Rate My Professor Michael Curtin

Associate Professor Michael Curtin is Head of the School of Allied Health, Exercise and Sports Sciences in the Faculty of Science and Health at Charles Sturt University. He earned a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy from the University of Queensland in 1983, a Master of Philosophy from Oxford Brookes University in 1996 with a dissertation on Tetraplegic Hand Grips, and a Doctorate of Education from the University of Southampton in 2004 on The Biographies of Young People with Motor Impairment. His career commenced with clinical occupational therapy positions in Toowoomba, Hobart, and Ballarat, focusing on children and young people. From 1987 to 1991, he developed occupational therapy services in Gaborone, Francistown, and surrounding areas in Botswana. Subsequently, he worked as a research occupational therapist for four years at the National Spinal Injuries Centre, Stoke Mandeville Hospital, England, before serving as an occupational therapy lecturer at the University of Southampton from 1995 to 2003. Joining Charles Sturt University in 2004 as an occupational therapy lecturer, he progressed to Discipline Lead of the occupational therapy course in 2005, Associate Head of School of Community Health in 2014, and Head of School in 2017.

Michael Curtin's research interests center on the lived experiences of people with disabilities, their significant others, and supporting professionals, utilizing qualitative approaches informed by biographical and phenomenological philosophies, alongside mixed methods. His projects encompass spinal cord injury grip effectiveness, life stories of children with cerebral palsy, participation of adults with brain injuries in regional areas, occupational therapy communities of practice, and transition experiences of middle-aged adults with disabilities. He has co-authored two World Health Organization manuals: Promoting the Development of Young Children with Cerebral Palsy: A Guide for Mid-level Rehabilitation Workers and Promoting Independence Following a Spinal Cord Injury: A Manual for Mid-Level Rehabilitation Workers. In 2009, he authored Guidelines for Creating Barrier-free Emergency Shelters for Handicap International, Nepal. Curtin co-edited the sixth edition of Occupational Therapy and Physical Dysfunction (2010), the seventh edition retitled Occupational Therapy for People Experiencing Illness, Injury or Impairment (2017), and edited the eighth edition (2025). He became a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2015 and, with colleagues, received the 2014 OLT Award for Programs that Enhance Learning for interdisciplinary international allied health programs. Curtin has extensive experience teaching occupational therapy subjects including assessment, practice skills, assistive technologies, and professional reasoning, and leads international student placements.