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Est.1840

Marie Clancy

Senior Lecturer

Department of Allied Health & Wellbeing

01752 636700

mclancy@marjon.ac.uk


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Role Summary

My role is to provide extensive knowledge and experience of clinical practice and teaching in Higher Education to the nursing and allied health programmes across the University. Since commencing children’s nursing in 2000, I have worked across the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Malawi, Afghanistan and the Caribbean. These experiences, including work with the Tropical Health Education Trust (THET) and the World Health Organization (WHO), have shaped my approach to leadership, communication, cultural understanding and compassionate care.

At Plymouth Marjon University, I teach across nursing and allied health programmes, contributing expertise in child health, neonatal and children's palliative care, health inequalities, research methods and evidence-based practice. My specialist clinical and research expertise in culturally sensitive neonatal and children's palliative care has led to invited teaching contributions across master's programmes at the University of Birmingham, the University of the West of England and the University of Plymouth.

I have pioneered the use of creative and arts-based approaches in nursing including methods to enhance interprofessional learning and innovative creative forms of assessment including a summative art exhibition. This work has been recognised through nominations for teaching innovation awards, including the Student Nursing Times Awards. You can read more about this work and see student outputs here: https://www.artsandcultureexeter.co.uk/news/the-art-and-history-of-nursing

Qualifications

  • Foundation in Art Therapy, June (2025) - Oxford College of Arts and Therapies
  • Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) (2024) - University of Exeter
  • Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing (2023) - University of Birmingham
  • Postgraduate Certificate of Education in Academic Practice (PGCE) (2012) - University of Wolverhampton
  • Master’s in Public Health (with Merit) (2011) - University of Birmingham
  • Bachelor of Nursing Degree (Hons) 2:1 (2000- 2004) - University of Birmingham

Teaching

Across the Bachelors and Master’s programmes in Nursing and the Assistant Practitioner programme. Supporting the Art and Health MA.

Research

My research is driven by a commitment to reducing health inequalities and amplifying underrepresented voices in health and social care. I am particularly focused on the experiences of families within neonatal and children’s palliative care who are culturally diverse, as well as arts-based interventions that support workforce wellbeing and inclusive research participation.

Research Grants

Creativity and wellbeing in clinical contexts

Co PI with University of Exeter colleague Dr Caitlin Kight

  • Threads of care and compassion: the legacy of Hospiscare in the community - Translational Funding ERSC Festival of Social Science Award 2025 (£1200)
  • NIHR Undergraduate Internship Programme 2025 – funding for a summer intern working to develop Creative Toolkits resources, deliver and evaluate training (£2000).
  • Creative remembrance: using art to celebrate life and process grief – workshop for students and community members (2024) - ESRC Festival of Social Science 2023 and 2024 (£1000 in each year, £2000 total)
  • Health and Care Professions Partnership Development Fund – Partnership creation with Misr University for Science and Technology, Cairo, Egypt (£2000) – 2024
  • QUEX Institute Workshop Grant – Creative toolkits for clinical contexts – workshops to learn with and from colleagues at Queensland Health and the University of Queensland (£3500) -2023
  • Project to reduce stress and improve wellbeing by facilitating the development of digital ‘creative toolkits’ - Education Incubator project - (£5000) – 2023
  • ‘Exploring creativity as a tool for improving wellbeing of students and their host providers during nursing placements’ - Societies and Cultures Institute (SCI) Development Fund (£10,000) 2023-24

Culturally sensitive palliative care

  • Co-applicant GW4 Building Communities Programme with Lead applicant Professor Kate Woodthorpe (University of Bath) – Building an End-of-Life Academic Community for the Southwest of England £5,000 for collaborative workshops.
  • Co-applicant with WHO Collaborating Centre for Culture and Health with interdisciplinary colleagues Professor Felicity Thomas, Dr Chris Sandal-Wilson and Dr Rebecca Lynch. Tailoring health policy and programming through cultural insights. Translational Funding AHRC Impact Accelerator awarded Feb 2025 £20,330 (5% FTE)
  • PI – Informing Culturally Sensitive Neonatal Palliative Care – exploratory research study to further understand family and health care professionals’ perspectives and experiences - Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health (WCCEH): Transformative research award (£20,000) (20% FTE)
  • Co-applicant with clinical partners - Working with interpreters in end-of life care: Equity in communication outcomes (ECHO) – Marie Curie Research Impact Fund (£10,000) - 2022-24.

