Fionnuala Geoghegan

With an honours degree in Sports Rehabilitation, the start of Fionnuala’s professional career was in private physiotherapy practise alongside being the lead physiotherapist at a Rugby Union club. This enabled her to develop professional skills, knowledge, and professional confidence through active research, continuing professional development, and reflection on practice.
Fionnuala started her academic career combining lecturing with establishing, and from that point on, practising in and managing the University of Bolton teaching clinic; the Sports and Spinal Injuries Clinic (SSIC). She has continued to develop her role as a Lecturer Practitioner since then. Working in collaboration with sports science colleagues in the ‘Athlete Development Centre’ (ADC), sports and exercise participants from recreational to professional, have benefitted from this professional provision, whilst providing students with invaluable applied experiences. An interest in treating spines and in the use of clinical Pilates has afforded her with a successful reputation for treating complex musculoskeletal back and neck cases.
Her research interests include musculoskeletal injury, the stability of the spine and exercise prescription, along with Orthotic use in runners. She is enrolled in a PhD in a related topic.
In 2011 she gained a Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education and since then she has been a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. With her knowledge and competence in her subject area, along with an understanding of pedagogical principles, her character and caring nature have enabled her to be a successful senior lecturer and personal tutor.
A Health Care Professions Council Registered Physiotherapist since 2006, she is also a member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists. Fionnuala is an instructor and assessor of the Rugby Football Union Pre-Hospital Immediate Care in Sport – Level 2. She has designed and delivered presentations on a variety of topics to sports clubs, British Association of Sport Rehabilitators (BASRaT) members, university staff, and clinical staff.
Fionnuala was the Academic Coordinator for Standard Enhancement and the Learner Experience (AC SELE) for the school of Sport and Biological Science between 2017 and 2019. This afforded her the responsibility for ensuring the quality of existing programmes and assisting with the development of new and updated programmes that meet the needs of students.
Fionnuala continues to maintain her lecturer-practitioner role through practising and supervising students in the SSIC, and lecturing in her subject specialism in Sport Rehabilitation at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, alongside delivering to Medical Biology and Biomedical Engineering students.