Sheffield Hallam University

Gail Mountain is Professor of occupational therapy research and outgoing Director of the Centre for Health and Social Care Research (CHSCR), Sheffield Hallam University. CHRCR employs clinical researchers from allied health, nursing and social work and social scientists and is a centre of excellence for applied research involving end users of services.

Gail Mountain is an expert in the promotion of wellbeing in older people, technological applications and in dementia care. She was the principal investigator for an EPSRC EQUAL (extending quality of life of older and disabled people) consortium based project which prototyped technology for upper limb stroke rehabilitation. This has led to a partnership with Philips R&D to further develop the prototype (called Target) and make it ready for clinical testing. She is Director of a further four year EPSRC EQUAL Consortium project (SMART2) which involves three other universities, industrial Philips, BT and user advocacy groups and is examining how technologies can be harnessed to promote self management in people with long term health conditions. CHRCR is leading the clinical aspects of this project for people with stroke. The work of the SMART Consortium and the researchers at Sheffield Hallam University is resulting in high levels of national and international interest. Other researchers at CHSRC are involved in a further EPSRC project Motivating Mobility, which is looking at how technologies can be used to encourage activity and leisure for older people. A collaboration with the Design Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University has led to a research group LAB4Living, which Gail Mountain Co-directs. The group has just been awarded an EPSRC project to examine bathroom design for older people with age related disability