Sinéad Hynes

Sinéad is a Senior Lecturer/ Associate Professor in occupational therapy at the University of Galway. She started in this role in December 2015 following the completion of a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of British Columbia funded by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (US). In this position she was involved in a number of projects in the area of multiple sclerosis including interventions for cognitive difficulties andintention tremor and the assessment of hand function. Prior to this, she worked for the NHS on a large occupational therapy trial for people with dementia (Valuing Active Life in Dementia;VALID). She completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge, based at the MRC-Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, in 2013. She is a CORU registered occupational therapist- Registration number: OT021880.

Is léachtóir sinsir í Sinéad i dteiripe shaothair in Ollscoil na hÉireann, Gaillimh. Chuir sí fúithi i nGaillimh i mí na Nollag, 2015. Sular tháinig sí go Gaillimh, bhí taighde iardhochtúireachta ar bun aici thall sa University of British Columbia, Ceanada, taighde a bhí maoinithe ag Cumann Náisiúnta na Scléaróise Iolraí (Stáit Aontaithe Mheiriceá). Bhí sí ag obair ar thionscadal taighde i réimse na scléaróise iolraí, a bhí ag plé le deacrachtaí cognaíocha, le creathanna sa chorp agus leis na bealaí éagsúla le measúnú a dhéanamh ar fheidhm láimhe. Roimhe sin, doibrigh sí don NHS i Sasana ar thástáil theiripe shaothair a bhí dírithe ar dhaoine le néaltrú. Bhain sí PhD amach ó Ollscoil Cambridge, Sasana san aonad MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences in 2013.

CORU Registration number: OT021880.

Dr. Hynes welcomes applicants for both Masters and PhD research. Research with people with multiple sclerosis, dementia or older adults are particularly welcomed. Please contact [email protected] for more information.

Dr Hynes research interest lies largely in the area of neurorehabiltation. Her research to date has been with people with multiple sclerosis, older adults, people with brain injury and people with dementia. Dr Hynes has many years of experience working with occupational therapists, people with dementia, multiple sclerosis, acquired brain injury and older adults- with particular expertise in working and research in the area of cognition with multiple sclerosis. Her current research focuses on the testing of an evidence-based, occupation-based programme for people with multiple sclerosis who experience cognitive difficulties (COB-MS). She is a member of the Expert Panel for MS Ireland and their representative on the ECTRIMS Council. She is the Co-Chair of the ECTRIMS Young HCP and Researchers in Multiple Sclerosis Committee.  

Dr Hynes has experience of managing and running clinical trials. As well as the current definitive trial of the COB-MS, she has worked as a trial manager for £2million community occupational therapy dementia trial (ISRCTN 10748953). This was a multi-centre large-scale dementia trial in the UK, the largest occupational therapy trial to take place in the UK.

She has valuable experience in research leadership and has supervised and mentored students at both undergraduate and post-graduate (including PhD) level. ORCID: 0000-0002-3199-7355

Lecturer on the BSc(Hons) Occupational Therapy programme at the University of Galway