Rate My Professor Emma Collins

Emma Collins is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Nursing at the University of Otago, Christchurch, and a Senior Professional Practice Fellow with the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health at the University of Otago’s Dunedin School of Medicine, specialising in paediatrics. She holds qualifications including a Master of Nursing specialising in Child Health (MN), Registered Nurse (RN), Bachelor of Education (BEd), Diploma in Teaching (DipTchng), Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCert Higher Ed), Fellow of Health Informatics New Zealand (FHiNZ), and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy UK (SFHEA). With over 15 years of experience teaching medical and nursing students, Collins maintains an active clinical role as a registered nurse in child health and paediatrics at Dunedin Hospital, Te Whatu Ora Southern. Her teaching encompasses fifth-year paediatric attachments, infant follow-through longcases, and paediatric chronic longcases. Her clinical background includes general paediatrics, school nursing, and public health.

Collins’ research specializations centre on nursing informatics, digital health, interprofessional learning, and mixed-reality technologies in healthcare education. She is currently undertaking a PhD exploring child health scenarios for teaching using extended reality technology. Key publications include 'Adoption of digital technologies in public health crises: An international large-scale survey' (2026, Public Health Nursing), 'Extended reality technologies in child health education for undergraduate healthcare students: A scoping review' (2025, Nurse Education in Practice), 'AI in nursing education' (2025, Nursing Praxis in Aotearoa New Zealand), 'Applying transformational leadership in nursing practice' (2020), 'Education into policy: embedding health informatics to prepare future nurses—New Zealand case study' (2020), 'Interventions addressing student bullying in the clinical workplace: a narrative review' (2019), and co-authorship of 'Guidelines: Informatics for nurses entering practice' (2018). Active in nursing informatics for over a decade, she has led the development and implementation of ePortfolios, supported e-learning and curriculum mapping, and provided input to national nursing competencies. Recognized with the FHiNZ and SFHEA fellowships, Collins chairs the HiNZ Nursing and Midwifery Special Interest Group, serves as Secretary of the College of Child and Youth Nurses, and holds memberships in the University of Otago Digital Health Group, Hira Clinical Reference Group, and NZNO Nursing Research Group. She has delivered invited presentations such as 'Smart care: Using AI to improve access, accuracy, and outcomes' at the Aotearoa Nursing Leaders' Summit (2026) and contributed to guidelines shared across New Zealand nursing schools.