Mark White

Mark White (PhD, MSc, MBS, Dip HE, FFNMRCSI, FCIPD, RGN) is the Vice President of Research, Innovation and Graduate studies at WIT. This role has responsibility for developing and implementing the institutes Research and Knowledge transfer strategy and oversees the direction and ongoing development of the Research, Innovation and Postgraduate support services at the institute, including the Research Support Unit (RSU), ArcLabs Innovation centre, the technology transfer office and the graduate studies office. A key element of this focuses on ensuring that research resources and investments at all levels of the institute are directed towards maximising regional impact and enhancing the institutes national and international profile. Mark’s role has responsibility for creating and strengthening strategic partnerships with national and international academic institutions, national and EU research sponsors and government agencies. The role is responsible for the intellectual and financial sustainability of the institute’s research base.

Preceding his appointment at the institute Mark worked as a Researcher and Senior Lecturer in the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Science in the National University of Ireland (NUIG). Prior to academia, Mark held a number of high profile, senior Nursing positions in the Irish Health Service Executive (HSE). As part of his executive experience he was seconded to the HSE’s ‘Programme for Health Service Improvement’, where he held an extensive national change and improvement portfolio including HR, Shared Services, Communication, Quality Improvement, Quality Assurance, Finance and E-health. He continues to manage a high profile research portfolio of PhD’s that are currently evaluating health service improvement in Ireland.

Mark trained as a Nurse in London in the late 1980's/early 1990's and graduated in 1993 from the London Guildhall University with an MSc in Care, Policy and Management. He held a joint Manager/Lecturer appointment with the PICU/NICU, Children's Hospital in Lewisham and City University, London prior to his return to Ireland in 1998. He graduated from Dublin City University with an MBS in HR strategies in 2005.

Mark completed his PhD at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) in 2015 which examined the role of ‘work-engagement’ in healthcare quality improvement. He was made an honorary research fellow in the department of Nursing WIT in 2015 and was appointed to WIT’s governing body in November 2017. Mark is also a fellow and board member of faculty of nursing and midwifery, Royal College of Surgeons since 2014. He is an NHS Improvement Fellow and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD).

Mark has worked on many large-scale, high-profile projects including the National Epilepsy Clinical Programme and recently led the very successful QI initiative ‘Productive Ward’, disseminating the Implementation/Evaluation lessons in a number of peer reviewed publications and book chapters. His research interests include Quality Improvement, Implementation, and Compassion in Practice. He currently sits on a number of national/international research committees and is an editorial board member of the Journal of Research in Nursing (SAGE).