Professor Philip Rowe

Personal statement

Professor Rowe obtained a BSc Hons in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Birmingham (1982) followed by a PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Strathclyde (1990). For his PhD work he was awarded the European Society of Biomechanics, Clinical Biomechanics Award in 1987. After completing his PhD he held various academic appointments at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, UK. where he pursued his own research and was also responsible for research development within the School of Health Sciences. He re-joined the Biomedical Engineering Department at Strathclyde in September 2005 as part of the HealthQWest research consortium for which he is Head of the Function for Living Research Programme. HealthQwest achieved the highest AHP rating in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise. Professor Philip Rowes main research areas lie in Clinical movement analysis, functional analysis, biomechanics of the human body in motion, rehabilitation engineering, rehabilitation technology, rehabilitation robotics and robotic surgery especially applied in orthopaedics and stroke. His research has helped elucidate the clinical outcomes of various musculoskeletal and neurological disorders such as Knee replacement surgery, Hip replacement surgery, Hip fractures, back pain, Hyper-mobility syndrome, Patello-femoral pain syndrome, stroke and aging. He is especially interested in the application of science and engineering methods to patient treatment and also their use to quantify and analyse the clinical effects of rehabilitation services. Professor Rowe has been a leading proponent of the WHO ICF as a model for patient care and treatment evaluation and his recent research and publications make use of this model. Professor Rowe considers that for service users to maximise their recovery from illness rehabilitation should encompass the physical, psychological, nutritional and social factors effecting function simultaneously and should assist the patient travel from the acute setting through rehabilitation to self care or care in the community. Professor Rowe is Research Director for the highly successful department of Biomedical Engineering which was ranked 1st in Scotland and 4th in the UK in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework with 90% of our research rated world class (4*) or internationally leading (3*).