Research Interest:

Health Workforce Wellbeing

Strengthening Health Workforce Capacity and Leadership in LMICs

Health Equity

Healthy Ageing

Biography:

Dr Bibha Simkhada is an Associate Professor/Reader in Nursing and the Deputy Director of Graduate Education at the School of Human and Health Sciences. She also serves as the Co-Chair of the Asian Staff Affinity Group at the University. 

Previously, she was a Senior Lecturer in Adult Nursing at the University of Huddersfield and a Lecturer at Bournemouth University. She is also dedicated to enhancing the skills and capacities of nurses and midwives in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). She has expertise in various types of reviews, as well as qualitative and mixed-methods research.

With a background in Adult Nursing and Public Health, she has extensive experience working within the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) as well as internationally in Nepal, Ghana, India, and Bangladesh. She holds a PhD in Public Health from the University of Aberdeen. 

Her previous projects include:

• Continuing professional development (CPD) and career progression of nurses.
• Maternal health in developing countries.
• Health and wellbeing of the South Asian community in the UK.
• Dementia care in LMICs.

Ongoing research projects
1. Strengthening Institutional Knowledge and Capacity of Federal, Provincial and Local Governments for Evidence-Informed Health Policymaking in Nepal (Co-I), funded from British Academy.

2. Exploring Coping Strategies Employed by the Older Asian Population to Manage Social Isolation and Loneliness in West Yorkshire (PI), The West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB).

3. A multi-country longitudinal cohort study on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the Global South: A programme to generate income, outputs, and impact in Ghana, India and Nepal (Co-I), funded from URF, University of Huddersfield.

Recently completed research projects
1. Strengthen the ability of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (N&MC) of Ghana to oversee and regulate the professional register of nurses and midwives and monitor the quality of education providers, to ensure high quality nursing and midwifery care (PI), funded from the UK Department of Health and Social Care, via the Tropical Health and Education Trust (THET).

2. Mental health experiences and coping strategies of Asian or Asian British children and young people in West Yorkshire (Co-I), funded from NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board.

3. Improving health and wellbeing of homeless people through improved access to health and social care services in West Yorkshire (PI), funded from NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board .

4. International nurses and their integration into the United Kingdom health and social care workforce (Co-I), funded from NHS England.

5. Promoting Technology for Self-Care (ProTechS) for people who are sleeping rough (Co-I), funded from Burdett Trust.

6. Exploring Continuing Professional Development (CPD) training needs of nurses and midwives in Nepal (PI), funded from LJMU/BU.

PhD Project Supervision Titles: 
International Nurses/Nurses wellbeing 
*Cross-country comparison of international nurses? experiences of career progression and retention in the UK (Ransford Akrong)

*Factors affecting the recruitment of Nepalese nurses in the UK: A mixed-method study (Sabina Shrestha)

*Boosting resilience through intervention, which promotes change in coping behaviour to support well-being and retention of early career nurses in coping behaviours to support the well-being of student nurses (Elizabeth Hather)

Maternal health and Maternity care
*Investigating mediating effect of birth experience on the association between antenatal social support and postnatal depression among primiparous women visiting maternity hospitals in Nepal (Basanti Aryal)

*Inequity in Utilization of Maternal Healthcare Services and their Contributing Factors for Women with Disabilities in Nepal: Mixed Method Study (Prakash Shahi)

*A mixed method study exploring challenges and barriers in the utilization of maternal healthcare services among women with disability in India (Divya Vinnakota)

*Co-design in health services: an initiative to improve the uptake and delivery of the free maternal and newborn health services in Nepal (Devendra Raj Singh) (completed)

*Health actors' perception and impact of federalisation on the quality of maternal and neonatal health services in Nepal (Pasang Tamang) (completed)

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Last updated 8th June 2026