Claire Mc Namara is an Assistant Professor at the School of Nursing and Midwifery (Faculty of Education and Health Sciences).  A graduate of Queens University Belfast (Diploma in Nursing), University of Limerick (H.Dip in Midwifery, MSc Nursing) and NUI Galway (Postgrad Dip. in Nurse Education) Claire has over 20 years experience in the clinical setting as a Registered General Nurse.  The majority of her experience has been in the perioperative setting where she had a keen interest in education of undergraduate nurses. During the Covid 19 pandemic she upskilled in critical care nursing and additionally worked with the vaccination programme. Her research interests lie in the education of student nurses in the perioperative setting. She is undertaking a structured PhD at the University of Limerick where she hopes her work will influence policy in student nurse education.