Keynote & Invited Speakers

Leanne Aitken is Professor of Critical Care and Vice-President, Research at City, University of London, UK. Her research focuses on recovery after critical illness and related clinical practice issues.

Leanne holds honorary professorial appointments in the UK, Australia and Argentina and is Ambassador for the World Federation of Critical Care Nurses. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, Australian College of Nursing and Australian College of Critical Care Nurses and is a Fulbright Alumnus.

Leanne has published >160 peer-reviewed publications, edits the textbook, Critical Care Nursing, and has secured >£12.6m in research and research training funding.

Keynote Lecture: Sustainable workforce - Creating a clinical research environment to sustain excellence
Plenary Session 4 - Friday, 14 March 2025, 09:00-09:45 hrs.

Dr Heather Baid is an intensive care nurse and Principal Lecturer at the University of Brighton. Heather has experience with research, quality improvement, and education in delivering environmentally sustainable healthcare while maintaining safe, high-quality, patient-centred care.  Heather is leading the national Intensive Care Environmental Sustainability Recipe Book project with the Intensive Care Society, Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine and UK Critical Care Nursing Alliance, which provides guidance for intensive care units in the United Kingdom on how to lower their carbon footprint. She also leads the organising of the annual SHARE conference (Sustainable Healthcare Academic Research and Enterprise).  

Keynote lecture: Sustainable ICU environment  ICU movement for sustainability
Plenary session 1 - Wednesday, 13 March 2025, 09:30 - 10:15 

Dr. Elena Conoscenti is a passionate healthcare leader with expertise in infection prevention and nursing management. Currently pursuing a Doctorate in Health Science at Ghent University, her research focuses on preventing sternal site infections in cardiac surgery. As Infection Control Nurse at ISMETT IRCCS UPMC in Italy, Dr. Conoscenti leads initiatives to improve patient safety and care quality, including managing the hospital's Magnet Program. An active researcher and educator at UNIPA, she also serves on the ISMETT Ethics Committee and is a member of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine. Her work is driven by a commitment to advancing patient care and infection control.

Keynote lecture: Clinical practice - A need for oral care protocols

Plenary session 2 - Wednesday, 13 March 2025, 13:15 - 13:45

Dr. Marie-Madlen Jeitziner completed her training as a critical care nurse at the University Clinic for Intensive Care Medicine, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital. Since 2015, she has been working as a researcher at the University Hospital in Bern and post-doc at the Institute of Nursing Science at the University of Basel. She is currently researching short- and long-term outcomes in critically ill and chronically critically ill patients treated in the intensive care unit, as well as interventions that positively influence these outcomes. Another area of research is family-centeredness in intensive care units, which is being investigated in a national and international context.

Keynote lecture: How to prepare patients and family?
Plenary Session 7 - Saturday 15 March 2025, 11:30-12:15

Professor Louise Rose, RN, PhD is a Professor of Critical Care Nursing and Research Division Head at King’s College London and an honorary Professor at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. Prof Rose’s research program focuses on improving outcomes and the healthcare experience of mechanically ventilated patients across the care continuum. Since commencing her research career she has been awarded over 110 peer reviewed research grants totalling over £20 million and has over 240 peer reviewed publications. She received a MBE in the 2023 King’s New Year’s Honours list for philanthropic work providing a virtual visiting solution enabling 135,000 virtual visits during the pandemic.

Keynote Lecture: Innovation for future -Technology in the ICU, how can it help us?
Plenary session 2 - Thursday, 13 March 2024, 10:15-11:00 hrs.

I coordinate and lead the EfCCNa exchange program which enables critical care nurses to spend some time in an ICU in another European country.

My area of interest is organization and provision of support in necessary training for nurses. I was a part of the Erasmus Plus project that was engaged in providing a healthy working environment in intensive care units, the standards which I strongly support.

I have received the 2017. Global Sepsis Alliance World award for contribution to fighting sepsis, which was based on education of healthcare workers and citizens. I am currently participating in another large European project and have published highly indexed papers, translations of manuals and various guidelines.

Invited speaker presentation: International exchange - The path towards new knowledge and improvement of practice
Plenary Session 4 - Friday, 14 March 2025