Author: Peggy L Chinn

If you are suffering from Abstract Submission panic – never fear! You can relax! We are extending the due date to December 15th!

The theme for the conference is “The Future of Nursing Knowledge Development.” We expect this to be an especially interesting and thought- provoking conference, highlighting great ideas that will inspire us all goinv forward!

So head over to the submission information when you are ready, and prepare to share your ideas for the future!

Virtual Nursology Theory Week (VNTW) 2026 will be held on March 19 through 23, 2026 (Thursday to Monday). As in past years, we will have a full schedule with Panel Presentations, a closing Keynote, Knowledge Sessions: Podium and Poster, and Daily Discussions for 4 of the 5 days of the conference. You know you want to be at the VNTW, so register now and block your calendar so you do not miss a minute of the action. It will be a virtual conference, as we have done every year since 2021. Registration enables you to attend as much or as little of the conference as you would like. The all-in-one fee of $200 covers everything, including our new mobile app (more details on that as we get closer to the conference date).

Click here to register!

In addition to registration being open, so is the Call for Abstracts! While we have some invited speakers, the majority of the VNTW is presented by people like you! Each year we have over 40 different Knowledge Sessions, both podium and poster. I am amazed at the variety, depth, and quality of the sessions that are presented and I am sure this year will be no exception. Put on your thinking cap (or maybe it is on already) and submit an abstract to be an integral part of this exciting conference.

Click here to access the Call for Abstracts site!

The Call for Abstracts will be open from now until December 1, 2025. Presenters will be notified of the decision on their abstract by December 23, 2025 and must confirm participation by January 10, 2026. 

We have a new system for submitting an abstract, so please take some time to review it. One great feature is that you can begin a submission, save it, and come back to finish it later–just don’t forget to finish or you won’t be in the system! In this new system, you will need to create your login information and upload your photo (or any image ou want to use as your identity in the system).

Abstracts are limited to 300 words and musts align with the theme of the conference: The Future of Nursing Knowledge Development. This reflects our commitment to embracing our history while forging a path toward a progressive and inclusive future for the development of discipline-specific nursing knowledge via various methods of scholarly inquiry. Abstracts should focus on innovative approaches to the conference theme. If you have presented at the VNTW in the past 5 years, please update your content, align your content with this year’s theme, and/or present on a new topic. 

As a reminder, all presenters must register to attend the conference. Notice that we have “one stop shopping” so you can take care of both things, abstract and registration, at the same time. Our goal is to make everything as easy as possible for you!

The dates are set – so start planning now!! We will announce the theme, focus article and other planning details soon, but meanwhile, your planning starts with reserving the dates and clearing other activities so you can attend!!

From Jacqueline Fawcett

On Monday, March 24th, I will be joined by my Iranian colleague, Akram Sadat Sadat Hoseini, for a presentation of Conceptual Models of Nursology: Two Iranian Perspectives

Our presentation comes at a time when our discipline is increasing interest in conceptual perspectives beyond those of White, Euro-centric nursologists.
The purpose of our presentation is to share the content of two distinctive nursology conceptual models that are based on Iranian knowledge—Sadat Hoseini’s Islamic Nursing Conceptual Framework and Nikfarid’s Human as an Embodied Spirit.

Sadat Hoseini will present her conceptual model and Fawcett will present Nikfarid’s conceptual model, as Lida Nikfarid died in 2023.

These two Iranian nursology conceptual models represent a distinctive cultural perspective of nursology undergirded by Iranian knowledge. Both of these conceptual models are rooted in an Islamic perspective that emphasizes human transcendences.

These two Iranian nursology conceptual models represent a decolonization of nursology knowledge in that they comprise concepts familiar to Iranians thereby enriching global nursology knowledge.

Respecting and articulating the knowledge of all cultures avoids privileging Euro-centric perspectives, which should improve cultural humility and cultural-sensitive patient care.

Marie Gill, Ph.D., MSN, MS, RN
Associate Professor and
Director of the Dr. Margaret A. Newman
Center for Nursing Theory

In October 2022, shortly after I was hired as the Director of the Dr. Margaret A. Newman Center for Nursing Theory (Newman Center) at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, TN, I began speaking with students and faculty colleagues about the Newman Center and the vital role that nursing theory plays in practice. Both faculty and students shared their experiences and understanding of theory which varied from theory support and appreciation to exploration and apprehension.

Faculty and students who received nursing theory education from enthusiastic and theory passionate instructors early on in their training expressed the practicality of theory use in nursing practice. They shared examples of specific nursing theories that were observed in nursing practice, particularly in specialty practice areas. Faculty and students who were less enthusiastic about nursing theory typically did not fully appreciate the practicality of theory and how it provides a critical lens to guide nursing practice. Our candid conversations inspired me to begin building a community of nursing theory champions within our college of nursing. To build theory champions, I realized that I would need to connect with a larger community of established nursing theory enthusiasts and nursologists. During my quest, I found Nursology.net and the Virtual Nursing Theory Week conference and realized that I had identified an alliance of nursing theory enthusiasts and nursologists representatives from local to global.

During my first year as director in 2023, I arranged for the Newman Center to pay registration costs for three students and three faculty to attend the VNTW conference. Following the conference, I meet with the students and faculty to discuss what they learned and their general feedback about the conference. Their comments were overwhelmingly positive about their experiences and what they learned about the importance of nursing theory in building epistemic nursing knowledge. Moreover, the students and faculty expressed how they had come to appreciate the use of nursing theory to guide nursing practice. Since 2023, the Newman Center has sponsored students and faculty to attend the VNTW conference to network with nursologists from around the world. I have learned from my students and colleagues that the VNTW conference provides a brave space for learners from novice to expert to discuss the role of nursing theory and how to apply it in practice, research, and education.

