Overview
Background
Dr Lucy Shinners is an Indigenous clinician‑researcher with 25 years of ICU nursing experience and a career deeply embedded in the health system. Her work is grounded in the realities of clinical practice and the experiences of patients, families and communities, shaping a research program that examines how emerging technologies can strengthen safe, high‑quality and culturally responsive care.
Using a sociotechnical lens, Dr Shners studies how artificial intelligence influences the health workforce, clinical decision‑making and the conditions required for safe adoption. Her internationally used SHAIP tool supports health services to understand workforce perceptions of AI and ensures that consumer perspectives remain central to technology design and implementation. She also works with Indigenous health organisations to co‑design technological solutions that reflect community priorities, and has contributed to establishing First Nations leaders’ priorities for AI, an expanding line of work shaping future governance and innovation.
Her research intersects with infection prevention and vascular access safety, where she investigates healthcare‑associated infections, device‑related harm and opportunities to improve surveillance, early detection and patient experience. Increasingly, these domains converge as she explores AI‑enabled approaches for infection risk prediction and monitoring, and evaluates how emerging technologies can enhance clinical governance and system performance.
Dr Shinners’ work provides health services, policymakers and industry with evidence‑based, culturally informed insights into AI, infection prevention and the future of safe care.
Availability
- Dr Lucy Shinners is:
- Available for supervision
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Nursing, Australian Catholic University
- Masters (Coursework) of Critical Care Nursing, Griffith University
- Doctor of Philosophy of Health, Southern Cross University
Research interests
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Indigenous‑Led and Culturally Safe Digital Health Innovation
This research focuses on how emerging technologies can be designed, governed and implemented in ways that reflect Indigenous priorities. Dr Shinners collaborates with community organisations to identify First Nations leaders’, healthcare professional and consumer priorities for AI and to co‑design digital health solutions that strengthen equity, trust and cultural safety in healthcare.
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Infection Prevention and Vascular Access Safety
Dr Shinners investigates healthcare‑associated infections, device‑related harm and opportunities to improve surveillance, early detection and patient experience. Her work aims to strengthen clinical governance, reduce preventable infections and build evidence that improves vascular access care across diverse health settings.
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Sociotechnical Evaluation of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
Dr Shinners examines how AI influences the health workforce, clinical decision‑making and patient experience, using a sociotechnical lens that centres consumer and community perspectives. Her work includes developing the SHAIP tool, assessing workforce readiness, and co‑designing AI solutions with Indigenous organisations to support safe, culturally informed technology adoption.
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AI‑Enabled Risk Prediction and Surveillance
Integrating her expertise in AI and infection prevention, Dr Shinners explores novel technologies for infection risk prediction, monitoring and system‑level improvement. This work examines how emerging tools can enhance safety, support clinical decision‑making and reduce healthcare‑associated infections through more responsive, data‑driven approaches.
Research impacts
Dr Lucy Shinners’ research is shaping how health services, policymakers and Indigenous organisations understand and adopt artificial intelligence and emerging technologies in safe, culturally responsive ways. As an emerging early‑career researcher with 19 peer‑reviewed publications, her work is already influencing national and international thinking on AI in healthcare, infection prevention and health workforce capability.
Her publications have attracted 399 citations, an h‑index of 10, and strong field‑weighted citation impact (FWCI), with 20% of outputs published in top‑decile journals. Several studies, such as those examining AI adoption in allied health, rural health districts and nurse leadership, have FWCI scores up to 9.46, demonstrating above‑world‑average impact and uptake across disciplines.
Dr Shinners’ research is informing policy and national strategy. Her work has been cited in policy documents globally, including major reports from the Publications Office of the European Union, the Office of the New Zealand Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, and the Australian Government Department of Health. These citations demonstrate direct influence on digital health, AI governance and safe technology adoption.
She has also collaborated with CSIRO to establish First Nations community priorities for AI, a contribution recognised in Lowitja Institute’s national review of AI policy. This work is supporting Indigenous‑led approaches to digital health innovation and shaping future directions for equitable, culturally grounded technology development.
Works
Search Professor Lucy Shinners’s works on UQ eSpace
2020
Journal Article
Exploring healthcare professionals’ understanding and experiences of artificial intelligence technology use in the delivery of healthcare: an integrative review
Shinners, Lucy, Aggar, Christina, Grace, Sandra and Smith, Stuart (2020). Exploring healthcare professionals’ understanding and experiences of artificial intelligence technology use in the delivery of healthcare: an integrative review. Health Informatics Journal, 26 (2), 1225-1236. doi: 10.1177/1460458219874641
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Lucy Shinners is:
- Available for supervision
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Media
Enquiries
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