Dr Angela Flynn is a Lecturer in Nursing with a career spanning over 30 years in both academia and clinical practice. She is a former Critical Care nurse having worked in Guys Hospital London and Cork University Hospital. She holds a BSc (Hons) in Nursing from South Bank University in London, followed by Postgraduate Diploma and a Masters from Ulster University, and a PhD in Social Sciences from UCC. She has cultivated a comprehensive understanding of nursing and health care, a deep insight into the intersection of Health Sciences with the Social Sciences, a passion for engaged research, and a commitment to more equitable and inclusive healthcare.

She has been instrumental in developing and implementing innovative curricula that incorporate evidence-based practices and technology-enhanced learning methods. She was part of a very successful research team focusing on preparing students for the best management of the deteriorating patient through simulation-based pedagogy, which received recognition for its impact.

Her current research endeavours, focus on Inclusion Health and have resulted in valuable interdisciplinary collaborations. She is the founding member of the Inclusion Health Research Group in the College of Medicine and Health, one of the constituent groups making up the Collective Social Futures. The IHRG research focus is on creating more equitable and inclusive health care service that recognises the impact of the social determinants of health. The group has been successful in securing funding, for example, from the Department of Health to undertake a public consultation on inclusion health, from the SATLE fund, from UNIC and from the PPI Engaged Research fund. She has led the establishment of an Inclusion Health network in Cork bringing together civic society organisations and academics, which will be mirrored in UNIC partner cities.

The issue of planetary health and sustainability in health care was the focus of her sabbatical research activities and she has researched health professionals' attitudes to sustainability and climate change. She has created an elective final year module on Healthcare and the Sustainable Development Goals with an ambition to ensure the embedding of climate and sustainability matters into the curricula of all health professionals.

Health Inequalities and Inclusion Health

Angela completed her PhD in Social Sciences in UCC, jointly provided by the Schools of Sociology, Applied Social Studies and Government beginning in 2010, submitted and defended in 2014. The thesis was titled: "Health Care and Neoliberalism in Ireland: Withholding the Gift and Corrupting the Social Contract". My thesis used a historical genealogical approach to investigate the persistence of an unequal health care system in Ireland. I have continued to have an interest in research surrounding health inequalities, and in particular, the means by which health professions' students can be adequately prepared to understand and to be proactive in addressing and tackling health inequity.

In 2021 Angela founded the interdisciplinary Inclusion Health Research Group (IHRG), a cross-College of Medicine and Health group engaged in research aiming for more inclusive healthcare. In a few years and under her leadership, the IHRG has already been successful in three research funding applications (over €50,000 in total) including winning a tender from the Department of Health to undertake a the public consultation on an Inclusion Health Framework for Ireland.

Angela's teaching focuses on bridging the fields of nursing and the social/sociological fields of scholarship. She teaches across all years of the undergraduate nursing programme, on specialist postgraduate courses, and on the MSc Nursing. She supervises MSc students for their theses. She is currently a PhD supervisor to three students .

Her teaching spans areas such as Sociology in Nursing, Disability and Inclusion, Cultural safety, Health inequalities, the Social Determinants of Health and helping students in their understanding of the sociological and cultural foundations of nursing and health care.

She was a previous winner of Teaching and Learning team award and was awarded a Digital Badge in Universal Design for Teaching and Learning.

Additionally, she teaches on the more practical and applied aspects of the nursing curriculum, such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (a Certified CPR/BLS Instructor with the Irish Heart Foundation/American Heart Association), and she teaches aspects of renal and urological nursing, respiratory nursing, simulation based teaching with the deteriorating patient, critical care (ICU), and cardio/respiratory nursing.