Prof. Daniel Kelly, OBE

Graduate of the integrated Social Science and Nursing degree programme at Edinburgh University. On qualifying he gained clinical experience in intensive care, hospice and acute oncology settings; including specialist oncology training at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London in the 1980’s.

He then spent five years in two Charge Nurse roles. The first, at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, was in the Sexual Health service at the height of the HIV crisis in the late 1980s. He then returned to Oncology at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh to manage a chemotherapy unit that specialised in high dose/trial treatments, including the treatment of young adults. He completed the MSc (Advanced Practice, Cancer Nursing) at the University of Surrey during this time.

He then moved into education as a Lecturer in Cancer Nursing at the Royal Marsden Hospital/Institute of Cancer Research and contributed to the development of innovative cancer and palliative care degree programmes for several years.

In 1998 he was appointed Senior Nurse (Research & Development) at University College Hospitals and completed a part-time PhD in Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London in 2002. This was an ethnographic study of men undergoing treatment for prostate cancer.

For three years he was Senior Research Fellow working between UCL Hospitals and City University, London. He was then appointed Reader in Cancer Nursing at Middlesex University in 2005 with subsequent promotion to Professor of Nursing and Cancer Care.

He joined Cardiff University in 2011 as The Royal College of Nursing Chair of Nursing Research.

Awards and Appointments

2022 Appointed Trustee, General Nursing Council for England & Wales Trust 

2022 Visiting Professor, Faculty of Health & Life Sciences, Oxford Brookes University

2021 OBE in New Year Honours, for services to cancer care research and education. 

2018-21, Re-appointed 2022-26 to the RCN International Committee

2019 Honorary Professor, UCL Division of Surgery & Interventional Science, Division of Targeted Intervention.

2019 RCN Foundation Monica Baly Impact Award for oral history study of the earliest graduates of the first UK Nursing Degree programme at Edinburgh University 1960-70.

2018-21 Chair of Scientific Committee, International RCN Research Conference

2016 Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing. Published paper from RCN Fellows Collection 2020 here.

2015 Chair of Nursing Track Scientific Committee, ECCO15, Vienna.

2013 Winston Churchill Fellowship at Sydney University.

2012 Keynote speaker RCN International Research Conference, London,

Since 2011 Visiting Professor in Nursing Studies, School of Health and Social Science, University of Edinburgh

2011 Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

2008 Jeremy Gambrill Award, Prostate Cancer Charity, for 'COUPLES: Facing Prostate Cancer Together.’

2007 Fellow of the European Academy of Nursing Science.

1998 Awarded King’s Fund Doctoral Studentship.

1995 Clinical Nursing Research Scholarship to Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, New York and Sunnybrook Cancer Centre, Toronto.

1985 RCN Cancer Nursing Society Award.

1982 Edwina Mountbatten Scholarship, Edinburgh University provided experience of nursing and community health projects in India.

Other external Activities

2022- Elected Convenor of RCN Fellows 

2021 Elected Public Governor,  Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

2018- Trustee of St Christopher's Hospice, London

Cardiff University Operational Lead for Research Capacity Building Collaborative in Waleshttp://www.rcbcwales.org.uk

International Faculty member for Cancer & Palliative Care courses, Bethlehem University, Palestine.

Professional memberships

Professional Membership

Nursing & Midwifery Council:

• Registered Nurse (Adult)
• Specialist Practitioner (Community Nursing)
• Registered Lecturer / Practice Educator

Royal College of Nursing

British Sociological Association

Academic positions

• 2011 - Royal College of Nursing Chair of Nursing Research, Cardiff University
• 2005-2011 Professor of Nursing & Cancer Care, Middlesex University
• 2003-2005 Senior Research Fellow, City, London University
• 1998-2003 UCL Hospitals, Senior Nurse Research & Development
• 1991-97 Lecturer in Cancer Nursing, Insititue of Cancer Research & the Royal Mardsen Hospital

Committees and reviewing

2020- Editorial Board, Journal of Advanced Nursing

2019- Editorial Board, European Oncology & Harmatology

2016- Editorial Board, Journal of Clinical Nursing.

2015-2020 Editorial Board, Nurse Education Today.

2015- Editorial Advisory Board, RCNI.

2008-15, Associate Editor, European Journal of Oncology Nursing, 

2007- Editorial Advisory Board, Nursing Standard,

1999-2015 Editorial Board member, European Journal of Oncology Nursing. Now ex officio member. 

1996- Editorial Board, International Journal of Palliative Nursing

Updated: May 2023