Biography
Elizabeth is Professor in Occupational Therapy; to date her career has included leadership and management of academic and clinical staff, research experience especially with service users’ research in mental health, palliative care and in occupational therapy education. Elizabeth has worked in a range of universities nationally and internationally and has extensive experience of curriculum design including BSc. and Graduate Entry Master programmes. .
In 2015, Elizabeth was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists, the highest honour the College can bestow on one of its professional members. She is active member of RCOT/BAOT and World Federation of Occupational Therapists. In 2009, she was the Barbara Sexton Lecturer at the University of Western Ontario, Canada and in 2011 was visiting Professor at University of Newcastle, Australia. She established the MSc Occupational Therapy at the University of Limerick, the only pre-registration Masters in Ireland.
To date she has supervised 13 PhD students to completion; 11 of these are occupational therapists with a range of topics and methodologies including mental health issues, assistive technology, time use, sustainability and professional education, elder carers' quality of life and experience of care-giving. Four of PhD students have been awarded National PhD funding from NIHR, ESRC, Irish Health Research Board. She currently is involved with 4 PhD students at Napier, while having two others nationally and internationally. Elizabeth has examined 11 PhD students both nationally and internationally. She has co-edited two books; one on Narratives and Professional Reasoning and the other on Advanced Practice in Mental Health Occupational Therapy. Additionally, Elizabeth contributes chapters to leading text books.
Research Interests: Mental Health, Women in secure environments
Social inclusion and Participation, Professional education
Clinical reasoning, Narrative Inquiry, Service Users' Experiences
Palliative care. BAME occupational therapists lived experience of promotion
Elizabeth was appointed by the Irish Minister for Health as the National Occupational Therapist on the Health and Social Care Professions Council (now CORU) equivalent to UK Health and Social Care Professions Council. At this time she was Chair of the newly establish Education Committee. She also served on the Irish Mental Health Commission Research Committee (Ireland).
Elizabeth is an active researcher presenting at national and international conferences and publishes her research in peer reviewed journals.
Teaching and Learning : Qualitative Research Methods, Enduring mental illness, medical humanities, Women's mental health,
Occupational Science, Models of Practice, Leadership and Entrepreneurship.