Dr Bethan Collins

Biography	Bethan is Head of Occupational Therapy in the University of Salford, starting this role in March 2020. She began her occupational therapy career in Trinity College, Dublin, where she was the first ever Scholar of Trinity in Occupational Therapy and received the distinguished University Gold Medal for outstanding academic achievement. Bethan worked clinically in Dublin in areas including dementia care, stroke rehabilitation, care of the elderly and working with adults with physical disability. She returned to Trinity to complete a PhD in Occupational Therapy, and worked as a member of the academic team as well as with the University Disability Support service. In 2009, she moved to Bournemouth University and was Professional lead and Principal lecturer. Bethan is passionate about occupational therapy education and including critical disability theory in occupational therapy education, theory and practice. Her research focuses on everyday life and lifestyle for people with a range of disability or health experiences and particularly the enablers and barriers to people doing what they need and want to do in everyday life. She has a particular interest in research with blind and vision impaired people.
Research Interests	Lifestyle and everyday life for disabled adults and those with ongoing health issues; everyday life for people with low vision; critical disability studies; occupational therapy education.
Teaching and Learning	Occupational therapy theory and occupational science, research methods, critical disability theory., inclusive practice, health and wellbeing through occupation.
PhD Supervision Availability	Yes
PhD Topics	Lived experience of disabled people, experiences of people who are blind or partially sighted, occupational therapy, qualitative research, education research.