Occupational Science

About us

As an academic discipline, occupational science seeks to explain and evidence the relationships between what people do in their everyday lives and their well-being. Occupational science contributes to the scientific and research base for Occupational Therapy practice.

Occupational science is the study of the human as an occupational being... over the lifespan" Yerxa (1991 p6.)

Our vision is to deliver health-related, occupation-centred research which expands the occupational science knowledge base and develops clinical practice, supporting the use of occupational therapy in real world settings.

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Leadership

Leisle Ezekiel

Dr Leisle Ezekiel

Senior Lecturer in Occupational Therapy

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Jackie Parsonage-Harrison

Dr Jackie Parsonage-Harrison

Elizabeth Casson Research Fellow

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Membership

Staff

Name Role Email
Dr Johnny Collett Senior Lecturer in Clinical Exercise and Rehabilitation jcollett@brookes.ac.uk
Professor Helen Dawes Honorary Professor hdawes@brookes.ac.uk
Dr Patrick Esser Reader in Sport and Rehabilitation Technology pesser@brookes.ac.uk
Dr Gail Eva Senior Lecturer in Occupational Therapy geva@brookes.ac.uk
Mrs Ka Yan Hess Lecturer in Occupational Therapy khess@brookes.ac.uk
Dr Liana Nagy Senior Lecturer & MSc Subject Coordinator lnagy@brookes.ac.uk
Dr Tanya Rihtman Principal Lecturer in Occupational Therapy; Occupational Therapy Programme Lead trihtman@brookes.ac.uk
Dr Farzaneh Yazdani Senior Lecturer in Occupational Therapy fyazdani@brookes.ac.uk

Students

Name Thesis Title Supervisors Completed
Avril Dillon MenFAS Study: Understanding Mental Fatigue After Stroke Professor Helen Dawes

Active

Helene Eisenhut Exploring the barriers and facilitators for volunteering as an intervention for those with chronic conditions Dr Farzaneh Yazdani, Dr Johnny Collett

Active

Core research themes

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  • Working in partnership with Occupational Therapists, service users, stakeholders and other professional groups at a local, national and international level, to co-create, co-design and implement clinically relevant occupation-centred research across the lifespan for those who have developmental, physical or mental health conditions.
  • Understanding how people’s engagement and participation in everyday activities to support their health and wellbeing.
  • Contributing to and developing evidence-based interventions to enable engagement in meaningful occupations.

Key Publications

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