Dr Meghan Ambrens
Post-doctoral fellow
Learn more about Meghan
Associate Professor
Kim van Schooten
Current Appointments
Senior Research Fellow
Conjoint Associate Professor, School of Population Health, UNSW
Key Research Areas
Associate Professor Kimberley (Kim) van Schooten is a Senior Research Fellow at Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) and Conjoint Associate Professor in the School of Population Health at UNSW Medicine & Health. She trained in Human Movement Sciences at VU University Amsterdam, completing her PhD in 2015, and has held research positions in the Netherlands, Canada, and Australia before joining NeuRA in 2017.
Kim leads a research program transforming how mobility and fall risk are measured and managed in older people. Her work integrates wearable sensors, neuroscience, and biomechanics to capture real-world mobility, establishing that daily-life gait provides sensitive markers of fall and injury risk beyond traditional assessments. She investigates the mechanisms underlying mobility decline by linking brain integrity, cognition, affect, muscle strength, pain, and sleep to dynamic changes in mobility. She translates these insights into digital biomarkers, enhanced clinical tools, and scalable interventions embedded into aged care systems through digital health and implementation research.
Kim has secured more than $6.7M in competitive national and international funding and published over 80 peer-reviewed articles in leading journals. She supervises a large team of PhD students, postdocs, and research staff, with her trainees consistently advancing to competitive fellowships and international positions.
Kim contributes to research leadership through service on boards and committees, including the International Society of Posture and Gait Research (ISPGR) and WHO AI for Health initiatives. She mentors early-career researchers through international programs and was selected for the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS) Mentorship Program in 2025.
You can follow Kim’s research below and through Google Scholar.
Publications
2026, 01 May
A comparison of treadmill preferred walking speed assessments: Reliability of common protocols and the novel TreadPWS Test
View full journal-article on https://app.dimensions.ai/details/publication/pub.1198164331
2026 Mar
“More Than Intensity: It Is How Pain Affects What I Do”: Unveiling the Multifaceted Impact of Pain in Older People on Daily Life
View full journal-article on https://doi.org/10.1177/07334648251340163
2025, 01 Dec
AI-Driven Frailty Detection in Long-Term Care Using Accelerometer-Measured Gait and Daily Physical Activity
View full journal-article on https://app.dimensions.ai/details/publication/pub.1196841798
2025, 01 Dec
Effects of Mobility-Fit, a tailored multicomponent physical activity program with upper-limb emphasis, on strength, mobility and fall risk among older adults in long-term care: a cluster randomised controlled trial
View full journal-article on https://app.dimensions.ai/details/publication/pub.1196169322
2025, 29 Oct
Correction: Machine Learning Approach for Frailty Detection in Long-Term Care Using Accelerometer-Measured Gait and Daily Physical Activity: Model Development and Validation Study
View full journal-article on https://doi.org/10.2196/85173
2025, 02 Oct
Correction: Machine Learning Approach for Frailty Detection in Long-Term Care Using Accelerometer-Measured Gait and Daily Physical Activity: Model Development and Validation Study (Preprint)
View full preprint on https://doi.org/10.2196/preprints.85173
2025, 01 Sep
Remote assessment of physical function in older people: feasibility, safety and agreement with in-person administration
View full journal-article on https://app.dimensions.ai/details/publication/pub.1193337095
2025, 01 Aug
Virtual obstacle-avoidance training using daily-life obstacles with physical feedback in older people: A cross-over trial
View full journal-article on https://app.dimensions.ai/details/publication/pub.1187852696
2025, 01 Jul
Wearable Technology in Mobility and Falls Health Care: Finding Consensus on Their Clinical Utility and Identifying a Roadmap to Actual Use
View full journal-article on https://app.dimensions.ai/details/publication/pub.1184268875
2025, 08 May
Machine Learning Approach for Frailty Detection in Long-Term Care Using Accelerometer-Measured Gait and Daily Physical Activity: Model Development and Validation Study (Preprint)
View full preprint on https://doi.org/10.2196/preprints.77140
Kim's research team
Kim's research projects and related news
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