2003 IRISH SCIENTIST YEAR BOOK

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University of Ulster
Deirdre Walsh, Suzanne McDonough & Ciara Hughes
The Health Sciences Research Unit of Assessment

Diagnostic imaging is one of the group's areas of research. The photo shows a patient having an ultrasound scan.

The Health Sciences Research Unit of Assessment comprises a multidisciplinary team of staff and postgraduate students, which currently represents the largest such grouping in the UK or Ireland within the Allied Health Professions. Two recognised research groups constitute Heath Sciences: Rehabilitation Sciences represents research in the areas of Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy; and the Applied Medical Sciences group comprises the disciplines of Radiography, Chiropody and Clinical Physiology.

The main focus of the unit is the investigation of the physiological and therapeutic effects underpinning the clinical disciplines represented. The scope of research studies undertaken by unit members has been varied and ranges from laboratory-based studies on healthy human volunteers to randomised controlled clinical trials and questionnaire surveys.

Health Sciences has developed significantly over the past twelve years and now encompasses the following areas of research: Electrotherapy and Complementary Medicine; Pressure Care; Women's Health; Neurological Rehabilitation; Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation; Musculoskeletal and Low Back Pain; Caregivers and Community Interventions; Respiratory Physiology; Cardiology; Audiology; and Diagnostic Imaging. Current research projects include the use of virtual reality in stroke rehabilitation, the efficacy of a force sensing array pressure mapping system, and an evaluation of tissue Doppler echocardiographic imaging as a diagnostic tool in cardiac disease.


Two researchers interpreting a pressure map.

The unit has also developed research links with a number of centres of excellence nationally and internationally. These include the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Mayo Clinic, Minnesota, US; University of Toronto, Canada; and the Pain Research Programme, University of Iowa, US.

There are currently 26 postgraduate students registered for higher degrees and 31 individuals have already successfully completed PhDs under the supervision of staff in the unit. In the 2001 UK Research Assessment Exercise, Rehabilitation Sciences achieved the highest rating awarded to physiotherapy research (4).

Contact: Prof. Deirdre Walsh (Group Co-ordinator);
Tel: 028 9036 6914; E-mail: [email protected] ; Web: www.science.ulst.ac.uk/research/rehabresearch
Dr Suzanne McDonough (Leader, Rehabilitation Sciences Recognised Research Group);
Tel: 028 9036 6459; E-mail: [email protected]
Dr Ciara Hughes (Leader, Applied Medical Sciences Recognised Research Group);
Tel: 028 9036 6227; E-mail: [email protected]