I am interested in community-based participatory research with BME and other socially excluded populations.
I am also a CORE20PLUS ambassador and my project is about community-led and community embedded pain care. I am deeply interested in the intersection of pain care and wider cultural, historical and societal narratives and structures. I have recently organised a first pain workshop placed in the local community and voluntary organisation for BME women, where we explored the meaning of pain outside of biomedicine, as well as barriers to access to NHS-based pain services. Collaborating with this organisation has taught so much about the importance of relationship building, trust, and humility.
I have experience in conducting qualitative research; from ethnography, anthropology, grounded theory, and phenomenology.
I work full time as a clinical specialist osteopath in pain management in one community pain management team.

Acquired brain injury, hidden disability, cognitive communication disorders, long term impacts following ABI, communication impact in health and social care.

Fiona has led multiple studies to evaluate self-management approaches within healthcare teams including stroke, acute brain injury and major trauma. In 2013 Fiona set up a social enterprise ‘Bridges Self-management*’, which has developed and evaluated an approach to personalised self-management support co-designed with people living with complex long-term conditions and used by more than 800 acute and community healthcare teams across the UK.

In 2014, Fiona led the first NIHR funded study to evaluate the use of Experience–Based Co-Design to explore ways to increase therapeutic activity in stroke units. Fiona is currently the Co-lead for a large NIHR funded Listen project (Long Covid Personalised Self-managemenT support- co-design and EvaluatioN) and has led on the co-design of the intervention working in partnership with people living with Long Covid- this trial completes in October 2023. Fiona is also a co-applicant on projects funded by HTA and NIHR Global Health to co-design and evaluate personalised self-management support for people living with joint pain, arthritis and stroke.

Fiona is Deputy lead for the Implementation Science theme which is part of the Applied Research Collaboration – South London, and is on the selection committee for the HEE/NIHR ICA Programme, Advanced Clinical and Practitioner Academic Fellowship (ACAF) she is also a member of the European Life After Stroke committee.

Fiona has expertise in mixed methods and participatory research, co-production, and improvement/implementation science. Her focus is on co-design and working in partnership with patients, families, and clinical teams to develop and implement self-management training, interventions and resources. She currently supervises four PhD students based in the UK and Sweden

In 2014 Fiona became a fellow of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists and in 2017 Fiona was awarded an MBE for services to rehabilitation.

*Bridges Self-Management is a social enterprise run in partnership with St Georges University of London and Kingston University www.bridgesselfmanagement.org.uk