Dr. Ruth McCullagh a Lecturer in Physiotherapy at the School of Clinical Therapies, University College Cork. Her areas of interest lie in older adult rehabilitation, falls and frailty, and Parkinson's. She graduated from Cardiff School of Physiotherapy (1992), was awarded an MSc Neurorehabilitation (Brunel University, 1998) and her PhD (University College Cork, 2018). Ruth began lecturing in the School of Physiotherapy at the Royal College of Surgeons (2004-2005) and Trinity College Dublin (2005-2007) before teaching in University College Cork when the Physiotherapy programme opened in 2018. Dr McCullagh was awarded a Health Professional Fellowship (HRB) to fund her PhD training in 2018. Her PhD project measured walking activity in frail inpatients and the effectiveness of an augmented exercise programme on their health outcomes and healthcare utilisation. Her main areas of interest lie in exercise prescription and self-management strategies to maintain physical activity and exercise in older adults and people with Parkinson's. Ruth currently supervises PhD students exploring exercise and falls prevention in people living in residential care, in older adults at risk of falling, in people with metastatic breast cancer (IRC PG Scholarship & HRB SPHeRE Scholarship), and in people with Parkinson's (IRC PG Scholarship). She is also a named co-applicant on the Frailty Care Bundle, an implementation study of evidence-based principles of mobilisation, nutrition and cognitive engagement in the acute hospitalised patients. (PI Prof Corina Naughton, UCC. HRB APA award 2019). She is the principal investigator of the FaME Ireland study, an evaluation of early adopter sites of the Falls Management Exercise Programme (HRB APA 028 2022). Ruth has worked clinically in the areas of Neurology and Gerontology since qualifying in Ireland, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. She held senior

My areas of interest are in falls and frailty, Parkinson's and people with metastatic breast cancer. I am interested in determining the optimal exercise prescription and ways to support people in maintaining that dosage of exercise in order to improve independence, self-efficacy and quality of life. I am a member of the PD Research Cluster. I work closely with the Parkinson's Association of ireland, who have part-funded a PhD research Project (IRC-funded) exploring self- management and behavioural strategies in people with Parkinson's. I am also a member of the ISS21 Ageing Research Cluster. My PhD was a HRB-funded RCT measuring the effectiveness of an augmented exercise programme for frail inpatients in the acute setting. I have supervised HSE-funded MSc(Res) projects evaluating a community-based early supported discharge programme and a falls management programme. I continue to work with clinical colleagues to effectively implement the training and delivery of a falls-management programme. I currently co-supervise PhD projects; one exploring self management and behavioural change in older community-dwellers, and the second exploring falls prevention programmes in residential care settings. I am currently co-supervising an IRC-funded project to develop an early and ongoing personalised rehabilitative physiotherapy programme for people with metastatic breast cancer.

When the programme opened in UCC, I was part of the initial team constructing five modules: namely, Cardiovascular Health and Health Promotion, Rehabilitation 1 (Principles of Rehabilitation and Movement), Rehabilitation 2 (Rehabilitation to promote independent movement and function in a busy active environment) Principles of Research and Research Methods and Dissertation. I was responsible for the Rolling Induction from 2019-2022; a brief module which aimed to orientate the new students and provide useful guidance for exams and written work. I remain the module coordinator for the research modules, (Principles of Research and Research Methods and Dissertation), and provide teaching in the clinical modules Cardiovascular Health and Health Promotion and Rehabilitation 2. I examine the students for all five modules. My clinical experience informs my clinical teaching of the Rehabilitation 2 and Cardiovascular Health and Health Promotion modules. I stress patient-centred approach to their management, to used the International Classification of Function to structure their assessment and treatment approach, and to recognize the importance of family and peer involvement. I encourage students to use the best evidence to inform their clinical practice, using epidemiological studies to gain an understanding of the prevalence and prognosis, and interventional studies / systematic reviews to inform their management. When teaching research modules, my overarching aim is to teach students how to critically appraise the literature. The students learn how to determine research quality; the evidence which should inform their clinical practice, and how to interpret research findings; to understand their implications for clinical practice and for future research. Learning by doing is an essential step, students must critically appraise, must demonstrate