Leading researchers from Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) are playing key roles in this year’s UK Stroke Forum (UKSF 2022) in Liverpool from 29 November – 1 December.
Scientists from the School of Health and Life Sciences’ Research Centre for Health (ReaCH) will share their expertise and world-leading research at the UK’s largest multidisciplinary conference for stroke care professionals.
Professor Lisa Kidd, Chair-Elect of the UKSF, will take her position as Chair for the next two years. She will also be chairing several high-profile sessions and giving a talk on how supported self-management works in a community setting.
Professor Kidd said: “The UK Stroke Forum is one of the highlights of the stroke conference circuit. It has an international reputation for bringing together multidisciplinary stroke professionals, stroke researchers and people affected by stroke to showcase the latest in stroke research and service developments.
“It is a huge honour to have been elected by my peers to become the next Chair of the UK Stroke Forum. I am passionate about ensuring that the UK Stroke Forum continues to go from strength to strength.”
Professor Marian Brady and Dr Lesley Scobbie will be showcasing three research papers which have changed the lives of people with aphasia – a neurologically-based language impairment which affects the ability to speak and understand language.
External experts voted their research papers as three of the top scoring abstracts across submissions to the 2022 conference and GCU was the only institution with more than one abstract selected in that category.
Professor Brady leads the Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professions Research Unit (NMAHP) Stroke Rehabilitation Research programme and is founder of the Collaboration of Aphasia Trialists (CATs) network.
Dr Scobbie, who is presenting this work on behalf of Dr Eleanor Brown, a former GCU PhD researcher, is a Stroke Association Clinical Lecturer and Scotland’s first Allied Health Professions (AHPs) Stroke Clinical Academic with NHS Lanarkshire. She is also presenting on the challenges of setting and pursuing stroke rehabilitation goals.
Dr Christine Hazelton, a Non-Clinical Stroke Association Lecturer, has won the UKSF Patient, Carer and Public Involvement Prize for her work on the PIONEER project, exploring effective interventions for disorders of perception after stroke. She will present her findings at the conference.
Professor Sebastien Chastin will share is expertise on sedentary behaviour in stroke survivors and the health impact, determinants and interventions.
Professor Maggie Lawrence will be co-chairing a Stroke Secondary Prevention session on outcomes and measurement – it is the first of its kind at a UK Stroke Forum conference.
She will be addressing secondary prevention in its broader sense to include lifestyle risk factors for stroke, hosted by INSsPiRE – the international secondary prevention research network Professor Lawrence set up seven years ago.
Professor Lawrence will also talk about anxiety following a stroke, its impacts and effects, and how these are being addressed by HEADS: UP programme, a nine-week course designed to help individuals affected by stroke to learn mindfulness skills that might help them cope with emotional difficulties, particularly anxiety and depression.
Stroke Association-funded researchers including Professor Lawrence and other GCU staff will be providing bespoke one-to-one research advice at a Research Advice Clinic during the event.
GCU social enterprise spin-out, Giraffe Healthcare, headed up by Professor Lorna Paul and Dr Elaine Coulter, will be part of the trade exhibition for the first time, showcasing how their online rehabilitation platform can support stroke survivors through every stage of their rehabilitation journey.
ReaCH co-Director Professor Frederike van Wijck, Dr Bridget Davies, Dr Ben Parkinson, Dr Shiv Shanmugam and Dr Alex Todhunter-Brown, and PhD researchers Atharva Bhagwat, Eleanor Brown, Joe Hall, Naomi Clark, Katy Elliott, Matilde Pieri, Dora Regoczi and Stefanie Schnabel will also be contributing their research to the UKSF 2022.
All GCU experts involved in the conference are part of SYNERGY (Stroke and Neurological Rehabilitation Research Group) in ReaCH – which makes a direct and significant contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3 – good health and wellbeing and Goal 4 – quality education.
Professor van Wijck and Professor Paul, co-leads of SYNERGY, said: “It is wonderful to see such a strong interdisciplinary delegation, including our PhD researchers from GCU showcasing their work and positively impacting on the lives of people after stroke and their families.
“Our collective contribution to advancing stroke research for the benefit of people affected by this condition is extra-ordinary. This is due to the diversity of disciplines, methodological expertise, and partnerships with our external stakeholders. Thanks to everyone for their commitment and willingness to share their experiences and expertise.”
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