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Biography
Maria graduated as a Children's Nurse from the University of Nottingham in 2010 with a Masters in Nursing Science. After graduating she started work as a Staff Nurse at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust where she continues to hold a post in the Children's Emergency Department.
While working as a staff nurse Maria carried out voluntary work in Malawi where she provided first aid training to community health workers. During this time Maria maintained close links with the university's School of Health Sciences, and supported nursing students to plan and undertake short elective placements in Northern Malawi. To support this work Maria was awarded funding from the British Medical Association Humanitarian Fund.
In 2018 Maria completed her PhD entitled "An exploration of the factors associated with paediatric burn injuries in rural and peri-urban Malawi". The study employed a qualitative approach to uncover parental, health professional and key stakeholder perceptions of burn injury risks and their prevention across four Malawian communities. The PhD offered a unique collaboration between the Faculty of Engineering and School of Health Sciences.
Throughout her PhD Maria has been invited to share her research findings at international conferences and workshops held in Finland, Malawi and Ethiopia. More recently Maria was invited to participate in the development of a Basic Burns Care training programme for primary-level health care workers in resource limited settings by Interburns and the Centre for Global Burn Injury Policy and Research (CGBIPR).
Post-PhD Maria worked as a research assistant on the Smart Biogas Network project, funded by Innovate UK. This project, which involved a collaboration between the University of Nottingham and the UK charity CREATIVenergy, aimed to promote the use of biogas by connecting plant owners with local technicians to provide advice and facilitate repairs. As part of this project Maria conducted qualitative interviews with key stakeholders and end-users to identify key issues associated with the up-take of biogas in Arusha, Tanzania.
In May 2018 Maria joined the School of Health Sciences as a Teaching Associate. As part of this role Maria will support students and deliver teaching on the pre-and post-registration nursing programmes. Maria also plans to continue her research and involvement in burns prevention in resource-poor environments.
Maria is currently working with the CGBIPR to design, deliver and evaluate an implementation and improvement sicence course for nurses working in resource poor areas.
Expertise Summary
Qualitative Research (Interviews, focus groups and observations)
Children and young people's nursing
Injury Prevention (particularly burns prevention)
Alternative cooking technology for resource poor areas (uptake, accessibility and adoption)
Quality improvement
Recent Publications
HEWITT, J., HOLDEN, M., ROBINSON, B.L., JEWITT, S. and CLIFFORD, M., 2022. Not quite cooking on gas: Understanding biogas plant failure and abandonment in Northern Tanzania Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 165, CURTIS, KATE, BRYSIEWICZ, PETRA, SHABAN, RAMON Z., FRY, MARGARET, CONSIDINE, JULIE, ACEVEDO GAMBOA, FANNY ESPERANZA, HOLDEN, MARIA, HEYNS, TANYA and PEDEN, MARGIE, 2020. Nurses responding to the World Health Organization (WHO) priority for emergency care systems for universal health coverage INTERNATIONAL EMERGENCY NURSING. 50, HOLDEN, MARIA RUTH, WATSON, MICHAEL CRAIG and CLIFFORD, MIKE J., 2020. Parents' perceptions of unintentional paediatric burn injuries - A qualitative study BURNS. 46(5), 1179-1192