The RCN Institute of Nursing Excellence was established to bring together evidence, expertise and community in a way that enables the profession to tackle its most complex issues. 

The Institute’s five academies – Activism, International Nursing, Nursing Leadership, Nursing Practice and Nursing Workforce – are supported by the RCN’s research, education, and library and museum teams.

Our 2025 report offers a snapshot of what we have achieved in each of these areas in our first full year. You can find highlights of the report on this page and download the full PDF version for more details.

Our successes as a professional body and a trade union are always amplified when our members come together and get active. That’s why the Activism Academy exists, to work across the College, to drive a transformation in the number and impact of our active members.

In June 2025, the RCN Activism Strategy 2025 – 2027 was published. The strategy is a blueprint towards a more active and engaged membership where, together, members can achieve real change in the nursing profession and for all those who work within it.

Working closely with the Nursing Practice Academy and the Nursing Workforce Academy, we held the first ever professional activism conference at RCN UK HQ in London in June, with members from across the forums in attendance. It was well-attended, there was great discussion and positive feedback that will inform our future work.

The International Nursing Academy is dedicated to advancing the education and professional development of nurses and health care professionals worldwide.

In the last year, we began work to develop high-impact programmes across humanitarian and development contexts, placing global nursing and members at the heart of everything we do.

In Sri Lanka, we have delivered educational programmes on older persons and non-communicable diseases to support nurses working in communities across the country. 

In Myanmar, the Phoenix Nursing Education Programme is supporting degree-level education for 125 student nurses in conflict-affected regions.

The Nursing Leadership Academy serves as a catalyst for positive change across the health and social care landscape.

This year, we have strengthened our position as a leading voice in nursing leadership, supporting the RCN’s mission to ensure that nursing staff are respected, empowered and equipped to influence health care at every level.

We have developed new programmes with partner organisations that are co-designed and rooted in the context in which their leaders work. These include a suite of short and long programmes for nursing staff that develops skills to lead complex and high stakes investigations in the workplace.

A key area of development has been the creation of Nest – an interactive online community of practice that showcases the work of the Institute, and creates opportunities for networking, debate and discussion.

The Nursing Practice Academy provides nursing staff with the clinical skills and knowledge they need to deliver exceptional patient care with confidence.

Throughout 2025, we delivered all recommendations from the 2022 RCN Forums and Networks Review Report, to ensure improved governance and engagement. 

We launched the Global and Ethnic Minority (GEM) Project, an action-research initiative to identify and address barriers to career progression for nursing staff from global majority and ethnic minority backgrounds.

The RCN’s UK-wide position statement on assisted dying was also updated. We developed FAQs and launched dedicated webpages to support informed nursing dialogue on this sensitive issue.

Established at the end of 2024, the Nursing Workforce Academy uses robust evidence to combat the nursing workforce crisis.

Building on existing collaboration and co-production with RCN members, and across the wider Institute of Nursing Excellence, we are co-creating a portfolio of accessible resources and guidance to translate and share the evidence base which underpins quality and safety in health care.

In May 2025, Professor Jane Ball published an evidence-based statement: Registered nurse staffing levels for patient safety, care quality and cost effectiveness, in which she demonstrated the impact of nurse staffing levels on patient outcomes, cost effectiveness and health care efficiency.

Our new and improved Nursing Workforce Standards were published and launched at RCN Congress in May 2025.

The RCN has been at the forefront of supporting nursing research for decades.

In September 2025, we launched our new RCN Research Strategy to support and champion nursing research. It outlines why research matters, how we can nurture it, and the role the RCN can play by working with others to embed a research culture across the profession – from day one of entering nursing throughout the nursing career path.

Our annual research conference took place between 8-10 September in Exeter, and was attended by over 330 delegates from 17 different countries. This is the second year that the conference has combined academic research with clinical research delivery to showcase the breadth of research roles, expertise and impact. The theme for the 2025 conference was: Nursing Research: transforming global health in a changing world. 

At the heart of the Institute of Nursing Excellence is our commitment to advancing nursing through transformative education. Each of the five academies, every programme, and every element of our education, learning and development innovation starts here – from RCN Learn and online learning to in-person programmes supporting clinical practice.

On 11 March 2025, His Majesty King Charles III reiterated his commitment to supporting young people to get into nursing by attending our event to relaunch the RCN Prince of Wales Nursing Cadet scheme, to the RCN King’s Nursing Cadets.

The Library and Museum team maintain our professional offer through participation in committees, publications, and presenting at and attending professional conferences.

This year, we have presented on our exhibition programme, power BI reporting, partnership working and wellbeing in libraries and museums.

Our published articles appeared in the British Journal of Healthcare Assistants, Social History Curators Group News and History of Human Sciences.

We run our own Nursing Librarianship Conference. The 2025 theme was ‘Change, react, adapt: future-proofing nursing library services’.

As we move into 2026, the Institute of Nursing Excellence’s focus remains clear: to strengthen nursing through evidence, education and collaboration. Our plans reflect both continuity and ambition – building on what works and innovating where change is needed.

In 2026, we will be publishing our new strategy and enabling regular engagement through quarterly newsletters. A major development will be the launch of Nest, our community of practice, which will offer a dedicated space for dialogue, tailored learning, and live discussion. It will be open to everyone, with exclusive resources available for members.