 

Publications

  1. Redman, H. Thomas, F. Clancy, M. (2026) What are Fathers’ Experiences of Neonatal-Perinatal Palliative Care? A Scoping Review. BMC Palliative Care. 2026 Apr 17. doi: 10.1186/s12904-026-02103-2. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 41992174.
  2. Clancy, M. Warner, L. Fox, R. March, A. Dennis, B. Russell, G. (2025) ‘A poem is a galaxy’: An educational guide for researchers new to using participant-voiced poetry with young people. International Journal of Qualitative Methods (2025-11-18) doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069251395516
  3. Clancy, M. and Thomas, F. (2025) Fostering cultural humility in neonatal palliative care. An interpretative qualitative study from the United Kingdom. Mortality 1-21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13576275.2025.2483754
  4. Clancy, M. Kight, C. Stein, J. Glanville, N. Wilson, A. Kyle, R. (2025). Co-producing a 'creative toolkit' to support the mental health and wellbeing of palliative care professionals: a community case study Palliative and End of Life Care in the Post-Pandemic Era: Old Problems and New Perspectives, Frontiers in Sociology. Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2025.1488840
  5. Clancy, M. Taylor, J. Bradbury-Jones, C. and Phillimore, J. (2025) Exploring the experiences of children’s palliative care for forced migrant families in the United Kingdom: An Interpretative Phenomenological Study. Frontieres in Pediatrics, Children and Health. Vol 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2024.1494938
  6. Stein, J. Clancy, M. Kight, C. (2024) Creative approaches to clinical supervision. Conference proceedings. BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care, 14 (4) pp89.
  7. Clancy, M. Thomas, F. Redman, H. and Gasiorowski, E. (2025) Informing culturally sensitive neonatal palliative care: Focus on Divergence of Belief (article three of three). Infant Volume 21 Issue 1
  8. Clancy, M. Thomas, F. Redman, H. Fowke Doyle, H. and Gasiorowski, E. (2024) Informing culturally sensitive neonatal palliative care: Focus on communication (article two of three). Infant Volume 20 Issue 6
  9. Clancy, M. Thomas, F. Redman, H. Walsh, B. and Gasiorowski, E. (2024) Informing culturally sensitive neonatal palliative care: Focus on bereavement (article one of three). Infant Volume 20 Issue 5
  10. Redman, H. Clancy, M. and Thomas, F. (2024) Culturally sensitive neonatal palliative care: A Critical Review. Palliative Care and Social Practice v18 doi: 10.1177/26323524231222499
  11. Willmont, K. Clancy, M. Chapman, S. Hopkins, J. Fleming, A. and Tighe, I. (2023) Developing relationships between trainee nursing associates and mental health experts by experience. Mental Health Practice. Doi: 10.7748/mhp.2023.e1679
  12. Clancy, M. Taylor, J. Bradbury-Jones, C. and Phillimore, J.  (2020) A systematic review exploring palliative care for families who are forced migrants. Journal of Advanced Nursing 2020; 00:1–13. DOI: 10.1111/jan.14509. Nominee for the Michael O’Rourke best publication award 2022.
  13. Clancy, M. and McDonald, K. (2017) Guest Editorial. Journal of Research in Nursing 22 (6-7), p429-431.
  14. Clancy, M. (2017) Exploring an autoethnographic stance with poetry in children’s nursing. Journal of Research in Nursing 22 (6-7) p465-476. DOI: 10.1177/1744987117725364 (Shortlisted for the JRN ‘Veronica Bishop’ paper of the year award)
  15. Clancy, M. and Jack, K. (2016) Using poetry to explore difficult issues in children’s nursing. Nurse Education Today Big Ideas, pp. 127-129. DOI: 10.1016/j.nedt.2016.05.028
  16. Clancy, M. (2016) Can poems help address stress in nursing? Nursing Standard https://rcni.com/nursing-standard/opinion/your-views/can-poems-help-address-stress-nursing-63726
  17. Clancy, M. (2015) Writing poetry is a powerful tool for reflection. Nursing Standard, 30 (33) 11-11.doi:10.7748/ns.30.33.11.s12.
  18. Clancy, M. (2013) Difficulty, despair and hope - an insight into the world of health professional's treating paediatric pain in sub–Saharan Africa. Journal of Research in Nursing. May 31st, 2013. DOI: 10.1177/1744987113486472
  19. Clancy, M. (2013) Is reflexivity the key to minimising problems of interpretation in phenomenological research? Nurse Researcher, 20, 6, 12-16. DOI: 10.7748/nr2013.07.20.6.12.e1209.
  20. Clancy nee Walters, M. Furyk, J. (2012) Paediatric Intramuscular Injections for Developing World Settings: A Review of the Literature for Best Practices. Journal of Transcultural Nursing. Oct; 23(4):406 – 410. DOI: 10.1177/1043659612451600
  21. Walters, M. Furyk, J. (2010) Nurse education in a resource limited environment: An evaluation of an educational teaching package on intramuscular injections, in Blantyre, Malawi. Nurse Education in Practice. Sep;10(5):256-61. DOI: 10.1016/j.nepr.2009.11.015. 
  22. Walters, M. (2009) Pain assessment in Sub-Saharan Africa, peer reviewed commentary. Paediatric pain letter. Dec; 11(3):22-26.
  23. Walters, M. (2008) Vital signs education in Malawi. Malawi Medical Journal. Mar; 20(1):2-3. Pub med:  19260438. Also awarded a Tropical Health Education Trust Award.
  24. Walters, M. Coad, J. (2006) Preparation of children for spinal surgery: an exploratory study Paediatric Nursing. Dec; 18(10):27-9. Pub med: 17193917

