Christie Watson
Christie was a registered paediatric nurse for 20 years before becoming a full-time writer. She worked in paediatric intensive care before becoming a resuscitation officer, which involved teaching and clinical work on hospital-wide crash teams.Her first novel Tiny Sunbirds Far Away won the Costa First Novel Award. Her second novel Where Women Are Kings received international acclaim. Christie has since released her autobiographical account of her time as a nurse, titled The Language of Kindness: A Nurse’s Story. It has been hailed as one of the best clinical memoirs in recent years. The book is a Sunday Times Number 1 bestseller and was a BBC Radio 4 book of the week.
Her latest release, Moral Injuries, is a psychological drama that asks how far will you go to save your own, when you're trained to save the lives of others. It was chosen for The Sunday Times Pick of the Month.
Christie was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, for her contribution to nursing and the arts by the University of East Anglia.
Professor Michael West CBE
Professor Michael West CBE is one of the UK’s most respected experts on compassionate leadership, staff wellbeing and organisational culture in healthcare. He has assisted the development of the national frameworks on improvement and leadership development in England in Northern Ireland and is currently supporting Health Education and Improvement Wales to develop the national health and care leadership strategy in Wales.His research has had a transformative impact on how teams’ function effectively and how leaders can nurture compassionate, high performing environments. He has authored, edited and co-edited 20 books and has published more than 200 articles on teamwork, leadership and culture, particularly in healthcare.
Michael is a Senior Visiting Fellow at The King’s Fund, Professor of Work and Organisational Psychology at Lancaster University, Visiting Professor at University College Dublin, and Emeritus Professor at Aston University.