Ann-Marie Hughes

Research Fellow, School of Health Sciences and School of Electronics and Computer Science

Ann-Marie Hughes wanted to be either an explorer or an astronaut as a child and although she has not yet become either, she has certainly been adventurous in her career and contributed to a number of sectors.

Ann-Marie, who has been part of a team developing a novel system to aid the rehabilitation of stroke patients’ arms, comes across as an energetic, highly-motivated person who despite being single-minded in her pursuit of her ambitions, is open to opportunities as they arise.

As a teenager, she was particularly interested in chemistry and in the composition of materials.

She went on to study chemistry at the University of Exeter in 1986. After her degree, she worked in hazardous waste management and went on to do a Post-graduate qualification in Hazardous Waste Management at Loughborough University.

During her studies in waste management, Ann-Marie became interested in legislation and the Internet and she became very interested in information systems and saw how this could be applied to many different sectors.

'I began to see the potential in information systems and I became aware of the competitive advantage available to business through using the Internet,' she said.

Her interest led her to do an MSc in Information Systems at the University of Southampton.

This led to her going to work for the Financial Times in 1994 where she became involved in setting up the FT.com, which was, she considers, a great achievement.

After her time at the Financial Times, Ann-Marie decided that it was time for a significant career change. 'At this stage in my life, I had worked in the industrial and business sectors and I decided that I would like to experience working in healthcare,' she said.

She chose to train as a Physiotherapist because the career is challenging and provides a wide range of employment options both in the UK and abroad.

When she started her training, she did not know what her specialism would be but after working in a range of areas, she went work on a Stroke Unit in Christchurch, New Zealand.

'It was while working there that I developed a passion for working with people with neurological problems. The rehabilitation of stroke patients is often very repetitive and can be uninspiring using very basic equipment.

'We were often asking people to move their hand across a table using a tea towel to reduce friction. I really wanted to find something to inspire them and I wondered how we could use technology to increase their motivation.'

Around this time, Ann-Marie saw an advert for a PhD to be run between the University of Southampton’s School of Health Sciences and the School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS), to test the feasibility of using Iterative learning Control mediated by Functional Electrical Stimulation for upper limb rehabilitation after a stroke. So she applied for it.

Her research has led to her working with Chris Freeman at ECS to develop the first electrical stimulation mediated by iterative learning control system using a robotic work station. 'Electrical Stimulation helps people's muscles to move,' she said. Iterative learning control is a way of giving stroke patients just enough stimulation to help them to achieve a task.

She welcomed the opportunity to work with Chris and other engineers at ECS on this project. ‘It is exciting working with engineers,’ she said. 'A certain synergy is created when we work together in applying engineering theory to practical problems in healthcare and we learn from one another. Future solutions will certainly come from multidisciplinary research.'

When we met, Ann-Marie was in the process of writing up her research and on the look- out for another project to get her teeth into and was looking at Assistive Technologies.

If time and money were no object for her, she would spend her time working on applying new technology to improve the quality of life of people with chronic conditions.

'I think that my diverse experience has given me a skill for gauging what problems people face in their daily lives and looking at the technologies available and finding a way to connect the two,' she said.