Victoria Traynor

Biography

Professor Traynor began her role as Professor of Healthy Ageing at UniSC in 2024. Professor Traynor has 34 years of experience as a registered nurse specialising in gerontology. Professor Traynor obtained her PhD in in 2001 from the University of Edinburgh and carried out postdoctoral research in the UK at the University of Nottingham, the Royal College of Nursing and Oxford Brookes University. Professor Traynor was at the University of Wollongong for 18 years where she was Professor of Aged and Rehabilitation.

Professor Traynor has held a range of academic roles, including Head of School, Head of Postgraduate Studies, Thesis Examination Committee, Faculty Research Committee, Professorial Central Promotions Committee and was Director of the Health Impacts Research Centre. Professor Traynor also set up and was the Director of the Aged and Dementia Health Education and Research (ADHERe) centre.

Professor Traynor is the inaugural Director of the Healthy Ageing Research Cluster. In 2024, the same year, Professor Traynor was also appointed as the inaugural Professor of Dementia Research at Warrigal (New South Wales and Australain Capital Territory). Professor Traynor is a peer reviewer for the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and an associate editor for the International Journal of Older People Nursing. Professor Traynor holds Visiting Professor roles at Edith Cowan University (Western Australai) and Taipei Medical University (Taiwan).

Research

Professor Traynor has a track record in undertaking research focused on making an impact for older people, their family carers and healthcare clinicians using implementation science to translate knowledge into practice. Professor Traynor is currently managing a research budget of $2.8 million from Government tenders, MRFF and industry funding. Her research is most often cross-disciplinary with colleagues from engineering, epidemiology, health sciences, First Nation’s, marketing, nursing, nutrition and dietetics, physiotherapy, psychology, public health and statistics.

Professor Traynor has partnerships with many universities across Australia and is collaborating with 50+ aged care providers evaluating the Gerontological Nursing Competencies (GNCs) course. Her research on delirium care includes NSW linkage data in public and private hospitals and nursing homes in SA. Professor Traynor has international research projects for the GNCs in Taiwan, delirium care in Taiwan, the UK and US, driving in Canada, New Zealand, Taiwan, the UK and the US, and dementia and arts in primary schools in the UK.

Professor Traynor’s research activities are building on the  Healthy Ageing Research Cluster outputs.