Dr Toby Ellmers
Honorary Research Fellow - Life Sciences
Summary
I gained my PhD from Brunel University London in 2019, receiving the Vice Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Doctoral Research. This work explored how psychological influences - specifically anxiety, and associated changes in cognitive processing - impact the way that individuals control walking behaviours. Particular focus was placed on exploring how these psychological factors influence visuomotor control (i.e., visual search and gaze behaviour during walking) in older adult populations with balance problems. Broadly, my research is primarily interested in exploring how psychological factors influence the way that clinical populations and individuals at a greater risk of falling control balance and gait. I have experience using a number of neuropsychological and human movement science techniques, including eye tracking, EEG, EMG, 3-D motion analysis and force plates.
Following the completion of my PhD, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the university's Department of Life Sciences, before joining the University of Exeter as an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow.
In 2021, I was awarded a 4-year Wellcome Trust Sir Henry Wellcome Fellowship to join Imperial College London, where I will explore the psychological and attentional factors contributing to dizziness in older adults. However, I retain an Honorary Research Fellow at Brunel University London and am actively involved in a number of collaborative research projects being conducted.
Qualifications
PhD (Brunel University London) - Rehabilitation Psychology. Thesis title: Examining links between anxiety, attentional focus, and altered control of locomotion
MSc (St. Mary's University) - Applied Sport Psychology
BSc (Hons.) (University of Reading) - Psychology