UCL Centre for Neurorehabilitation and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery present:  

The 12^th Annual Upper Limb Neurorehabilitation Course

Treating patients with upper limb deficit: Integrating research into practice 

Thursday 19^th & Friday 20^th June 2025.

This two-day course provides an up-to-date overview of current research in treatment and rehabilitation options for the neurological patient with upper limb deficit. The course looks at the practical, real-life translation of scientific evidence into clinical practice and discusses the ingredients that make an upper limb therapy effective. Delegates will have the opportunity to trial novel devices and robotic technology.

Enquiries to: [email protected] 

Better Tech for Better Cognition 

Friday 9th May 2025

UCL Centre for Neurorehabilitation (CNR) are organising a one-day symposium on Better Tech for Better Cognition.

The aim of the day is to provide a comprehensive review of diagnostic, therapeutic and aid-based apps aimed at improving cognition in people with brain injury.

Our speakers will cover: app co-design, evidence for specific apps’ efficacy, sustainability, spin-out, regulatory issues and more.

There will also be app demos, so you can try them out. 

Programme to be confirmed. 

Rethinking the role of drawing tasks in neuropsychological assessment
Dr Alastair D. Smith, University of Plymouth

Drawing is a fundamental component of cognitive assessment – since the activity relies upon a synthesis of processes, errors in graphic production can reveal impairments to a variety of functions, including perception, attention, and memory. Despite the ubiquity of drawing tasks, however, they tend to be analysed qualitatively, and their administration can be open to bias. Moreover, unlike other domains in assessment and therapy, clinical interpretation of drawing production is not usually informed by knowledge of the cognitive processes that underpin it. In this talk I will explore the forms that drawing tasks take in standard assessment practices and discuss the development of quantitative metrics. By illustrating findings from different neuropsychological conditions (including agnosia, hemispatial neglect, and constructional apraxia) I will show how an empirically-oriented approach to designing and interpreting drawing tasks can reveal more nuanced accounts of processes underlying perception and action. I will also discuss some recent findings from my laboratory that call into question the long-term validity of a widely used cognitive screen (the Montreal Cognitive Assessment).