Rate My Professor Taylor Dick

Associate Professor Taylor Dick is an Associate Professor in the School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Queensland, where she directs the Neuromuscular Biomechanics Laboratory and serves as School Director of Higher Degree Research. Originally from Canada, she completed her PhD in 2016 at Simon Fraser University in collaboration with Harvard’s Concord Field Station, followed by postdoctoral training in biomedical engineering at the University of North Carolina from 2016 to 2017. Appointed as a research and teaching academic at the University of Queensland in 2017, Dick leads a highly interdisciplinary program at the nexus of biomechanics, bio-inspired assistive devices, and neuromuscular physiology. Employing experimental and computational modeling tools, her research investigates how movement underpins evolution, health, and disease by integrating musculoskeletal anatomy, neural control, and biomechanics to understand locomotor diversity in humans and animals. Key projects encompass exoskeleton interventions for individuals with motor neuron disease and cerebral palsy, virtual reality-based balance rehabilitation, and comparative studies on animal locomotion, such as kangaroo energetics.

Dick has received prestigious awards including the 2024 Queensland Tall Poppy Award, 2024 International Union of Physiologists Junior Faculty Award, 2024 International Society of Electrophysiology and Kinesiology Kevin P. Granata Award, 2021 International Society of Biomechanics Jaquelin Perry Emerging Scientist Award, and 2021 UQ Teaching Excellence Award. Her work has secured over $3.6 million in competitive grants and industry funding. She holds leadership roles as an elected Executive Council member of the International Society of Biomechanics and Chairperson of the Comparative Neuromuscular Biomechanics Technical Group. Dick supervises 12 PhD candidates, one Master’s student, and five Honours students, having guided five PhDs, two Master’s, and nine Honours to completion since 2017. She co-developed the BRInC government-funded program to boost girls’ engagement in STEM. Notable publications include "Predictive musculoskeletal simulations reveal the mechanistic link between speed, posture and energetics among extant mammals" (Nature Communications, 2024), "Postural adaptations may contribute to the unique locomotor energetics seen in hopping kangaroos" (eLife, 2025), "Lower-limb biomechanics in motor neuron disease: a joint-level perspective of gait disruption" (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Degeneration, 2026), "Rethinking the physiological cross-sectional area of skeletal muscle reveals the mechanical advantage of pennation" (Royal Society Open Science, 2024), and "A 100-day mentoring program leads to positive shifts in girls’ perceptions and attitudes towards biomechanics and related STEM disciplines" (Journal of Biomechanics, 2024).