Duncan Smith

Duncan Smith is a Senior Lecturer in the Division of Nursing at City, University of London, where he joined in 2014 after transitioning from full-time NHS practice. He holds an honorary Consultant Nurse position with the Patient Emergency Response and Resuscitation Team (PERRT) at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and serves as a Generic Instructor Course Educator for the Resuscitation Council (UK) and Advanced Life Support Group.

His educational background includes a PhD in Nursing from City, University of London (2018-2022), a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice/Education from the same institution (2014-2015), an MSc in Cardio-Respiratory from Imperial College London (2011-2013), a Diploma in Tropical Nursing from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (2006), and a Master of Nursing from the University of Nottingham (1999-2003).

Smith's primary research interests focus on critical care nursing, patient deterioration recognition, implementation science, and behavior change interventions. His work extensively examines rapid response systems, particularly the afferent limb where nurses identify deteriorating patients. He has a strong interest in nursing within low and middle income settings, stemming from his two-year assignment in Uganda with Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO), where he worked alongside Ugandan colleagues teaching nursing students and supporting ICU staff development.

His recent publication record demonstrates a consistent focus on clinical deterioration recognition, with 15 articles published between 2017-2025. These works span methodological innovations in research design, theoretical frameworks for understanding nursing behavior, and practical applications for improving patient safety systems. His research increasingly incorporates implementation science principles to bridge the gap between evidence and practice.

• NIHR/HEE Clinical Doctoral Research Fellowship (2018-2022)
• Fellow, Higher Education Academy (2015-present)

Smith currently serves as academic supervisor for three critical care nurses undertaking NIHR-funded pre-doctoral fellowships and as clinical-academic mentor for an additional pre-doctoral fellow. His doctoral work developed a theory-based behavior change intervention targeting registered nurses and healthcare assistants to improve responses to deteriorating patients. He is particularly interested in building research capacity among nurses and Allied Health Professionals. As module leader for the APM052 (Advanced Clinical Assessment) module on the MSc in Advanced Clinical Practice, he contributes significantly to postgraduate nursing education.