Ro Julia Robotham

Short presentation

Research areas

My primary area of research lies within cognitive and clinical neuropsychology. I have primarily carried out research that seeks to improve our understanding of how our brain processes visual information and how we can assess visual perceptual deficits following brain injury. I am interested in developing neuropsychological assessment methods that can be used in acquired brain injury and cerebral palsy. I seek to contribute to improving the lives of individuals with acquired brain injury and other neurological conditions.  

I am also interested in critical perspectives of gender differences in the brain and cognition.

Current research projects

• The challenges faced by adults with cerebral palsy in Denmark:  

  Over the coming years, I plan to develop research projects in which we investigate the challenges faced by adults with cerebral palsy in Denmark.

• Back of the Brain (BoB) project: 

  The Back of the Brain Project is a research project in the field of cognitive neuropsychology. In cognitive neuropsychology we investigate patients who have had a brain injury and who have specific deficits in order to learn more about how the healthy brain works. In the BoB project we have assessed the visual perceptual abilities of 64 patients with stroke in the posterior brain regions in order to learn more about how the healthy brain processes vision. The project is a large collaboration with Prof. Alex Leff at University College London and Prof. Matt Lambon-Ralph at University of Cambridge. We are currently analysing data.

• Oxford Cognitive Screen (OCS)-Danish project:

  OCS is a new tool that efficiently identifies cognitive deficits in acute stroke patients. We have translated the tool into Danish and collected reference material from 91 neurotypical adults. Every year, approximately 12’000 individuals are affected by stroke in Denmark. Stroke often leads to physical and cognitive deficits. 35 %-90 % of stroke patients have cognitive deficits in the sub-acute phase of their illness. Cognitive deficits cover amongst others, problems with memory, concentration, and language as well as difficulties in planning daily life. In order to ensure that we can provide the appropriate rehabilitation to these patients, we need better tools to identify cognitive disorders. With OCS-Danish we expect to provide a part of the solution. We are planning to test a large group of Danish stroke patients with the tool in order to validate it in a Danish context.

Teaching

Department of Psychology

• Teacher of the course “Praksishold i neuropsykologi” (“Practical course in clinical neuropsychology”) at the Master level

• Lecture “Visual perception” at the course “Neuropsychology” at the Master level  

• Lecture ”Gender and the Brain” at the course ”Cognitive psychology” at the Bachelor level

External

• Lecture on ”Gender and the Brain” at the course ”Gender & Body Dynamics” at the Department of Sociology

• Course on brain anatomy, cognitive deficits following brain injury and visual perception for various forms of continued education programs for professionals working with brain injury rehabilitation.

• Talks about the brain, cognition and gender at various institutions.  

• Talks about topics such as: gender identity, sexuality and feminism, and the conditions and challenges for gender minorities in the Danish Health care system.  

Other activities

• President of The Danish Neuropsychological Society.