Mascha Pauelsen

I am a PhD student within the BAHRT-project. BAHRT: Balanced Human and Robot is a joint Swedish Research Council funded project between physiotherapy and control engineering. We aim to extend the understanding of motor control, falls, and fall related concerns. We do this through novel postural sway analysis, robotics and mathematical modeling.

I knew early during my bachelor's education that I wanted to move on into physiotherapy research. Due to my involvement in flat track roller derby and the lack of scientific information about it I was interested in creating knowledge about the epidemiology of sportsinjuries within this new and exciting sport. My bachelor's thesis gave me the oportunity to explore just that.

After finding a high number of concussions I moved on to contact prof. Yelverton Tegner who mentored me through the process of writing my first article. Later he mentored me through writing an article on concussion incidense in an elite ice hockey team, which I worked on for my master's.

Now, I am honored to be working as a part of the BAHRT researchgroup:
Prof. Lars Nyberg, HLV (main supervisor)
Ulrik Röijzon, PhD, HLV (assistant supervisor)
Irene Vikman, PhD, HLV  (assistant supervisor)
Annika Närslund, PhD, HLV
Prof. Thomas Gustafsson, SRT
George Nikolakopoulos, PhD, SRT
Georgios Andrikopoulos, PhD, SRT
Umut Mamikoglu, PhD-student, SRT

For my research I make use of our motion laboratory and several softwares to be able to analyse balance performance. The biomechanic data is combined with survey data collected from elderly with and without fall-related concerns. By combining these data sources we will be able to shine a light on balance and fall-related concerns from many different angles. We work together with a team from the technical faculty (see above) to analyse and design models of human postural control, which could later be used and tested in a humanoid robot.