PhD Research Program
The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) is an international Research and Development Unit of Royal Adelaide Hospital, and an Affiliated Institute of the University of Adelaide. With headquarters located in Adelaide, the capital City of the State of South Australia, and international Collaborating Centres in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Australia and the Pacific, the Institute was established in 1995 and became fully operational in late 1996.
With the support of leading hospitals, health services, health professionals and universities, the JBI Collaboration has grown steadily to include state collaborating centres within Australia, as well as Hong Kong, New Zealand, United States of America, Scotland, People's Republic of China, South Africa, Spain, Canada, Thailand, Wales, Taiwan and England.
Building on the research of Professor Alan Pearson, the Joanna Briggs Institute has as its central focus the effectiveness, appropriateness, meaningfulness and feasibility of health care practices and delivery methods. JBI argues for a pluralistic approach when considering "what counts as evidence" for health care practices and suggests that reviews that include both (or either) qualitative evidence and quantitative evidence are of importance to most practitioners. Over a period of years, JBI has developed a comprehensive, inclusive approach to the review of evidence.
The Joanna Briggs Institute has supported work that has attempted to recognise the results of non-quantitative research as legitimate evidence for health care practitioners. The international interest in evidence based practice arising largely out of the work of the Cochrane Collaboration focuses on the systematic review of evidence as a basis for the development of evidence based guidelines and their utilisation in practice. The prevailing orthodoxy in systematically reviewing evidence elevates the results of experimental research to a position of superiority in terms of quality and applicability to practice and disregards the results of non-quantifiable research - because of its interest in subjectivity and interpretation - as legitimate evidence for practice.
As part of the Institute’s Research and Development program, and in collaboration with the University of Adelaide’s Department of Clinical Nursing, the Institute is able to offer three (3) A$4000 supplements to the holders of an APA Scholarship (or equivalent) for a PhD project that fits within the scope of the Institute’s Research Program. The supplements are available for research in three broad areas:
1. The metasynthesis of qualitative evidence for health care;
2. The metasynthesis of discourse and/or text as evidence for health care;
3. The implementation of evidence in health care practice.
Further definition of the research topic and the supervision of students would be negotiated for each student. Supervision is available through suitably qualified staff of the Joanna Briggs Institute: Professor Alan Pearson, Dr Rick Wiechula, Dr Tim Schultz and Dr Kristin Weidenbach.
For more information about the supplements and the PhD Research Program, contact Dr Tim Schultz (tim.schultz@adelaide.edu.au; ph. 61 8 8303 4880).Further information about postgraduate study in the University of Adelaide's Faculty of Health is available on their website at http://www.adelaide.edu.au/health/research/higher