Ruth Maher is a Registered General Nurse, Lecturer and Programme Lead in the School of Health Sciences at South East Technological University (SETU). She currently leads the BSc Applied Health Care programme, with responsibility for programme development, academic quality, curriculum enhancement, staff coordination and student success. She also serves as Placement Coordinator, developing and maintaining partnerships with hospitals, general practice, community services and other healthcare providers to support high-quality clinical and professional learning experiences.
Ruth has extensive experience in both academic and clinical leadership. Prior to joining SETU, she worked as a Clinical Nurse Manager with the Alzheimer Society of Ireland for almost a decade, managing dementia care services and a multidisciplinary team. Her clinical leadership experience included staff management, service development, quality improvement, budget oversight and collaboration with healthcare professionals and service users.
Her academic interests focus on healthcare education, nursing education, dementia and student experience. She is currently undertaking a PhD at SETU, exploring education and dementia, with a particular interest in developing educational approaches that enhance healthcare students’ knowledge and attitudes towards people living with dementia. She has published in the areas of healthcare education, student partnership and dementia care.
Ruth has a particular interest in student-staff partnership, innovative approaches to teaching and learning, widening clinical placement opportunities, and supporting students to develop the knowledge, skills and confidence required for contemporary healthcare practice. She has led a number of student-focused initiatives at SETU, including a student induction framework and student awards programme, and has developed international educational collaborations, including a Blended Intensive Programme with Windesheim University in the Netherlands.
Ruth is committed to connecting academic learning with clinical practice and to developing educational experiences that are inclusive, evidence-informed and responsive to the needs of students, healthcare services and the people they ultimately serve.
Ruth has extensive experience in higher education teaching across nursing and health care programmes. She has been a Lecturer at South East Technological University (SETU) since 2019, teaching across the BSc (Hons) General Nursing and BSc (Hons) Applied Health Care programmes. Her teaching encompasses a range of areas including clinical skills, health and social care, professional practice, assessment and evidence-informed practice.
Her teaching approach is student-centred and practice-focused, with an emphasis on connecting theoretical knowledge with real-world healthcare practice. She has particular interests in innovative and blended approaches to teaching and learning, problem-based learning, clinical skills education, student engagement and student-staff partnership. She has contributed to curriculum development, assessment design and quality enhancement initiatives within SETU.
As Programme Lead for the BSc Applied Health Care programme, Ruth has a particular focus on developing high-quality, contemporary curricula that prepare students for diverse roles within health and social care. She also coordinates clinical placements and works closely with healthcare partners to ensure students have meaningful opportunities to apply their learning in practice.
Ruth has contributed to educational scholarship examining innovative approaches to undergraduate healthcare education. Her work includes research and publication on problem-based learning and blended teaching in clinical skills education, as well as the co-design of student induction initiatives through student-staff partnership. She also supervises postgraduate research students and supports students in developing their research and academic skills.
Ruth’s research interests are centred on dementia, healthcare education and the student learning experience, with a particular focus on translating research into meaningful improvements in education and practice. She is currently undertaking a PhD at South East Technological University (SETU), exploring undergraduate nursing students’ knowledge and attitudes towards people living with dementia, with the aim of informing the development of future educational interventions.
Her interest in dementia research is informed by her academic and clinical experience, including almost a decade working in dementia services with the Alzheimer Society of Ireland. Her postgraduate research also focused on dementia care, exploring family caregivers’ experiences of dementia day care services.
Alongside her doctoral research, Ruth is actively engaged in scholarship relating to teaching and learning in higher education. Her research has examined innovative approaches to clinical skills education, including problem-based learning and blended teaching, as well as student-staff partnership and the co-design of inclusive approaches to supporting students’ transition into higher education.
Ruth has published in peer-reviewed journals and presented research at national and international conferences. She also supervises postgraduate research, including MSc research that has progressed to peer-reviewed publication. Her research approach is collaborative and practice-focused, with a strong interest in involving students, healthcare professionals and people with lived experience in research and educational development.
Her current research interests include dementia education, nursing and healthcare education, student knowledge and attitudes towards dementia, educational intervention development, student engagement and partnership, and evidence-informed innovation in teaching and learning.
Prior to joining SETU, Ruth worked for almost a decade as a Clinical Nurse Manager with the Alzheimer Society of Ireland, where she gained extensive experience in clinical practice, service leadership and healthcare management.
In this role, Ruth had operational responsibility for a dementia service and managed multidisciplinary teams, over a nine-year period. Her responsibilities included staff recruitment and development, performance management, service planning, quality improvement, budget management, procurement and financial oversight.
Ruth also contributed to service development and the establishment of new services, including involvement in tendering, costing and planning for a new service facility. She worked closely with healthcare professionals, service users, families and other stakeholders to support the delivery of high-quality, person-centred dementia care.
This clinical and leadership experience continues to inform Ruth’s academic practice, particularly her approach to healthcare education, clinical placement development, professional practice and preparing students for the realities of working within multidisciplinary health and social care environments.
Mukwashi, V., Sharvin, B., Maher, R., Davitt, M., & Bennett, L. (2025). Residential care staff working knowledge of reporting restrictive practices within Intellectual Disability and Older Persons care settings: A scoping review. Journal of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, 4(1), 48–61. https://doi.org/10.33700/jhrs.4.1.143
Maher, R., Bazando, C., Dempsey, A., Griscenkovaite, K., Hurley, J., Malone O Brien, J., & O' Gorman, C. (2025). Reflecting on a student-staff partnership: Co-designing and implementing a sustainable induction framework to embed a culture of equality, diversity and inclusion amongst third level students. International Journal for Students as Partners, 9(2), 263–276. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v9i2.5901
Gooney M., Jennings H., Kennedy S., Maher R., Moylan M., Purcell G., (2022) Clinical Skills in Undergraduate Nurse Education: Transforming Student Engagement through Problem-Based Learning and Blended Teaching. AISHE-J. https://ojs.aishe.org/index.php/aishe-j/article/download/647/1027/3781
Presentations:
Maher, R., Dowling, T., Daly, D., Timmons. F. & Gooney, M (2025). Exploring Knowledge and Attitudes of Undergraduate Irish Nursing Students Towards Persons Living with Dementia and Developing Recommendations to Inform a Future Educational Intervention. Oral Presentation, Alzheimer Society of Ireland National Research Dragon’s Den Event, Ireland.
Maher, R., Dowling, T., Daly, D., Timmons. F. & Gooney, M(2025). Exploring Knowledge and Attitudes of Undergraduate Irish Nursing Students Towards Persons Living with Dementia and Developing Recommendations to Inform a Future Educational Intervention. Poster Presentation, Alzheimer Society of Ireland National Research Dragon’s Den Event, Ireland.
Gooney M., Jennings H., Kennedy S., Maher R., Moylan M., Purcell G., (2023) Clinical Skills in Undergraduate Nurse Education: Transforming Student Engagement through Problem-Based Learning and Blended Teaching. Presented at International Nursing and Midwifery Research Conference, RCSI.
Gooney M., Jennings H., Kennedy S., Maher R., Moylan M., Purcell G., (2023) Clinical Skills in Undergraduate Nurse Education: Transforming Student Engagement through Problem-Based Learning and Blended Teaching. Presented at QQI Let’s Talk About Assessment Conference.
Maher R. (2014) Presented M.Sc. Research Findings: Family Caregivers’ Experiences of Dementia Day Care Centres, RCSI.
