It is a great honor to greet you as the Chairperson of the World Academy of Nursing Science (WANS). I am deeply grateful to our Board of Directors, member organizations, and colleagues worldwide for their confidence and continuing commitment to advancing nursing science through international collaboration, scholarly exchange, and biennial scientific convenings.
WANS exists to contribute to the health and well‑being of people worldwide by fostering global research collaboration, scientific conferences, and academic exchange. These core purposes—and the governance framework that supports them—provide a strong platform for our next phase of growth and impact.
Our Academy is a network of organizational members across the globe, including national academies, professional associations, and leading schools of nursing. Together, we share a common mission to develop nursing science and translate knowledge that improves health across cultures and settings.
Priorities for 2026–2027 include to:
- Expand membership.
Launch a membership growth initiative to welcome new organizations and networks from underrepresented regions and specialties; streamline onboarding; and offer clear benefits (collaborative study groups, mentorship, methods forums, and dissemination pathways). - Increase global visibility.
Elevate WANS’s profile through strategic partnerships, conference co‑hosting, media and policy engagement. - Strengthen our digital presence and communications.
Refresh the WANS website to make opportunities, resources, and events easier to find—and to showcase member research and impact. - Advance collaborative research and mentorship.
Seed multi-country studies, expand cross‑institutional working groups, and methodological roundtables anchored in rigorous theoretical foundations. - Enhance transparency and member engagement.
Provide regular updates, open calls for involvement, and clear pathways for member organizations to propose initiatives and co‑lead programs across WANS.
A call to participate
I invite each member organization to engage actively—by proposing collaborative projects, nominating emerging scholars, and sharing evidence that can be scaled across settings. Together, we will accelerate discoveries that improve health outcomes and advance nursing science globally.
Thank you for your dedication to WANS and to the communities we serve. I look forward to working with you.
Eun‑Ok Im, PhD, MPH, RN, CNS, FAAN
Chairperson/President, World Academy of Nursing Science (WANS)
Dean & Professor, School of Nursing, The University of Texas at Austin