EdD, MPhil, BOccThy Associate Professor Michael Curtin is an occupational therapist, educator and researcher with more than 40 years of experience across clinical practice, service development, rehabilitation research and higher education. Michael graduated from the University of Queensland in 1983 with a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy. He began his professional career working with children and young people in Toowoomba, Hobart and Ballarat before relocating to Botswana, where he lived from 1987 to 1991. During this period, he established and developed occupational therapy services in Gaborone, Francistown and surrounding regions. Following his time in Botswana, Michael worked as a research occupational therapist at the National Spinal Injuries Centre, Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England. He subsequently joined the University of Southampton, where he served as a lecturer in occupational therapy from 1995 to 2003. In 2004, Michael returned to Australia to join Charles Sturt University as a lecturer in occupational therapy. He was appointed Discipline Lead of Occupational Therapy in 2005, became Associate Head of School in 2014, and Head of School of Community Health in 2017. Following a university-wide restructure, he became Head of the School of Allied Health, Exercise and Sports Sciences in 2021. After almost a decade of senior academic leadership, Michael returned to his substantive role as Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy in August 2026. Michael completed a Master of Philosophy at Oxford Brookes University in 1996, with a dissertation entitled Tetraplegic Hand Grips. He later completed a Doctor of Education at the University of Southampton in 2004. His doctoral research, The Biographies of Young People with Motor Impairment, reflected his longstanding interest in disability, participation and lived experience. Throughout his career, Michael has maintained an active research profile, publishing extensively in occupational therapy, rehabilitation and disability studies. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and has presented his work at national and international conferences. Michael's contributions have extended beyond academia through partnerships with international organisations. He is co-author of the 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. He is also lead editor of three editions of an international occupational therapy textbook: Occupational Therapy and Physical Dysfunction (6th edition, 2010), which was retitled Occupational Therapy for People Experiencing Illness, Injury or Impairment (7th edition, 2017; 8th edition, 2025). Michael led a team of Charles Sturt University researchers in evaluating two phases of Royal Far West's Bushfire Recovery Program (2020-2021 and 2022-2023), which supported children, families and communities affected by the 2019-2020 New South Wales bushfires. Michael remains committed to advancing occupational therapy education, supporting rural and regional communities, and developing the next generation of health professionals through teaching, research and community engagement. My university teaching career commenced in 1995 when I was appointed as a lecturer in occupational therapy at the University of Southampton, England. Since then, I have been actively involved in the design, implementation, delivery and evaluation of curriculum across undergraduate and postgraduate programs. Over this period, I have taught a wide range of profession-specific and interdisciplinary subjects and have developed a strong commitment to educational excellence and student success. My teaching philosophy centres on actively engaging students in the learning process and creating learning experiences that are authentic, challenging and relevant to contemporary professional practice. I place particular emphasis on constructive alignment, ensuring that learning activities and assessments are coherently linked to subject learning outcomes and professional competency requirements. I believe that high-quality assessment is one of the most significant influences on student learning and strive to design assessment tasks that promote critical thinking, professional reasoning and lifelong learning. Since joining Charles Sturt University in 2004, I have worked collaboratively with colleagues to develop and maintain an innovative, contemporary and progressive occupational therapy curriculum. Through curriculum renewal, course development and quality assurance processes, I have contributed to preparing graduates who are well equipped for the evolving demands of healthcare practice in regional, national and international contexts. My expertise in curriculum quality and professional accreditation has been recognised through numerous external academic roles. While working in England, I served as an external examiner for three occupational therapy programs. Since returning to Australia, I have acted as a reviewer, moderator or monitor for programs in New Zealand, New South Wales and Western Australia. As Head of School, I also oversaw multiple successful accreditation and reaccreditation reviews across the disciplines within the School of Community Health and later the School of Allied Health, Exercise and Sports Sciences. In recognition of my contribution to higher education, I was awarded Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy in 2015. One rewarding aspects of my teaching career has been the development of international work-integrated learning opportunities for allied health students. From 2005 to 2017, I led the interdisciplinary international placement program within the School of Community Health. This initiative provided occupational therapy, physiotherapy, podiatry and speech pathology students with opportunities to learn and work in culturally diverse settings while contributing to health and disability services internationally. These programs included longstanding partnerships in Vietnam, where students worked alongside local staff supporting children with disabilities in Ho Chi Minh City; AutismCare in Nepal; and, for a period, the Centre for Rehabilitation of the Paralysed in Bangladesh. The success and sustainability of these programs relied on strong collaborations with Australian organisations including Yooralla, Aspect and Royal Rehab, whose clinicians provided supervision, mentoring and professional development support for both students and local service providers. These experiences enabled students to develop cultural responsiveness, adaptability, interprofessional teamwork skills and a deeper understanding of disability and rehabilitation in diverse contexts. They also fostered reciprocal partnerships that supported learning and capacity building for all stakeholders involved. This work was recognised nationally when I was a member of the Charles Sturt University team that received the 2014 Australian Office for Learning and Teaching Award for Programs that Enhance Learning for the University's international work-integrated learning program. My ongoing goal as an educator is to create transformative learning experiences that prepare graduates to be reflective practitioners, effective collaborators and leaders capable of making meaningful contributions to the health and wellbeing of individuals, families and communities. Fields of Research (FoR) Code: 4201 Allied Health and Rehabilitation Services Research Keywords: Disability, disaster preparation and recovery, human rights and social justice, developing countries, biographical research, lived experience, phenomenology, rehabilitation, occupational participation, program evaluation. My research is centred on understanding the lived experiences of people who live with injury, illness or impairment, as well as the experiences of their families, carers and the professionals who support them. As an occupational therapist, I am particularly interested in how individuals navigate participation, identity, inclusion and wellbeing throughout their lives and across significant life transitions. Much of my work is informed by biographical and phenomenological traditions, which seek to understand people's experiences from their own perspectives. Through this lens, I have explored how individuals make sense of disability, participation, change and everyday occupations within the contexts of their families, communities and broader social environments. While qualitative approaches form the foundation of much of my research, I also have an interest in mixed-methods research and value selecting methodologies that best address the questions being asked. My research program is characterised by its diversity and its strong commitment to addressing issues that affect people's lives. Early research examined the elements of effective hand grip for adults with tetraplegic spinal cord injury, which formed the basis of my Master of Philosophy. My doctoral research involved working alongside nine young people with cerebral palsy to develop and analyse their life stories, contributing to a deeper understanding of their lived experience of disability. Since then, my research has explored a wide range of topics across rehabilitation, participation and community wellbeing. Projects have included evaluating a circus skills program for older adults; investigating the participation experiences of people with acquired brain injury living in regional, rural and remote communities; examining the transition experiences of middle-aged adults with disabilities; and evaluating interventions designed to support successful life transitions. A continuing focus of my work has been strengthening occupational therapy practice and scholarship. This has included collaborating with occupational therapists across Australia to develop communities of practice that support professional learning, research capacity and evidence-informed practice. More recently, my research has expanded into disaster preparedness, recovery and community resilience. I led a Charles Sturt University research team that evaluated two phases of Royal Far West's Bushfire Recovery Program, examining the impact of multidisciplinary support services provided to children, families and communities affected by the 2019-2020 New South Wales bushfires. Underlying all my research is a commitment to human rights, social justice and inclusion. I am particularly interested in projects that amplify the voices of people whose experiences may be overlooked and that contribute to the development of more accessible, equitable and responsive services.
Occupational Therapy3805540
Associate Professor Michael Curtin
Associate Professor in Occupational Therapy
Albury / Wodonga
Building 673 Room 405