Annual Review 2008
Research
In 1996 Aspire established the first ever Professorial Chair in Disability and Technology. Since then we’ve been able to use this centre of expertise to research and develop tangible solutions to a variety of issues faced by disabled people. From pressure sore prevention to new tools to aid independent living, all the work undertaken is underpinned by a belief that the research must quickly be taken from the lab and put into practical use.
After 11 years as our Professorial Chair, Professor Martin Fergusson-Pell stepped down this year to take up a post at Alberta University as Dean of Rehabilitation Medicine. We wish him all the best in that exciting new role.
We took Martin’s departure as an opportunity to ensure the Professorial Chair was continuing to be at the head of the field and opened
the hosting of our Professorial Chair out to tender. From eleven bids, we selected three for interview and were very happy when the Institute of Orthopaedics and Musculoskeletal Science, University College London successfully retained the Chair which they have held since its inception. An international recruitment process to replace Martin will soon commence.
The Aspire Westlake Research Fund was established in 2007 to support research into practical solutions to issues around ageing with a spinal cord injury. This covers off a wide range of factors that are of concern to those with spinal injuries, yet understanding of the issues is still in its infancy.
To ensure that any research commissioned is of maximum benefit, a scoping project was completed; focus groups of both those with spinal injuries and medical professionals offered their views on what the principal concerns were. The results were analysed and the leading issues will form the basis of the research projects that are ultimately commissioned. We expect the first of these to start next year.