Occupational therapy expert brings out the big guns for Professorial Lecture

Professor of Occupational Therapy Katrina Bannigan is bringing out the big guns for her Professorial Lecture entitled The formula for life (and it’s not beer, cycling and sausages).

She has enlisted the help of a mystery celebrity to share his own experiences of occupational therapy and to demonstrate how vital it was to his own recovery. The identity of the celebrity will be kept under wraps until the Lecture on Tuesday, November 14, from 5-6.30pm in the Lantern room on campus. Sign up here - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/professorial-lecture-by-professor-katrina-bannigan-tickets-708448006057?aff=oddtdtcreator.

Professor Bannigan, from the Department of Occupational Therapy, Human Nutrition and Dietetics in the School of Health and Life Sciences, is a member of the Ageing Well Research Group in the Research Centre for Health (ReaCH). She will reflect on her 20 years of working in academia and use examples from her own research to illuminate how occupational therapists enable people to reach the “pinnacle of health”.

This year has been a whirlwind of success for the internationally-renowned researcher and educator, including being invited to give the prestigious 2024 Elizabeth Casson Memorial Lecture because of her "impactful leadership which has greatly fuelled the growth of evidence-based practice in occupational therapy" and being awarded a Fellowship of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT), the profession’s highest honour, in recognition of her "outstanding contribution" to the profession.

The title of Professor Bannigan’s Lecture pays homage to her husband Gerard, a lover of beer, cycling and sausages, for his support throughout her career and to her profession which she believes is “the formula for life”.

Professor Bannigan said: “This is a celebration of being part Glasgow Caledonian University and highlights the importance of occupational therapy education and research. I am inordinately proud to be a Professor here more than anything, in particular the focus on the common good and the civic mission. My grandfather used to work for the Glasgow Corporation before it became Glasgow City Council, it feels like I’ve come home to Glasgow, it’s really special.

“Still to this day some people say to me they’re not quite sure what occupational therapists do, so if anyone doesn’t have a clear idea of our role by the end of the lecture I need to give up and go home! I really want people to understand that occupational therapists really enable to achieve the pinnacle of health - top surgeons, paramedics, nurses are all amazing and I would never undermine what the rest of the medical profession do, but if you don’t get back to a life that means something to you, nothing else matters. I have a really nice example of a famous person’s personal experience of occupational therapy that will bring it all to life. All will be revealed during the Lecture.”

Professor Bannigan is looking forward to having the support of her family at the Lecture, as well as colleagues, students, research partners and members of the public. She is hoping lots of fellow occupational therapists will join her at the Lecture to celebrate 60 years of occupational therapy education in Glasgow. There will be a drinks celebration afterwards until 7.30pm.

She joined Glasgow Caledonian from the University of Plymouth in 2019 as Head of Occupational Therapy and Human Nutrition and Dietetics. She recently took up a new position as Professor of Occupational Therapy. Her research over the past 20 years has focused on developing and evaluating occupation-based complex interventions. She is currently co-authoring a textbook on evidence synthesis commissioned by Sage Publications. Her award of Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2013 recognised her leadership in teaching research in health and social care.

With Anita Volkert, Lecturer in Occupational Therapy and Allied Health Professions Practice Placements Lead, Professor Bannigan has been campaigning for the introduction of a 2-1 placement system for allied health professions (AHPs) students to end a growing crisis. At the moment placements are one student to one member of clinical staff but the researchers insist that making it at least two students to one staff member would address the shortage of placements available.

Professor Bannigan is also an Honorary Professor of Occupational Therapy at University of Plymouth, an assessor of research applications for the Elizabeth Casson Trust, a member of the RCOT Research Foundation Advisory Board and the founder of the University’s Occupational Therapy Writing Group (@otwg_gcu), which is targeted at increasing the writing productivity of occupational therapists and facilitates two online writing groups every week.