Hospital. His project is titled ‘Code Stroke 2.0 Project: Examining the role of the acute stroke nurse during a code stroke call in the Emergency Department’. The primary aim of this project is to evaluate the feasibility of an expanded role of the Acute Stroke Nurse to facilitate use of the FeSS Protocols for stroke patients in the emergency department including rapid transfer to the stroke unit as part of an enhanced code stroke response.

Principal Supervisor: Professor Sandy Middleton
Co-Supervisors: Professor Elizabeth McInnes and Dr Oyebola Fasugba
Research Advisory Team: Ms Simeon Dale, Mr Ben Mcelduff


Kelly Coughlan

Kelly is a full-time Master of Philosophy (MPhil) student and research officer in the Nursing Research Institute. Her project is titled ‘Fever, Hyperglycaemia (Sugar), Swallow (FeSS) clinical guidelines adherence: analysis of national audit data and stroke registry data’. The primary aim of this project is to examine if FeSS Protocol adherence in Australian hospitals has improved since explicit recommendations for their use were included in the 2017 Australian Clinical Guidelines for Stroke Management. 

Primary Supervisor: Professor Sandy Middleton
Co-Supervisors: Prof Elizabeth McInnes and Dr Oyebola Fasugba
Research Advisory Team: Ms Simeon Dale, Mr Ben Mcelduff 
End-user Supervisor: Mr Kelvin Hill 


Ranran Ding

Ranran is a part-time Honours student and nurse educator in St Vincent’s Private Hospital Melbourne. Her project is titled ‘Improving evidence-based nursing care in European stroke patients’. This is a substudy of the recently concluded QASC Europe project (2017-2021), the first cross European pre-test/post-test study to implement the evidence-based FeSS Protocols in 64 hospitals in 17 countries in Europe. The primary aim of this Honours project is to compare FeSS Protocol adherence in patients receiving care in stroke unit hospitals and those receiving care in non-stroke unit hospitals

Principal Supervisor: Dr Oyebola Fasugba
Co-Supervisor: Associate Professor Vasiliki Betihavas
Research Advisory Team: Ms Simeon Dale; Mr Ben Mcelduff

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