The ICS Nursing Committee is pleased to share a brief update on several key items of interest to our nursing members.
New ICS Nursing Committee Chair
Congratulations to Associate Professor Kristine Talley, who has been appointed Acting Chair of the ICS Nursing Committee following Tamara Dickinson’s decision to step down. The Committee extends its sincere gratitude to Tamara for her dedicated service and valuable contributions.
Kristine is a certified gerontological nurse practitioner and an associate professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on multi-component interventions to improve urinary incontinence in older adults, management of geriatric syndromes, and preparing an age-friendly nursing workforce. As a current member of the Committee, she brings extensive knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm to the role.
ICS Nursing Members Survey Results
Thank you to all ICS nursing members who completed the October 2025 survey. We received a strong 42% response rate, offering valuable insight into our nursing community.
Key findings:
- Age: 37% were 50–59 years; 32% were 60–69 years
- Gender: 98% female
- Residence: 41% based in Australia; 15% in the UK
- Primary language: 78% English
- Nursing qualification: All respondents were registered nurses or nurse practitioners
- Highest academic degree: 44% held a master’s; 20% a PhD
- Continence qualification: 22% had a master’s; 20% a postgraduate certificate; 20% a certificate
- Years in continence care: 34% had 21–30 years’ experience; 29% had 31–40 years
- Current role: 80% clinical; 22% research
- Workplace setting: 49% hospital outpatient; 32% community
- Main practice/research areas: 90% continence; 54% urology
- Reasons to attend ICS Annual Meeting: 64% location; 42% networking
- Membership of national continence/urological organisations: 88%
Overall, ICS nursing members tend to be experienced, highly qualified, English-speaking women working primarily in clinical continence care within outpatient or community settings.
ICS 2026 Nursing Forum
Members also provided a wide range of suggestions for workshops, the Nursing Forum, webinars, and podcasts. These insights have been instrumental in shaping workshop proposals for the ICS 2026 Annual Meeting in Maastricht (6–9 October 2026).
The Committee is currently preparing two workshop applications featuring renowned speakers and fresh, relevant topics for nurses and allied health professionals.
Planning for the Nursing Forum will begin shortly—a personal highlight of the Annual Meeting. If you are interested in being a potential speaker, please contact Kristine Talley at: carl0106@umn.edu
ICS Observerships
ICS Observerships are available annually through the ICS website, yet nurses have historically applied only rarely. We strongly encourage nursing colleagues to consider this excellent professional development opportunity.
ICS offers four types of observerships, each providing up to $5,000 for placements of up to one month:
- Urodynamics
- Neurourology
- Clinical
- Research
- Eligibility requirements:
- ICS membership for at least one year
Completion of the application form on the ICS website - Submission by 1 May.
Applications for 2026 are not yet open, but please watch for announcements and consider applying.
ICS Mentorship Programme
The ICS Mentorship Programme helps build meaningful, supportive connections within the continence care community.
- If you are an experienced professional, consider becoming a mentor to help guide early-career colleagues.
- If you are new to the field, consider applying as a mentee.
- The application process is simple and completed online.
You can find out more about the mentorship programme here