Professor Aisha Holloway (BSc (Hons) Nursing RGN PhD PGCHE FHEA FNMRCSI Ad Eundem)
Professor of Nursing Studies and Co-Director of Edinburgh Global Nursing Initiative

Contact details
- Tel: +44 (0) 131 651 1525
- Email: aisha.holloway@ed.ac.uk
- Edinburgh Global Nursing Initiative
- Scottish Alcohol Research Network (SARN) Founder and Co-Chair
- Council of Deans Anti-Racism Advisory Group
- Adjunct Professor Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing
- Advisory Board member Harvard Global Nursing Leadership Programme
- Advisory Board member Nursing Now Challenge
- Law Society of Scotland Non Executive Director
Address
- Street
-
Room 2m6, School of Health in Social Science, Doorway 6, Old Medical Quad, Teviot Place
- City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH8 9AG
Background
Professor Aisha Holloway, Chair of Nursing Studies, provides strategic leadership to support the propagating and delivery of the School and College academic, research within the Subject Area. Leading learning, teaching and research activity at all levels in the disciplines relevant to Nursing Studies including internal- and external-facing dimensions, and including local, national and international contexts. Directly responsible for the management, leadership and effective administration of activities and resources of the Edinburgh Global Nursing Intiative and research programme contributing to the development and implementation of the School and University strategic plan.
Aisha is the Co-founder and Co-Director of the Edinburgh Global Nursing Intiative (EGNI) and holds a number of Advisory and Board roles within the UK and Internationally.
Overarching research programme has two distinct elements: 1) a global public health and alcohol related harm and 2) nursing workforce with a strong professional health policy and political nurse leadership focus. The main aims of both programme are to reduce the risks and harms of alcohol in society, influencing and shaping alcohol policy alongside alongside, development of an evidence base focused on global political nurse leadership. Programme of research funding by MRC-PHIND, NIHR-PH, CSO, ESRC, NIHR-GCRF and Alcohol Change UK as well as others.
Alcohol related harm focuses specifically on (i) the development and evaluation of nurse led alcohol brief interventions (ABIs) across a wide range of health related settings, (ii) the education and teaching development of the nursing workforce in responding to alcohol-related harm and (iii) the use of innovative multi-disciplinary, public engagement methodologies for co-production of alcohol research.
Nursing workforce focuses on (i) political leadership in nursing (ii) nurses influence on health policy and (iii) innovative nurse and midwifery advanced clinical practice and leadership development in Africa
Alongside this, Aisha has a larger focus on global public health and health related factors with a particular interest in Low and Middle Income Countries and developing countries where health workforce and its contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals is fundamental. With the Global Health Academy at the University of Edinburgh and the Director, Professor Liz Grant, Aisha launched the Edinburgh Global Nursing Initative in 2020. Developing strategic and operational opportunities for clinical academic research application to strengthen the positioning, role and educational attainment of nurses and midwives globally, with a particular focus on Africa as well as LMICs . This is particularly relevant to Aisha's professional and political nurse leadership collaborations and partnership with Governments and her work as Programme Lead for Research and Evidence for effective practice for the Global Nursing Now campaign and partners, ICN and WHO. Here she looks to advise, influence, inform and shape health policy and the global position of nurse leadership through development of a strong evidence base.
With a strong interest in nurse political leadership both nationally and globally, Aisha works at the interphase between nurse led health and social care research and influencing relevant health and social care policy. She was previously an Hon Nurse Consultant for Alcohol Policy and Research at Scottish Government. In 2016, Aisha also submitted written evidence on political leadership in nursing to the All Party Parliamentary Group (UK APPG) on global health, Chaired by Lord Crisp. This evidence was subequently used in the Triple Impact report published by the APPG http://www.who.int/hrh/com-heeg/triple-impact-appg/en/ Invited to submit written and oral evidence to the Scottish Health & Sports Committee. Scottish Parliament, Round table evidence session at Scottish Parliament as part of the Prisoner Health Inquiry.
Awarded a Florence Nightingale Leadership Scholarship, which provided a bespoke programme of strategic leadership development, Aisha completed a Leadership programme at Harvard Business School and visited Congress, Washington DC, USA as part of the Scholarship working with Nurse leaders in the USA to explore the development of nursing political and strategic leadership to influence health policy.
