Dr. Redman Describes the Story of INDEN, a Growing International Nursing Organization

What started as a series of informal meetings has become a fully-fledged organization supporting new fellowships, awards, and initiatives.

What began as an informal biennial meeting of minds in the community of doctoral nursing education has blossomed into the International Network for Doctoral Education in Nursing (INDEN). Finishing up his term as President of INDEN is the University of Michigan School of Nursing’s Dr. Richard Redman, who is stepping down from the position of Assistant Dean for Graduate Programs to return to teaching in the classroom.

Dr. Redman described the history of the organization and his involvement therein. “Out of that informal meeting … they became a dues-paying, bylaws, organized type of organization in 1999,” he said. “I was part of the informal group that began gathering. I was here as a faculty member and a department chair. … By the time they organized formally I was an active participant in the group and became a dues-paying member.” Then, when the network’s former president Shaké Ketefian was due to be replaced, Dr. Redman was approached, having chaired several committees and task forces within the organization.

As president, Dr. Redman ensured that the organization took great strides toward its goals. “The president really is the active person that makes sure the organization moves forward,” he said. There are two primary initiatives that Dr. Redman described as his focus. The first is a fellowship that allows doctoral mentorship in countries where there is little such outreach. Students who earn these fellowships will therefore get a truly unique experience. The second is a new award for an exceptional doctoral paper, sponsored in tandem with the International Journal of Nursing Studies. It will be handed out for the first time next year.

“We launched it at our recent meeting in Malta and it’s another exciting, highly visible thing for INDEN,” Dr. Redman said. “This helps us become positioned internationally as well as get good visibility and opportunities for either members from low-resource countries or for doctoral students.”

In addition to these initiatives, Dr. Redman organized three of the group’s biennial meetings during his five-year term, including the most recent in Malta last month. He described how it is “very challenging to arrange an international meeting without actually being there,” but expressed that they have all been quite successful.

The always exciting locations of these meetings has been decided in the past based on the location of other, larger international meetings, particularly those of the International Council of Nursing. The theory was that attendance would be greater, because INDEN members would likely already be in town for the ICN conference. However, at the Malta meeting, polling showed that the majority of INDEN attendees came out to Malta exclusively because of INDEN — a result that Dr. Redman described as very exciting and empowering.

The theme of the meeting in Malta was collaboration. Dr. Redman described that the organization’s board selected the theme in an effort to find new ways to expand the organization itself, through collaborations with other international groups. Keynote speakers were invited from several countries home to such organizations, in the hopes of promoting ties between them.
The meeting also emphasized the importance of collaboration between different disciplines in the doctoral education of nursing. “Usually the type of research that doctoral students are doing is inherently interdisciplinary,” Dr. Redman described. “We don’t want to become so focused on nursing that we lose sight of the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration.” He added that INDEN includes members who are involved in disciplines distinct from nursing that still relate to nursing education and research.

Another subtheme discussed regarding collaboration was the role that technology plays in modern international collaboration. Many countries generally have less access to many of the technologies that we are used to in the United States. Even something so simple as the sending out of an email newsletter can create a stark division, separating those with access to the Internet and modern document-reading software from those without. INDEN is continuing to work to find a balance between easy sharing of content and equal access to content.

As he focuses once more on the classroom, Dr. Redman still plans to be involved with INDEN: “I’m sure I will continue to be involved in a variety of ways just because it’s been a part of me for over 20 years.”