Josephine Burton
Jo Burton is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Medicine and Health, custodial health nurse, and Wiradjuri woman.
My research is exploring the professional identity of the custodial health nurse in NSW, who are nurses working in prisons. This area of nursing is often invisible and, until now, rarely researched in Australia.
I am a Nurse Practitioner, working as a custodial health nurse for 23 years. I have come to recognise the unique skills, knowledge and critical decision-making demonstrated by my nursing colleagues in the custodial environment. I hope my research will help in the understanding of this health workforce, facilitating future development of responsive health models to meet increasing complexity and health needs of our patients.
I am very close to the end of my PhD – I expect to submit my thesis mid-way through this year. Having worked as a clinician throughout my research, combined with family obligations, means it has taken me many years to complete.
I very deliberately came to the University of Sydney because that is where my supervisors worked. It was a challenge to find academic support that would have an understanding of the context in which custodial health nurses work. It is a unique care environment, one which very few people initially understand.
Uncle Lewis Burns, Jo Burton and Professor Eliza Wu at Talbragar River on Tubbah-Gah Wiradjuri Country as part of the Ngurra writing retreat.
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LinkBoth Donna and my other supervisor, Professor Emerita Mary Chiarella, previously held the position of Professor of Nursing in Corrections Health.
I cold-called Mary and asked if I could meet with her to discuss my research concepts. Immediately she was open to the idea, generous with her time and academic expertise.
Donna then agreed to share the supervision load as she and Mary had worked as a supervision team many times before. Both supervisors are kind, experienced and thoughtful in their approach to supervision. Being a mature aged student, with over 40 years of nursing experience, it was important for me to have supervisors who welcomed my lived experience of the context of care but also nurtured me as a novice researcher. While both are experienced in a variety of research methods, Donna is skilled in quantitative research and Mary in qualitative; so I have the best of both worlds for my mixed method study.
Not only do I embrace the cultural obligation of this work; my nursing experience, PhD research and education gives me the opportunity to use my privilege to care for my Mob in a new way.
Jo Burton
PhD candidate in the Faculty of Medicine and Health
My PhD journey hasn't been easy. While the workload has been manageable, early in my research journey COVID restrictions pulled me away from directly engaging in University life. During this time I found great support from student peer support programs where I had to engage with most supports remotely. Working fulltime means, even now post-COVID, I use remote platforms to connect and engage. I really do love doing this work but I believe this is down to my supervisors and my fellow Faculty of Medicine and Health HDR students and the support they give me.
I was recently invited to take part in the University’s first Ngurra writing retreat for PhD candidates from the Gadigal Centre. This opportunity was fantastic, and while I didn't quite know what to expect, the whole retreat was rewarding.
I am a Wiradjuri woman and the retreat provided an invaluable opportunity, enabling space to reflect on my research journey and how my research linked with my community, Elders, histories and experiences. I gained confidence in embedding Indigenous ways of knowing and being into my research, even though my research had not adopted an Indigenous methodology.
I encourage all First Nations students to embrace this opportunity if it comes by again.
During my PhD journey, the most surprising thing I have found through my research was actually something I was hoping to identify, but believed it would not be readily identifiable; that is the exceptionally skilled, ethical and dedicated workforce of custodial health nurses working everyday in very challenging environments. They are the bedrock of custodial healthcare.
On a personal level, I have been able to create an international network of like-minded CHN researchers and academics who support me in advancing this area of nursing practice. I am always a bit surprised when I find myself in their company (usually via Zoom at 2 am as they are all in the US, UK and Canada) and I can hold my own!
I hope to branch out into policy, regulation and governance of custodial health care nationally. Most importantly in Aboriginal deaths in custody, which is a shame on our society because it is getting worse, not better.
Not only do I embrace the cultural obligation of this work; my nursing experience, PhD research and education gives me the opportunity to use my privilege to care for my Mob in a new way.
Professor Donna Waters
Donna Waters is interim Head of School and Dean in the Sydney Dental School in the Faculty of Medicine and Health. She is a member of the Charles Perkins Centre and Sydney Southeast Asia Centre.
I am a paediatric nurse by background and following clinical practice, spent more than a decade as part of a research team working in paediatric clinical nutrition. Our team investigated the maintenance of normal growth in children with chronic conditions.
After leaving the Children’s Hospital (Westmead), I worked for Justice Health as an Associate Professor of Nursing and then joined the University of Sydney as the Associate Dean (Research) in what was (then), the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery. I later served seven years as Dean of the nursing school and currently, am the Interim Head of School and Dean of Dentistry in the Faculty of Medicine and Health.
I am very proud to say that I have supervised 13 HDR candidates(10 PhD, 3 MPhil) to successful completion.
I started my own PhD when I was in my 40s.
This is common in the nursing discipline – clinical work comes first and then something “grabs you” or there is a burning question that you just have to answer!
I didn’t need to think about supervising Jo’s PhD – it is an honour to contribute to this important work.
Professor Donna Waters
Interim Head of School and Dean in the Sydney Dental School
I recognise this passion in many of my nursing colleagues and understand that starting a PhD later in your career brings some slightly different challenges. My supervision is informed by my own experience and I hope this experience is helpful to others.
Working with PhD candidates is a source of lifelong learning. I always learn so much from the supervisory experience – about their topic but also about people.
Nurses contribute a great deal to improving the health of prisoners. Most people would have no idea, or don’t care. I didn’t need to think about supervising Jo’s PhD – it is an honour to contribute to this important work.
As supervisors, both Professor Chiarella and myself have worked in the correctional environment. We have an understanding of the context Jo is studying that perhaps other supervisors may not have.
I think most nurses focus on how they can support the health of people first, and the rest is a given.
My advice to PhD candidates is to let the process unfold – a PhD is a learning experience – you are not expected to be the expert (yet)!