Last October, the Peter Harrison Centre (PHC) welcomed ten new doctoral researchers, marking an exciting step in the continued growth and evolving scope of the Centre’s research. As their projects begin to take shape, we are delighted to showcase the wide range of academic backgrounds, professional experiences, and shared curiosity that each new researcher brings to the PHC community.
To help everyone get to know our newest cohort, we are sharing a short series of introductions. Each feature spotlights one doctoral researcher, offering insight into their journey to doctoral study, their previous experience, and the questions driving their PhD research.
This is the fourth article in the series and introduces Zoe Palmer.
Zoe has a background in sport and exercise science, starting at Hartpury College and continuing with a BSc in Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Exeter from 2019 to 2022. Throughout her undergraduate degree, she focused on biomechanics and kinesiology, anatomy and physiology, statistics embedded in research methods and motor control. Her dissertation project focused on biomechanical analysis and physiological differences between unilateral, bilateral amputees and non-disabled runners as a control.
Motivated to deepen her understanding and explore the engineering aspects of rehabilitation devices, prosthetics, and exoskeletons, Zoe started at Nottingham Trent University in 2024 to pursue a master’s degree in medical engineering, where she studied topics like medical application of smart materials, prosthetics and rehabilitation devices, fluid dynamics in physiology and medical signal and image processing. When completing her final project, she chose to pursue an independent project based on her passion: designing and fabricating a running blade with integrated miniature IMU sensors to collect biomechanical data.
Alongside working for Disability Snowsports UK as a ski instructor, Zoe joined the Peter Harrison Centre in October as a funded Doctoral Researcher to explore ‘Para-Athlete Equipment Interfaces’, supervised by Professor Tom Slatter, Dr Tom Paulson and Professor Vicky Tolfrey and in partnership with UKSI. Her research will examine how para-athletes interact with their equipment and environment to improve performance, comfort, and safety. By applying sport science, biomechanics, and mechanical engineering, she will analyse factors like contact pressure and movement patterns to identify performance limitations with a goal to redesign and optimise equipment to better meet the specific needs of para-athletes in different sports.
Over the coming weeks, we will continue to introduce the rest of our doctoral cohort. Each profile offers a closer look at the people behind our research and the ideas shaping the future of the Peter Harrison Centre.
Look out for the next introduction soon.