A Bucks visiting professor, Ian Peate OBE FRCN, has been awarded an honorary doctorate after more than four decades of challenging inequalities and transforming nursing education, including pioneering work to put men’s health higher on the healthcare agenda.
Professor Peate, who began his career as an enrolled nurse before qualifying as a registered nurse, has gone on to become a professor, educator, author and influential voice in nursing, with a career spanning the UK and internationally.
One of the issues that first shaped his research was the care of people living with HIV and AIDS. As a practitioner, he became concerned about the impact of fear and misinformation on patients. He said: “As a practitioner I became concerned with the quality of care those with HIV were receiving as a result of ignorance and fear.”
Research undertaken across three European universities found significant gaps in student nurses’ understanding, with negative attitudes contributing to substandard care. The findings helped influence changes to nursing curricula and were shared internationally.
Professor Peate subsequently turned his attention to men’s health, an area he felt had received insufficient attention within healthcare. “I later began considering the health care needs of men as I wanted to redress the gender inequality experienced by men in number of care settings,” he explains.
His work in the field was pioneering. He was among the first authors to produce a nursing text specifically addressing men’s health, wrote the first nursing article on male breast cancer and was an early voice on subjects including male obesity, menopause and osteoarthritis. His expertise has since led to invitations to advise on men’s health and curriculum development nationally and internationally.
Alongside his research, Professor Peate has contributed hugely to nursing education. He has authored more than 60 textbooks and educational resources, many used around the world, and has helped develop healthcare education in Gibraltar, Singapore, Malaysia and India. He has also served as Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Nursing.
His contribution has extended to Buckinghamshire New University, where he is a Visiting Professor in the School of Nursing and Midwifery. Through mentorship, scholarship and academic development, he has supported colleagues and students and contributed to the School’s research and knowledge exchange.
It is this breadth of contribution that has now been recognised by Bucks, which has awarded Professor Peate an honorary doctorate. An OBE and Fellowship of the Royal College of Nursing already recognise his service to the profession.
