Universidade Nacional da Irlanda em Galway ­­ Ciência sem Fronteiras PhD Project Template Use one form per project Please complete & submit to international@nuigalway.ie as soon as possible, and by 27/11/2012 In your email, begin the subject line with [SWB] (be sure to use square brackets) to ensure that your email is filed correctly. Emails will be automatically filed PI name & contact details: School: Has project been agreed with head (or nominee) of proposed registration school? Agnes Shiel agnes.shiel@nuigalway.ie Health Sciences Research Centre / group School of Health Sciences affiliation: Research group / centre website: http://www.nuigalway.ie/faculties_departments/occupation al_therapy/index.html PI website / link to CV: http://www.nuigalway.ie/faculties_departments/occupation al_therapy/staff/agnes_shiel.html Brief summary of PI research / research group / centre activity (2 or 3 lines max): If you are already involved in relevant scholarly activities relating to Brazil, please mention them here. The overall themes of the research include assessment and evidence based practice in neurorehabilitation. Examples of current research includes the redevelopment of the Wessex Head Injury Matrix (a scale for assessment of people with disorders of consciousness) and research on assessment and management of patients with Disorders of Consciousness (DoC) particularly in relation to accurate assessment where more sophisticated approaches such as functional neuroimaging are not available. Title & brief description of PhD project (suitable for publication on web): Title: Efficacy and application of rehabilitation with people with dementia There is clear evidence that people with dementia can benefit from rehabilitative approaches eg Errorless Learning (EL) and Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) to name but two. However, to date the application of these approaches has been limited using outcomes such as name learning or generic assessments of Quality of Life. The aim of this project is to use these approaches to improve functional and occupational performance so that people with dementia may be able to maintain function for longer thus facilitating them in remaining in the community and potentially reducing the burden of care for a longer period than would otherwise have been the case. Unique selling points of PhD project in NUI Galway: NUI Galway projects should emphasise features that are not typically available in Brazil – specific equipment, multi‐disciplinarity, aspects of structured programme, links with industry, placements, links with other research groups etc. The discipline is a relatively new programme (established in 2003) and offers clinical and research Universidade Nacional da Irlanda em Galway ­­ Ciência sem Fronteiras expertise in the area together with collaborators in the UK and in Europe. There is an established support system for PhD students and an opportunity to gain clinical experience in the relevant discipline through the structured PhD modules which include three clinical placement modules. Name & contact details for project queries, if different from PI named above: Please indicate the graduates of which disciplines that should apply: Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy, Psychology Ciência sem Fronteiras / Science Without Borders Priority Area: Please indicate the specific programme priority area under which the proposed PhD project fits‐ choose only one (tick box): Engineering and other technological areas Pure and Natural Sciences (e.g. mathematics, physics, chemistry) Health and Biomedical Sciences Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) Aerospace Pharmaceuticals Oil, Gas and Coal Renewable Energy Minerals Biotechnology Nanotechnology and New Materials Technology of prevention and remediation of natural disasters Biodiversity and Bioprospection Marine Sciences Creative Industry New technologies in constructive engineering Please indicate which of the following applies to this project (referring to Science Without Borders arrangements): Suitable only as a Full PhD (Y/N): _ ____ Available to candidates seeking a Sandwich PhD arrangement (Y/N): _____ Suitable for either/Don’t know: _Y____