Dr Rosie Morris

I am currently a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Advanced Fellow. My research focuses on the relationship between mobility (including gait, turning, balance and falls) and cognition in older adults and people with neurological condictions (e.g. Parkinson’s disease, Dementia etc.), and the importance of this relationship to clinical practice; particularly Physiotherapy. To conduct my research and understand the relationships involved I use novel digital technologies that could be applied within clinical practice in the future. Ultimately, my research aims to develop new understanding of neurological impairment and enhance clinical assessment and rehabilitation. 

I completed my NIHR funded doctoral research at Newcastle University, which focused on gait as a biomarker for cognitive decline in people with Parkinson’s disease with additional work focusing on the gait-cognition relationship in people with PD in the ‘real-world’ environment. I completed a postdoctoral training year at Newcastle University working on a project that focused on non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation as an intervention to increase cholinergic output and how this related to gait and cognition performance. Following this I became a postdoctoral fellow at Oregon Health and Science University (USA), where my main focus was on a large NIH-funded national study (Pacific-UDALL) assessing the role of Parkinson’s disease genotype and how this influences the gait-cognition relationship. I was awarded an NIHR Advanced Fellowship which commenced September 2024, this award supports the transition to an independent investigator and will fund work to co-design and assess a rehabiltation programme to improve turning in people with Parkinson's disease. 

• Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
• Clinical validation of pupil response during walking in Parkinson’s Disease, Graham, L., Vitório, R., Godfrey, A., Mancini, M., Morris, R., Stuart, S. 10 Jun 2026, In: Sensors
• Digital measurement of ocular microtremor in Parkinson’s Disease: Analytical and clinical validation, Graham, L., Vitorio, R., Tait, P., Walker, R., Godfrey, A., Morris, R., Stuart, S. 18 Jun 2026, In: PLOS Digital Health
• Neural correlates of balance in people with Parkinson's disease, older and younger adults: an fNIRS study, Tait, P., Graham, L., Vitório, R., Watermeyer, T., Walker, R., McDonald, C., Mancini, M., Stuart, S., Morris, R. 14 May 2026, In: Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair
• Parkinson’s disease gait rehabilitation at scale: Insights on personalised smartphone-based music cueing, Wall, C., Sacre, A., McMeekin, P., Walker, R., Hetherington, V., Celik, Y., Vitório, R., Morris, R., Godfrey, A. 5 Jan 2026, In: PLoS One
• Preliminary evidence for cognitive associations of postural control in older and younger adults, and people with Parkinson’s disease, Tait, P., Graham, L., Vitório, R., Watermeyer, T., Walker, R., McDonald, C., Mancini, M., Stuart, S., Morris, R. 1 May 2026, In: Parkinsonism and Related Disorders
• Retraining gait in Parkinson’s Disease via a personalised app: A study protocol, Wall, C., McMeekin, P., Hetherington, V., Morris, R., Vitório, R., Walker, R., Godfrey, A. 15 Apr 2026, In: PLoS One
• Trialling the efficacy of a technological visuo-cognitive training program as a compensatory tool for visual rehabilitation after stroke: A pilot study, Jefferson, L., Fletcher, A., Morris, B., Das, J., Morris, R., Stuart, S., Dunne, S. 23 Feb 2026, In: PLOS Digital Health
• 130 - Head motion during turning in people with Parkinson’s disease and older adults: correlations with balance confidence, Cox, H., Rehman, R., Frith, J., Morris, R., Yarnall, A., Rochester, L., Alcock, L. 1 Apr 2025, In: Physiotherapy

• Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
• Invited talk: Parkinson's Research at Northumbria University 2020

• Lisa Graham Digital Eye-Movement Outcomes as Biomarkers for Neurological Injury and Disease Start Date: 15/09/2022 End Date: 31/10/2025
• Patrick Tait Neural correlates of balance in ageing and Parkinson’s disease Start Date: 01/10/2022 End Date: 21/03/2026

• Neurosciences PhD May 30 2017
• Physiotherapy MSc January 01 2013
• Neurosciences BSc (Hons) June 01 2010
• Member Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) 2019

• Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
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