Biography
Julie is an experienced nurse educator, who brings this experience to bear in leading the Nursing Team at London Met. Her clinical background is in Oncology Nursing and she remains a Registered Nurse and Registered Nurse Teacher with the Nursing and Midwifery Council. Julie has an interest in Health Education and Health Promotion and holds an MA (Distinction) from Solent University in this discipline, where her research explored the experiences of participants providing health promotion advice to people with cancer in telephone helplines.
Julie undertook her Doctor of Education (EdD) at the Institute of Education, University of London with a thesis exploring the impact of professional relationships for newly qualified nursing mentors. She has also undertaken research around the reasons for failure in mentorship education programmes and support for nursing student transition into registered nursing practice.
Julie is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and leads a team of seven to deliver undergraduate nursing provision in Adult and mental health nursing.
Publications
- Brook, J., Aitken, L., MacLaren, J., Salmon, D. (2021) An intervention to decrease burn-out and increase retention of early career nurses: a mixed methods study of acceptability and feasibility, BMC Nursing
- Brook, J., Aitken, L., MacLaren, J., Salmon, D. (2020) Co-production of an intervention to increase retention of early career nurses: acceptability and feasibility, Nurse Education in Practice, 47, 102861
- Brook, J., Aitken, L., Webb., R., MacLaren, J., Salmon, D. (2019) Characteristics of successful interventions to reduce turnover and increase retention of early career nurses, International Journal of Nursing Studies, 91; 47-59
- MacLaren, J. (2018) Constellations of support for mentor development: Exploring what is available to Mentors in Training, Nurse Education in Practice, 28; 66-75
- MacLaren, J. (2018) Inside Mentoring Relationships: Influences and impacts on mentorship learning for nurses in the UK, 2nd World Congress on Medical Sociology, Atlanta, 25-26 September. (Keynote Speaker and plenary session chair).
- MacLaren, J. (2013) A review of learning development projects at City University London, Learning at City Journal, May.
- MacLaren, J. (2012) Inside Mentorship Relationships: The impact of institutional and professional policy on workplace learning relationships for qualified nurses working within NHS settings, Thesis submitted for the award of Doctor of Education, London, Institute of Education (Cited in the NHS London 2012 report ‘Readiness for Work’)
- Finnerty, G., Volante, M.A., Rockingham, L., MacLaren, J., O’Driscoll, M. (2007) Promoting a deep approach to learning in the field: Development of electronic personalised learning, Centre for Research in Nursing and Midwifery Education, University of Surrey, Guildford
- I am also a contributor to Woodward, S., Bassett, S. (eds) (2025) Mentoring, Learning and Assessment in Clinical Practice, 4th Edition, London: Elsevier
