Personal profile
Research interests
I am currently a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Advanced Fellow. My research focuses on the relationship between mobility (including gait, turning, balance and falls) and cognition in older adults and people with neurological condictions (e.g. Parkinson’s disease, Dementia etc.), and the importance of this relationship to clinical practice; particularly Physiotherapy. To conduct my research and understand the relationships involved I use novel digital technologies that could be applied within clinical practice in the future. Ultimately, my research aims to develop new understanding of neurological impairment and enhance clinical assessment and rehabilitation.
I completed my NIHR funded doctoral research at Newcastle University, which focused on gait as a biomarker for cognitive decline in people with Parkinson’s disease with additional work focusing on the gait-cognition relationship in people with PD in the ‘real-world’ environment. I completed a postdoctoral training year at Newcastle University working on a project that focused on non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation as an intervention to increase cholinergic output and how this related to gait and cognition performance. Following this I became a postdoctoral fellow at Oregon Health and Science University (USA), where my main focus was on a large NIH-funded national study (Pacific-UDALL) assessing the role of Parkinson’s disease genotype and how this influences the gait-cognition relationship. I was awarded an NIHR Advanced Fellowship which commenced September 2024, this award supports the transition to an independent investigator and will fund work to co-design and assess a rehabiltation programme to improve turning in people with Parkinson's disease.
Education/Academic qualification
Neurosciences, PhD, Gait as a predictor of cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease, Newcastle University
2013 → 2016
Award Date: 30 May 2017
Physiotherapy, MSc, Physiotherapy (pre-reg), Northumbria University
2011 → 2013
Award Date: 1 Jan 2013
Neurosciences, BSc (Hons), Neuroscience, University of Leeds
2007 → 2010
Award Date: 1 Jun 2010
Fingerprint
- 1 Similar Profiles
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
-
Parkinson’s disease gait rehabilitation at scale: Insights on personalised smartphone-based music cueing
Wall, C., Sacre, A., McMeekin, P., Walker, R., Hetherington, V., Celik, Y., Vitório, R., Morris, R. & Godfrey, A., 5 Jan 2026, In: PLoS One. 21, 1, 17 p., e0340106.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Preliminary evidence for cognitive associations of postural control in older and younger adults, and people with Parkinson’s disease
Tait, P., Graham, L., Vitório, R., Watermeyer, T., Walker, R., McDonald, C., Mancini, M., Stuart, S. & Morris, R., 1 May 2026, In: Parkinsonism and Related Disorders. 146, 9 p., 108295.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Retraining gait in Parkinson's Disease via a personalised app: A study protocol
Wall, C., McMeekin, P., Hetherington, V., Morris, R., Vitório, R., Walker, R. & Godfrey, A., 15 Apr 2026, In: PLoS One. 21, 4, 17 p., e0346508.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile3 Downloads (Pure) -
Trialling the efficacy of a technological visuo-cognitive training program as a compensatory tool for visual rehabilitation after stroke: A pilot study
Jefferson, L., Fletcher, A., Morris, B., Das, J., Morris, R., Stuart, S. & Dunne, S., 23 Feb 2026, In: PLOS Digital Health. 5, 2, 21 p., e0000781.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
130 - Head motion during turning in people with Parkinson’s disease and older adults: correlations with balance confidence
Cox, H., Rehman, R. Z. U., Frith, J., Morris, R., Yarnall, A., Rochester, L. & Alcock, L., 1 Apr 2025, In: Physiotherapy. 126, Supplement 1, p. 15-16 2 p., 101673.Research output: Contribution to journal › Meeting Abstract › peer-review
Activities
- 1 Invited talk
-
Parkinson's Research at Northumbria University
Stuart, S. (Speaker) & Morris, R. (Speaker)
27 Jan 2020Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk