Announcement of Sylvia Docker Lecture Award 2021

Professor Lindy Clemson Receives 2021 Sylvia Docker Lecture Award

The Board of Occupational Therapy Australia is delighted to announce Professor Lindy Clemson as the recipient of the 2021 Sylvia Docker Lecture Award.

Lindy, as Professor of Ageing and Occupational Therapy at the University of Sydney, is well known nationally and internationally amongst clinicians and researchers concerned with providing services for older people. Given the current challenges of population ageing in Australia and elsewhere, her contribution to giving occupational therapy a voice in the multidisciplinary world of developing services for older people has been consistent for many years.  Her work has ensured that the role of occupational therapy is both promoted and valued.

In 2017, Lindy was awarded an inaugural Fellow of the Occupational Therapy Australia Research Foundation (FOTARA).

Her publications, highlighted in Cochrane Reviews, have influenced practice and policy. Her research has explored multi-methodology inquiries, intervention trials and implementation science. She is Professor of Ageing and Occupational Therapy, leader of the Active Ageing Research Node, Charles Perkins Centre, an investigator on the Centre of Excellence for Population Ageing Research at the University of Sydney, and an Honorary Professor at Nottingham University in the UK.

Lindy provided a positive role model to students and mentored many in evidence-based practice, student research projects and falls prevention topics. Her commitment to education is further demonstrated with her record of successful high degree research supervision which continues today.

Her PhD students have made significant contributions to occupational therapy in falls prevention, occupational therapy discharge planning and functional assessments, illuminating the cost benefits of occupational therapy, validating functional cognitive assessments and testing dementia reablement programs. They have also been forging new directions as clinical researchers and many of her HDR students have developed careers as educators or clinician leaders.

Lindy has demonstrated her strong community service to occupational therapy in Australia having been on the Editorial Board of the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, and in multidisciplinary leadership roles such as the Executive of the Australian and New Zealand Falls Prevention Society, and the Editorial Board of the US Journal of Aging and Health. Locally, Lindy has held Director roles for the Independent Living Centre of NSW from 2001-2009 and is a life member in recognition of her service.

Lindy will be presenting her lecture ‘Relevance and Resilience: A bright future for occupational therapy’ at the 2021 Occupational Therapy Australia National Conference.