Book chapters

  1. Clancy, M. Corrales, A. M. G., Gooding, B. and McDonald, B. (2023) Patient and Public Involvement Pillar. In A. Gallagher, K. Deering and E. De Luca (Eds.) Nursing Practice and Education: Aspiring to Excellence through Seven Pillars of Learning. London: Routledge [in-press].

 

Expert Membership of professional bodies

  • Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Curtin University, Perth Australia (December 2024 to current)
  • Steering group – Research Lead – Special Interest Group in Nursing with the National Centre for Creative Health (NCCH) January 2026 to current https://ncch.org.uk/nursing-sig-for-creative-health - Working with the NCCH to advocate and educate for Creative Health as an essential part of nursing curriculum, practice, research and leadership. We aim to advance scholarship through mentorship, academic supervision and external examination, build strategy to support nursing wellbeing and develop a forum where ideas and innovations can be nurtured and developed. The SIG holds quarterly meetings, and the launch can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfYCZJByZEQ
  • Academic Lead Southwest Paediatric Palliative Care Network (SWCPCN), May 2024 – current - Working with the SWCPCN to help develop clinical leadership and research skills. Providing clinical staff with support for abstract writing and dissemination of innovative practice in journal articles and reports. Speaking at conferences and ensuring an evidence-based approach to care is advocated throughout the network
  • Associate Editor – Journal of Child Health Care from March 2023 – current
  • Visiting fellow – Open Thanatology (specialist research network death studies, palliative and end of life research) – Open University September 2024 – 2026
  • International Scientific Advisory Panel, Royal College of Nursing from 2025 to current.
  • Organising committee for RCN International Research Conference Sept 2025 – providing artworks for the conference and closing the conference with a group facilitated poem about nursing research
  • Reviewer RCN, NET, Together for Short Lives Annual Conferences
  • Reviewer NIHR grant applications October 2024- current
  • Steering group member of the national forum for researchers in palliative and end of life care and people from Diverse Ethnic Backgrounds –Sawubona hosted by LOROS. Supporting annual conferences with chairing and reviewer roles.
  • Penn-Birmingham Transatlantic Fellows Program October 2022 – May 2023
  • Expert advisor for NIHR project: Health care moments of opportunity: a review of evidence and community dialogue to promote responsive health care for people seeking asylum and refugee communities in the UK.
  • Nursing chair of the West Midlands Paediatric Palliative Care Network (WMPPCN), Jun 2018 – Sept 2021. The WMPPCN provides a voice for children’s palliative care stakeholders at a strategic level, capable of influencing the children’s care agenda in the West Midlands region. As co-chair I provided leadership to the network, represented them at regional and national level, helped to develop and maintain knowledge of children’s palliative care and services within the region and facilitated education sessions to further support &
  • External Examiner - taught programmes and taught components of practitioner doctorates at the University of Surrey – October 2020 – October 2024. Modular responsibility for level 7; Masters Dissertation Module, Advanced Communication Skills, Research Design and Methodology and level 6; Higher Level Communication, Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy Nursing Practice, Challenges in Pain Management
  • Academic Advisor Birmingham City University – May 2020 – May 2021. Supporting practice-based oncology-based level 6 and 7 modules at BWCH via moderation and staff mentorship to ensure academic standards are met consistently.
  • Co-editor for double special edition of Poetry in Nursing for the Journal of Research in Nursing (2018)
  • Reviewer for Nurse Researcher from March 2014, Nurse Education Today from April 2016 and The Journal of Advanced Nursing from August 2020

 

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