Category: 2025 Virtual Theory Week

This important 5-day conference is a prime opportunity – particularly for students who are embarking on new career paths in nursing! The conference spans 5 days from March 19th – 23rd, offering maximum flexibility for attending sessions of your choice. The program details will be posted within the next week. So start planning now to clear your calendar! If you are involved with a graduate program in nursing as an instructor – make space for your students to participate! If you are a student, be alert that this conference can provide unmatched learning opportunities to enrich your program of study!

Why attend—and why invite your students?

• Strengthen doctoral identity as knowledge creators: Help PhD students deepen their identity as creators of nursing knowledge (not just consumers of theory), gaining language and confidence to locate their work within nursing’s disciplinary foundations.
• Bridge theory and practice: Discover fresh, concrete ways to help students ground DNP projects in nursing-specific frameworks.
• Model scholarly engagement: Attending with your students allows you to show them how nurse scholars interact—how to ask questions, join discussion groups, and learn directly from nurse theorists in a supportive community.
• Strengthen mentor–mentee relationships: Shared scholarly experiences remind students (and all of us) that nursing knowledge is built in relationship—across generations of scholars.
• Build community across borders: The virtual format creates global access and dialogue with nursing colleagues from across the country and around the world.
• Support doctoral student belonging: We are exploring the creation of a Doctoral Student Lounge—a welcoming space where doctoral students can meet peers, form new collegial relationships, and build the scholarly community they need to thrive.

VNTW has become a landmark gathering for those who care deeply about nursing knowledge development. I hope you’ll join us—and I hope you’ll bring your students into this community so they can experience what it means to become nursologists in practice, not just in theory.

Register here!

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!

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!