Founder and Co-Chair of the Scottish Alcohol Research Network (SARN)
Cavell Star Award 2019 https://www.ed.ac.uk/arts-humanities-soc-sci/news-events/news/current-news/nursing-studies-head-wins-award-for-care
Scottish Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professions Research Award. Established Career Research Award 2017
Scottish Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professions Research Award. Impact 2015
Qualifications
BSc (Hons) Nursing RGN
PhD
PGCHE
Cert ILM
Responsibilities & affiliations
Chair and Founder of the Scottish Alcohol Research Network (SARN) www.sarn.ed.ac.uk
Adjunct Professor Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Baltimore, USA
Advisory Board member Harvard Global Nursing Leadership programme
Advisory Board member Nursing Now Challenge
Law Society of Scotland Non Executive Director
Research summary
Global public health and alcohol related harm (i) the development and evaluation of nurse led alcohol brief interventions (ABIs) across a wide range of health related settings, (ii) the education and teaching development of the nursing workforce in responding to alcohol-related harm and (iii) the use of innovative multi-disciplinary, public engagement methodologies for co-production of alcohol research.
Nursing workforce (i) global political leadership in nursing (ii) global skills partnership (nurse migration) (ii) innovative nurse and midwifery advanced clinical practice and leadership development in Africa.
Current research interests
Health and wellbeing in marginalised populations, specifically prison health and alcohol interventions in prison for men on remand. Identifying research priorities for prison health in Scotland. Developing research capacity, capability and sustainability for global health workforce. Workforce and contribution to SDGs. Political and health policy research . RTAs and alcohol in Sri Lanka. Child and Maternal Health (DIPLOMATIC) study in Africa.Past research interests
Selection of past research projects: Chlamydia Screening funded by HTA (ClaSS) multi-centre collaborative project led by Bristol University, School of Social and Community Medicine and Primary Care and General Practice at the University of Birmingham. Anxiety and Depression experiences of families and significant others. Photovoice in Recovery. Increasing Public Health Workers capacity to respond to alcohol related harm.Knowledge exchange
With a strong interest in nurse political leadership both nationally and globally, Aisha works at the interphase between nurse led health and social care research and influencing globally relevant health and social care policy. Most recently Aisha developed a Masters course, "Nursing & Global Health Policy: developing your political leadership." In its first year we welcomed a range of nurse leaders working in a health policy political landscape, including, Howard Catton, CEO of the ICN, who engaged with our global Masters nursing students to provide insight into influence, position, voice and presence. Aisha also mentors a number of early career nurses, a great passion of hers.
In 2017 she was recently invited to submit written and oral evidence to the Scottish Health & Sports Committee. Scottish Parliament, Round table evidence session at Scottish Parliament as part of the Prisoner Health Inquiry. In 2016, Aisha also submitted written evidence on political leadership in nursing to the All Party Parliamentary Group (UK APPG) on global health, Chaired by Lord Crisp. This evidence was subequently used in the Triple Impact report published by the APPG http://www.who.int/hrh/com-heeg/triple-impact-appg/en/
In 2015 at a meeting of the Scottish Parliament a Motion brought by Shona Robison (Cabinet Secretary Health) on making progress on the Scottish Government’s in “Changing Scotland’s Relationship with Alcohol: A Framework for Action” Thursday 4th June acknowledged the work of Aisha and colleagues in their Photovoice research work with those in recovery from alcohol. The Photovoice research study raised by 3 MSPs and The Minister for Public Health.
Affiliated research centres
- International Network on Brief Interventions for Alcohol and Other Drugs (INEBRIA)
- Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh
Research activities
Current project grants
NIHR-PH funded APPRAISE study (Chief Investigator)
NIHR-GCRF funded DIPLOMATIC study (Co-applicant)
CSO funded SCARF study (Co-applicant)
ESRC IAA funded Delphi Study (Chief Investigator)
RCN Foundation YARNS funded study (Co Chief Investigator)
Burdett Trust funded STAY-SAFE study (Co-applicant)
Burdett Trust funded IGNITE programme in Africa
Past project grants
Highlighted previous grants held:
Alcohol Research UK ORBITAL study (Co-applicant)
MRC-PHIND PRISM-A Study (Chief Investigator)
CSO Clinical Academic Research Fellowship
SFAAD (Chief Investigator)
ARUK (Co-applicant)
SHAAP (Chief Investigator)
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Involvement of alcohol in injury cases in rural Sri Lanka: Prevalence and associated factors among in-patients in three primary care hospitals
(10 pages)
In:
BMC Public Health, vol. 22, pp. 1-10
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12958-8
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
50 years since the UK's first nursing professor
(3 pages)
In:
Journal of Advanced Nursing, vol. 78, pp. e132-e134
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.15425
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Editorial (Published) -
Evaluating a visual communications tool to explore risk and safety with nurses and patients within an intellectual disability forensic service: A pilot study
(36 pages)
In:
Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3109/13668250.2022.2106697
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Perspectives on barriers and facilitators to lifestyle change after cardiac events amongst patients in Saudi Arabia: A qualitative study
(9 pages)
In:
European journal of cardiovascular nursing
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/eurjcn/zvac031
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
A prescription for nursing: Five measures to remedy the ills of the profession
(2 pages)
In:
British Medical Journal (BMJ), vol. 376
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o357
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Editorial (Published) -
Young Adults Rehabilitation Needs and Experiences following Stroke (YARNS): A review of digital accounts to inform the development of age-appropriate support and rehabilitation
(14 pages)
In:
Journal of Advanced Nursing
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.15076
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
The “Outcome Reporting in Brief Intervention Trials: Alcohol” (ORBITAL) core outcome set: International consensus on outcomes to measure in efficacy and effectiveness Trials of alcohol brief interventions
(9 pages)
In:
Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, vol. 82, pp. 638-646
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15288/jsad.2021.82.638
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
A two-arm parallel-group individually randomised prison pilot study of a male remand alcohol intervention for self-efficacy enhancement: The APPRAISE study protocol
(10 pages)
In:
BMJ Open, vol. 11
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-040636
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Identifying the challenges and opportunities of the executive nurse director role in the UK: A scoping review
(7 pages)
In:
Nursing Management, vol. 27, pp. 21-27
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7748/nm.2020.e1948
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Context: A key dimension in midwifery decision making and practice for safe labour care
In:
African Journal of Midwifery and Women's Health, vol. 14
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12968/ajmw.2019.0035
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Increasing cardiovascular medication adherence: A Medical Research Council complex mHealth intervention mixed-methods feasibility study to inform global practice
(15 pages)
In:
Journal of Advanced Nursing
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.14465
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
“I just can’t sit around and do nothing!”: Experiences of women diagnosed with, and treated for, heart disease in Indonesia: a qualitative study
In:
Nursing and Health Sciences
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/nhs.12764
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Task shifting: A high-level analysis of scholarship
(8 pages)
In:
Journal of Nursing Regulation, vol. 11, pp. 4-11
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2155-8256(20)30104-6
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
A systematic review of interventions addressing limited health literacy to improve asthma self-management
In:
Journal of Global Health, vol. 10, pp. 010427
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7189/jogh.10.010428
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
What do HIV-positive drug users’ experience tell us about their antiretroviral medications taking? An international integrated literature review
In:
Addiction, vol. 115, pp. 623-652
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/add.14857
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Understanding HIV-positive drug users’ experiences of taking highly active antiretroviral treatment: The identity-value-conscious engagement model
In:
Journal of Clinical Nursing
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.15228
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Evidence‐based policy: Nursing now and the importance of research synthesis
In:
International Nursing Review, vol. 67, pp. 52-60
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/inr.12572
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Literature review (Published) -
Evidence into action: A policy brief exemplar to support attainment of nursing now
(7 pages)
In:
International Nursing Review
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/inr.12573
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Literature review (E-pub ahead of print) -
Social media in nursing and health policy: A commentary
(3 pages)
In:
Policy, Politics, and Nursing Practice
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1527154419886292
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Comment/debate (Published) -
Analytic methods considerations for the translation of sensitive qualitative data from Mandarin into English
In:
International Journal of Qualitative Methods, vol. 18
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406919868354
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print)