Rehabilitation and performance professionals came together at BU for an evening dedicated to the future of technology‑enhanced rehabilitation, exploring how data‑driven tools are reshaping assessment, treatment and return‑to‑play strategies.

Matt Best, Lecturer in Sports Therapy in the School of Allied Health and Exercise Science, and Sam Chapman, Strength And Conditioning Coach shared their practical approach to criteria‑based rehabilitation, offering insight into the methods they apply daily within both teaching and applied practice at the Physical Performance Hub.

Southampton FC First Team Physiotherapist Luke Thomas delivered a focused deep dive into calf injuries, covering prognosis, structured rehab planning and the testing frameworks that support decision‑making in elite football environments.

The VALD team rounded out the evening with hands‑on demonstrations, giving attendees the chance to experience best‑practice testing workflows and explore how technology can elevate clinical and performance outcomes.

Thank you to all presenters, partners, and attendees for contributing to such a valuable and forward‑thinking event, strengthening our community and reinforcing BU’s civic role in shaping safe and effective practice.

BU MRes Student Sarah Clark Shares Lived-Experience Insights on “Living with Autism and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome” at the international online EDS ECHO Mental Health Summit on 1st November. 

Sarah graduated last November from her MSc in Clinical and Developmental Neuropsychology and has since embarked on a part-time MRes research project titled “Time to diagnosis reduction for autistic people with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder”. This work is deeply informed by Sarah’s own late diagnosis of Autism in May 2022, and her lived experience of co-occurring hEDS (diagnosed in 2020).

Harnessing this dual perspective, Sarah is committed to amplifying the voices of those navigating complex diagnostic pathways, advocating for change, and supporting trauma-informed, neuro-affirming approaches to healthcare.

Sarah works for Autism Hampshire as one of their expert by experience Autism trainers on the Oliver McGowan Training Programme, and also sits as a Patient Expert in the EDS International Consortium (Psychiatric and Psychological Aspects Working Group).

Sarah is part of the Autism Ambassador Scheme in Hampshire and attended the yearly Autism Ambassador Conference in Winchester on 6^th November, where a three-minute video of her achievements over the past year was shown: https://youtu.be/Ric_IT_QTPk (everyone at the conference was amazed at how someone could do so many things in one year!)

The Summit

The EDS ECHO Mental Health Summit convened specialists from mental-health and hypermobility disciplines, along with people with lived experience, to explore the intersections of chronic pain, interoception, emotional regulation, identity and support needs.

Sarah’s presentation — titled “Living with Autism & EDS” — situated personal narrative alongside her MSc and MRes lived-experience research, offering attendees a unique lens on the lived reality from both a personal and research perspective.

Additionally, Sarah’s abstract was accepted for a Poster Presentation of her MRes Research at the EDS Scientific Symposium in Toronto in September.

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Academic research in the creative industries often identifies real-world challenges. We’re interested in inequalities, structural gaps, working conditions, management practices and much beside. But translating those insights into practical change isn’t always straightforward. So when The British Academy awarded me an Innovation Fellowship last year, I was able to use my time to develop a modest but tangible intervention that attempted to do both: contribute to scholarly thinking on freelance labour, and offer something of genuine value to people working in TV.

It’s called Supportive Offboarding. The core idea is simple. When a freelance contract ends, the employer offers a short, structured conversation with someone at arm’s length from the show. The purpose isn’t to assess the freelancer’s performance, or simply to extract feedback for the employer. Instead, the conversation focuses on reflection, appreciation, and a forward-looking discussion about career goals and next steps. In other words, it’s about support, not surveillance.

The project emerged from ongoing research into freelance working cultures in screen production which has been the focus of much of our work at the Centre for Excellence in Media Practice (CEMP). What we have discovered is that while much attention is given to how people enter the TV industry, far less thought is given to the sustainability of those careers. Most work in this sector is contingent, based on short-term contracts. The way they end, and freelancers move on, shapes their sense of professional identity, belonging and ultimately, their inclination to remain in the industry. Offering no feedback, taking no interest in their future, asking for no feedback, and sometimes forgetting to even say thank you, can compound feelings of disposability.

To test the intervention, we partnered with the media conglomerate, Fremantle, responsible for shows like Britian’s Got Talent, The Apprentice, and The Rap Game. We even included the Australian soap, Neighbours as part of our study. Freelancers were invited to take part in offboarding conversations. Responses were overwhelmingly positive. For many, it was the first time they had been offered structured space to reflect on a production once it had ended.

From a research perspective, this was as much about method as it was about findings. The process was co-designed with industry partners, shaped by production constraints, and aimed at practical feasibility. Our challenge wasn’t just to analyse a problem but to create something that might be adopted in live settings: something simple, repeatable, and valuable. What this project affirmed for me is that meaningful collaboration between academia and industry is not only possible but it can produce benefits for both. Research doesn’t need to sit at a distance from practice. It can help to shape it.

My report, Supportive Offboarding: Report on the design, development and testing of an intervention to improve the way the TV industry supports its freelancers (https://doi.org/10.18746/shkc-1383) is published this week.

Adele McMahon (PhD student in the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences) recently applied for the £3,000 scholarship offered by the Social Workers’ Educational Trust (SWET). And although she wasn’t selected for the top award, she was incredibly honoured to be shortlisted as one of the final three candidates.

As recognition of her work and proposal, she was awarded a £500 grant. This funding will go directly towards the dissemination of her research findings, helping to ensure that the insights she’s developed reaches practitioners, educators, and wider communities who can benefit from them.

Adele is deeply grateful to SWET for this opportunity and their support of her research exploring what young people say about their lived experiences as adolescent parents in the child protection system.