Rate My Professor Zona Rens

Zona Rens is a Lecturer in the Curtin School of Allied Health within the Faculty of Health Sciences at Curtin University. She holds a Bachelor in Occupational Therapy from the University of the Orange Free State in South Africa and a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy focused on Neuroscience from the University of the Witwatersrand, completed between 2000 and 2002. With 21 years of clinical experience in paediatrics and neurology, and a total of 20 years practicing occupational therapy in various contexts in South Africa and Australia, Rens joined Curtin University as a full-time academic staff member in 2006. Her clinical background informs her teaching and research, particularly in neurosciences, where she is a regular attendee of the Neurotrauma Research Program at the Western Australian Institute of Medical Research.

For the past 15 years, Rens has lectured in neurorehabilitation, designing and delivering coursework in Australia and Vietnam, including partnerships aimed at sustainable occupational therapy development. She served as Country Coordinator for South Africa in Curtin University's GoGlobal Health Sciences program. Currently, she is a SENSe researcher and has commenced a PhD at La Trobe University, focusing on developing a real-time knowledge translation app for therapists trained in SENSe. Rens's contributions to teaching were acknowledged with an Honourable Mention in the Curtin University Excellence in Teaching Awards. Her peer-reviewed publication record includes co-authorship on 'A scoping review of observation-based tools for assessing use of the upper limb in activities,' published in Disability and Rehabilitation in 2025, which examines tools for occupational therapists to evaluate upper limb function in daily activities. This work reflects her ongoing commitment to advancing clinical assessment methods in neurorehabilitation.