PhD Alumni: Osman Ahmed

Dr Osman Ahmed completed his Postgrad Diploma in Sports Physiotherapy and then returned to complete his PhD on concussion and sport.

We talked to Osman about his time at Otago and what he is up to now.

About Osman

I am a Physiotherapist from England (my Dad was Egyptian, hence my name). I did my undergraduate training at the University of Nottingham, and then worked clinically in the UK including with disability sport (I went to the Paralympic Games in 2008 with Paralympics GB).

I first came to Otago in 2006 to do my Postgraduate Diploma in Sports Physiotherapy. I fell in love with Otago, Dunedin, and New Zealand as a whole, and so came back in November 2008 to start my PhD at the School of Physiotherapy with Professor John Sullivan and Professor Tony Schneiders. My PhD was on the topic of concussion in sport, and took an eHealth/online angle to it by using Facebook to help manage the return-to-play of young persons with a concussion.

Why Otago?

I was looking at doing some postgraduate physiotherapy training having worked clinically for a few years, and the options at Otago really appealed to me. The small class sizes were a draw, as it allowed more input from course tutors.

When contacting the School of Physiotherapy from the UK, the person who conducted the telephone interview had clearly read up about me and showed a genuine interest in me as a person- this made the transition to travelling across to the other side of the world a lot more manageable.

Through my distant Kiwi relatives I had heard a lot about New Zealand and especially the South Island, and so that was a big draw too.

What were the best parts of your time at Otago?

Probably the best part of my time at Otago was the people I met. I made some fantastic friends at Otago, both in the physio school and externally to that too. There is a brilliant community feel to the town, and socially I was never stuck for something to do.

Finding time to study was the hardest part. I am very much an outdoors person and so Dunedin was the right choice for me. The summers and the winters were both as good as each other- being so close to skifields was a huge draw in the winter, and making the most of the summer nights out on the bike across the peninsula was pretty great too.

What are you up to now?

After my PhD I came home to the UK and am now based in Bournemouth on the south coast of England. I am a lecturer in Physiotherapy at Bournemouth University, and also teach on the Sports Therapy course here.

I still work clinically, and work part-time for the Football Association with their disability football programme. I am the squad physiotherapist for the England Cerebral Palsy football team and recently returned from Holland where I was working with the squad at the 2018 European Cerebral Palsy Football Championships.

I am also a Senior Associate Editor at the British Journal of Sports Medicine, and have recently been elected to the medical committee of the International Blind Sports Association.

I do think my time at Otago set me up for a lot of these experiences and opportunities, and I can't recommend Otago enough.

Contact

If you would like to make contact with Osman ahmedo@bournemouth.ac.uk.