Rate My Professor Emily Ward

Dr. Emily Ward is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Allied Health and Human Performance within the College of Health at Adelaide University. She lectures in the Physiotherapy program with a primary focus on paediatric content and serves as the Course Coordinator for Physiotherapy with Children and Families. Ward possesses significant expertise in delivering and managing clinical education, prioritizing supportive environments for physiotherapy students. Her professional career encompasses over 15 years in senior clinical physiotherapy roles across hospital, community, and private practice settings in South Australia and Western Australia. Ward completed her PhD in 2011, examining the effects of intervention parameters on children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). Her research specializations include child development, DCD, and paediatric orthopaedic conditions. She is eligible to co-supervise Masters and PhD students and contributes to programs such as the Bachelor of Physiotherapy, Master of Physiotherapy (Graduate Entry), Bachelor of Physiotherapy (Honours), and Master of Advanced Clinical Physiotherapy.

Ward's scholarly contributions are evidenced by numerous peer-reviewed publications. Key works include 'Feasibility, acceptability and tolerability of an augmented reality gaming intervention for children with and without movement impairments' (2025, Physical & Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics), 'Telehealth usability in a university student physiotherapy clinic during COVID-19' (2024, Musculoskeletal Care), 'Evaluating the influence of feedback on motor skill learning and motor performance for children with developmental coordination disorder: a systematic review' (2024, Frontiers in Pediatrics), 'Co-design for technology in paediatric therapy: developing an augmented reality intervention for children with developmental coordination disorder' (2024, Journal of Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies Engineering), 'Early mobilisation in critically ill children: does routine patient screening reduce time to commencing mobilisation?' (2023, Australian Critical Care), 'Differences in walking and running gait in children with and without developmental coordination disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis' (2021, Gait & Posture), and 'The reliability and validity of the weight-bearing lunge test in a Congenital Talipes Equinovarus population (CTEV)' (2021, PeerJ). She has demonstrated leadership in the profession as National Chairperson of the Australian Physiotherapy Association's National Paediatric Group from 2011 to 2014 and Scientific Committee Chairperson for the Paediatrics Stream in 2019.