Charikleia Sinani

I worked as a physiotherapist in Greece and in the National Service for several years, specializing in neurological rehabilitation, particularly children with neurodevelopmental disorders. In 1999 I was awarded a Scholarship from the ‘State Foundation of Scholarships’ (Greece) to do my MSc (full-time) in Neurorehabilitation at Brunel University and a PhD (part-time, partially funded) in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder at University of Leeds.

My first teaching job was as a lab teaching assistant in the Sports and Exercise Department (Leeds). In 2003 I worked as a senior lecturer in Physiotherapy at Manchester Metropolitan University and in 2004 I moved to Leeds Metropolitan University. In 2014 I became the principal lecturer and the Head of Physiotherapy at the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at York St. John.

In 2005, I was appointed as leader of the Yorkshire Allied Health Professionals Research Network (AHPRN) formerly known as the National Physiotherapy Research Network (NPRN). Since then the Network has grown and changed its structure. In January 2013, the Yorkshire Hub of the Allied Health Professionals Research Network amalgamated with the York Allied Health Professionals Research and effectiveness forum and the NIHR North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire comprehensive local research network to form a Pan Yorkshire speciality Allied Health Professionals research network.

The aim of this network is to:

Achieve greater AHP research engagement and research collaborations
Promote the development of high-quality innovative research activity and expand AHP research capacity across the region
Raise the profile and impact of Yorkshire AHP research activity
Identify local AHP research priorities
Achieve wider dissemination of AHP research findings
Encourage greater utilisation of research in the development of practice, in the planning and management of AHP services and in AHP leadership and professional development.