As Director of the Newman Center, I continue to encourage my students and colleagues to participate in the conference as attendees and presenters. Both students and colleagues of mine have presented their work at the 2024 VNTW. This 2025 VNTW is no exception. The Newman Center will sponsor one student and one faculty member to attend the conference. Moreover, I will join two colleagues to present their work in nursing theory integration in a maternal child nursing course. To that end, I believe that encouraging my students and fellow colleagues to participate in the VNTW conference is crucial to building a community of nursing theory champions and nursologists from local to global.

Like VNTW conferences of the past, this year’s conference promises to be intellectually invigorating. Participants and presenters will navigate discussions about the decolonization of nursing education in a way that allows everyone to ask questions, propose new ideas, clarify understanding, and grow as nursing theory champions with a wider perspective of how to honor our past and forge ahead a transformative path to healing and an expanding consciousness.

From Lucinda Canty

Yesterday, I was in the presence of nursing royalty, Dean Roberta Waite, EdD, PMHCNS, ANEF, FADLN, FAAN (top left) and Dr. Kechi Iheduru-Anderson,EdD, DNP, RN, CNE, CWCN. (centered below)

We are planning for the Opening Panel for 2025 Virtual Nursology Theory Week, March 20-24. The theme is Honoring Our Past and Moving Forward: Decolonizing Nursing Knowledge. We are planning for the opening plenary, Thursday, March 20, 2025 at 10 AM EDT! This session is titled “Decolonizing Nursing Education: Embracing Freire’s Pedagogy for an Inclusive Future.” I will be the moderator, and the panelists will be Dr. Waite and Dr. Iheduru-Anderson, the authors of the conference featured article that sets the stage for the conference theme.

Here is the link to the article, which is free to download throughout February and March:

Iheduru-Anderson, Kechi, & Waite, Roberta. (2024). Decolonizing nursing education: Reflecting on Paulo Freire’s pedagogy of the oppressed. Nursing Outlook, 72(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2024.102183.

Download the article today! We are asking everyone to read it before our session on March 20th to get the most out of our discussion!

We are delighted to announce that the publisher of Nursing Outlook has made the featured article for our 2025 Virtual Nursology Theory Week available for free download through the months of February and March! Use the DOI link below, the click on “Download PDF” that appears along the bottom of the page!

Iheduru-Anderson, Kechi, & Waite, Roberta. (2024). Decolonizing nursing education: Reflecting on Paulo Freire’s pedagogy of the oppressed. Nursing Outlook, 72(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2024.102183 (free to download Feb-Mar 2025)

This article lays the groundwork for the conference theme, which is  Honoring Our Past and Moving Forward: Decolonizing Nursing Knowledge. This theme reflects our commitment to embracing our history while forging a path toward a future for nursing knowledge development that embraces historically marginalized knowledge systems and experiences. 

So download your copy of the article! Register for the 5-day virtual conference, and mark your calendar and plan to participate as much as you can!

Registration Information

Registration for the 2025 Virtual Nursology Theory Week (VNTW) is now open! The fee for the 5-day virtual event is $189! The conference will follow the traditions of the past few years – plenary sessions on Thursday, Saturday and Monday, along with 30-minute “knowledge sessions” based on your abstracts! Each day will end with open “daily dialogues” among all participants!

This year’s conference theme, Honoring Our Past and Moving Forward: Decolonizing Nursing Knowledge, reflects our commitment to embracing our history while forging a path toward a progressive and inclusive future in nursing. The inspiration of the conference theme is based on Iheduru-Anderson and Waite’s paper published in 2024 –

Iheduru-Anderson, Kechi, & Waite, Roberta. (2024). Decolonizing nursing education: Reflecting on Paulo Freire’s pedagogy of the oppressed. Nursing Outlook, 72(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2024.102183

You can register for yourself, for yourself and a friend/colleague, or you can register for yourself and contribute the registration fee for a scholarship applicant! Here is the handy online Registration form

The annual Virtual Nursology Theory Week (VNTW) conference will be March 20-24, 2025, and the call for abstracts is now open! The theme, Honoring Our Past and Moving Forward: Decolonizing Nursing Knowledge, reflects our commitment to embracing our history while forging a path toward a progressive and inclusive future in nursing. The inspiration of the conference theme is based on Iheduru-Anderson and Waite’s paper published in 2024 –

Iheduru-Anderson, Kechi, & Waite, Roberta. (2024). Decolonizing nursing education: Reflecting on Paulo Freire’s pedagogy of the oppressed. Nursing Outlook, 72(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2024.102183

Please use this form to submit an abstract for the Virtual Nursing Theory Week to be held from March 20-24, 2025. Deadline for submission: December 1, 2024. Notification of status: December 31, 2024. Plan to include in your abstract a brief description of how your planned presentation aligns with the conference theme.

There will be two types of presentations during the conference; you can select your preference on the submission form, or leave the type open depending on the needs of the conference. Each Knowledge Session podium presentation will be 30 minutes long; we recommend 20 minutes to present plus 10 minutes for questions and discussion. Knowledge Session Poster presentations will be 5 minutes long during which time the presenter will provide an overview of their topic. After the poster overviews are completed, presenters will be moved to different Zoom Breakout Rooms to meet with attendees for questions and discussion for an extended period of time. Attendees will be able to move around to visit whatever posters they wish to discuss!

So sharpen your pencils (metaphorically of course!) and submit your abstract soon!