Staff

The ICHRN Secretariat is housed at the International Council of Nurses headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

Director
Elizabeth Adams, RGN, Cert (ODN), BNS(Hons), Dip (Mgt), Dip (Counselling), Dip (Phy & Chem), Dip (Stats), MSc.

Elizabeth Adams is currently a Consultant, Nursing and Health Policy with the International Council of Nurses. In addition, she is an Adjunct Associate Professor with Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia. Prior to this she served as Deputy Nursing Services Director for the Health Service Executive in Ireland. In this national role, she actively drove the strategic direction and policy development of nursing and midwifery, including leading and implementing nurse and midwife prescribing nationally. Her experience also includes researching the first national study of nursing and midwifery in Ireland, and helping manage significant health reform in Western Australia, where she was instrumental in establishing the nurse practitioner role. In addition she has held various national positions and has had the opportunity to work with a number of national, European and international organisations. Her areas of expertise include positive practice environments, workforce planning, strategy and policy development


Centre Adviser
James Buchan, MA (Hons) PhD DPM

James Buchan is currently professor at the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, Scotland and Visiting Professor at the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. He has 20 years experience of practice, policy research and consultancy on Human Resource strategy and planning in health care human resources, specialising in the nursing workforce. He has worked in Africa, Asia, West Indies, North, Central and South America, Australasia and most countries of the European Union. His previous employment includes work as a Senior Human Resources Manager in the NHS Executive in Scotland, and as Policy Advisor at the Royal College of Nursing in the United Kingdom.


Centre Manager
Bridget Weller, BA (Hons), EMPA

Bridget Weller brings to the Centre extensive experience in public sector health and community services policy, funding and workforce development. She has more than 15 years' experience in a range of public sector policy and management positions dealing with workforce development and strategy, acute health services, rural and regional health services delivery, demand management and health services funding. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from Monash University, Melbourne, an Executive Master of Public Administration (Australia and New Zealand School of Government, University of Melbourne), as well as formal qualifications and experience in professional writing and editing. Originally from Melbourne, Australia, she is now based in Edinburgh, and recently authored Guidelines: Incentives for Health Professionals (available on this site), a joint initiative of the International Council of Nurses, International Hospital Federation, International Pharmaceutical Federation, World Confederation for Physical Therapy, World Dental Federation and World Medical Association developed with the Support of the Global Health Workforce Alliance.