Dr. Thóra B. Hafsteinsdóttir, PhD, MScN, BSc, RN, is senior researcher at the Department of Nursing Science, Julius Center, University Medical Center Utrecht, Department of Health care for people with chronic illness at the University of Applied Sciences, and at the Department of Nursing Science, Julius Center, University Medical Center Utrecht as well as Professor of Nursing at the Faculty of Nursing, University of Iceland. Dr. Hafsteinsdóttir was born in Iceland, received her Bachelor of Science degree (BSc) in 1984 from the University of Iceland and started her clinical carrier in intensive care nursing. She moved to the Netherlands, received her Master of Science in Nursing in 1994 and her PhD from the University of Utrecht in 2003, entitled Neurodevelopmental treatment in the Early Stage of Stroke. In 2012 she received her Senior Research Qualification: Good Clinical Practice Certification in 2012 and her Senior Teaching Qualification in 2015, both from Faculty of Medicine, University Utrecht. Dr. Hafsteinsdóttir supervises various research and development projects both in the Netherlands, Iceland and international. She serves on numerous international committees, including the organizing committee of the Institute for Global Healthcare Leadership, which will be held in London September 2018. Dr. Hafsteinsdóttir has numerous publications on nursing care and management of patients with stroke and leadership in nursing. She reviews manuscripts for various peer-reviewed international journals and gives lectures nationally and internationally.

Dr. Hafsteinsdóttir was elected as a director on the board of directors of the Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) honor society of nursing (Sigma) in 2014 and since November 2015 she is serving for a 4 year term 2015-2019.  Sigma Theta Tau International is an honor society of nursing with more than 135.000 members and has 300 chapters in more than 90 countries worldwide. https://www.sigmanursing.org/why-sigma/about-sigma

Chair of the Johanna Diepeveen-Speekenbrink Stichting (JDS-Stichting) since 2010.

Member and board liaison of the editorial board of Journal of Nursing Scholarship of STTI since 2017.

Dr. Hafsteinsdóttir is the past president of the, Rho Chi at Large Chapter of STTI in the Netherlands. In 2011 she was elected as the first STTI Region Coordinator in Europe and was re-elected in 2013. She serves on numerous international committees, including the organizing committee of the Institute for Global Healthcare Leadership, which will be held in London September 2018.

Nursing rehabilitation of patients with stroke, supervising Masters and PhD students in research. Among the projects are: the Clinical Rehabilitation Guideline for Patients with Stroke, Depression in the Early Stage of Stroke and Hemispatial Neglect after stroke. With the collaborative partners in Iceland, Sweden and Finland, we received funding for the development and testing of the ActivABLES, technological applications to support patients with stroke with rehabilitation in the home setting (ongoing).

Leadership and scholarship, PhD education, postdoctoral leadership development of nurses have in recent years become the central focus Dr. Hafsteinsdóttir work. She received funding for leadership programs in the Netherlands and Europe. She chairs  the Dutch Leadership Mentoring in Nursing Research (LMNR) for postdoctoral nurses and the Nursing Leadership Educational Program for Doctoral Nursing Students and Postdoctoral Nurses in Europe, the Nurse-Lead project, a collaboration between seven partners in six European countries which include Iceland, Netherlands, Finland, Germany, Lithuania and Portugal.