Eva Swinnen

Eva works as an assistant professor (100% ZAP) neurological rehabilitation and rehabilitation technology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Rehabilitation Research Group (RERE). She teaches neurorehabilitation and rehabilitation technology in the rehabilitation sciences and physiotherapy education program (bachelor and master) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, in the 2nd master interuniversity specialization program neurological rehabilitation and in the international Postgraduate program Rehabilitation & Humans Sustainable Technology (https://www.vub.be/nl/studeren-aan-de-vub/alle-opleidingen/bachelor-en-masteropleidingen-aan-de-vub/rehabilitation-human-sustainable-technology) 

She is head of the Brubotics Rehabilitation Research Center (BRRC, https://brrc.research.vub.be/, (a state-of-the-art movement analysis lab focusing on robotics and technology for rehabilitation), chair of the alliance research group ‘Rehabilitation-technology for people after a brain injury’ (REBI, collaboration VUB-UGent) and co-chair of the ‘Rehabilitation Research’ group (RERE; https://rere.research.vub.be/). 

E. Swinnen is part of the European Stroke Organisation (ESO) guideline working group motor/gait rehabilitation and member of the SIG ‘Telerehabilitation’ of the World Federation of Neurological Rehabilitation (WFNR). She is  member of the Society of Movement Analysis Laboratories in the Low Lands (www.SMALLL.eu), board member (treasurer) of the Belgium Society for Neurorehabilitation (https://www.bsnr.org/), steering group member of the Brussels Human Robotics Research Center (https://www.brubotics.eu/), and vice-president of the Center for Neurosciences of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (https://c4n.research.vub.be/). 

• Career path

E. Swinnen (°1982) obtained a Master in Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy in 2005 and a PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy in 2014 (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, title: Neurological gait rehabilitation: the influence of gait speed, body weight support and robot-assistance). After her PhD, she combined part-time post-doctoral positions at VUB with part-time positions at Erasmus University College (research coordinator) and UAntwerp (teaching rehabilitation sciences). In October 2020, she became a full-time ZAP member at the VUB and since 2022, she is academic director of the new Brubotics Rehabilitation Research Center on the medical campus of the VUB. The focus of her research lies in the domain of neurological (gait) rehabilitation and rehabilitation technology (i.e. Virtual and Augmented reality, serious gaming, and robotics). She drives multi- and interdisciplinary collaborations and is the bridge between developers and clinicians when developing, creating and clinical testing of user-centered rehabilitation technologies.

On one hand, her projects concentrate on the development of user-centered technologies and robotics for rehabilitation, while on the other hand, they focus on the clinical testing (biomechanical and functional) of prototypes and commercially available technologies. 

E. Swinnen has several international collaborations and works closely with several other research groups from Brubotics and the Center of Neurosciences and with the UZBrussel, various hospitals and rehabilitation centers in Flanders (e.g. Inkendaal and Revarte)