Research projects
As a leading health service and research centre, the Lifestyle Clinic conducts diverse research projects. The clinic has established multiple collaborative research partnerships across the university, as well as in local area health services, local divisions of general practice and health advocacy groups.
Different research projects run at different times in the Lifestyle Clinic. If you are interested in finding out more about our current projects, please contact us.
Our current research projects
IN FOCUS
Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a common and debilitating side effect of commonly used cancer treatments. At present, there is no effective treatment or cure. The InFocus study is recruiting cancer survivors with established CIPN to understand the ability of exercise training to reduce symptoms and loss of function related to nerve damage. If you would like to participate or would like further information, please visit the In Focus website or send us an email.
The CVMM study
The CVMM study is looking for volunteers who have been clinically diagnosed with hypertension and would like to improve physical fitness. The study aims to determine whether an online virtual program delivered by Accredited Exercise Physiologists could help adults with hypertension improve their blood pressure and fitness level. If you would like to participate or would like further information, please go to the CVMM page or contact us via email.
Keeping the Body in Mind Program
The Keeping the Body in Mind program has a track record of delivering lifestyle interventions targeting the physical health of people living with mental illness. This program based at the UNSW Lifestyle Clinic is for people living with severe mental illness (e.g., schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder) who are not currently managed by public mental health services. This service is only available to those within the Central and Eastern Sydney PHN. If you would like to participate or would like further information, express your interest here or phone 0401 979 228.
Diabetes Clinic
Older Australians experience a higher incidence of Type 2 Diabetes, with 15.4% of those aged 65-74 years and 18.7% of those aged 75 years and over having the condition. UNSW researchers are looking for people over 65 with type 2 diabetes to participate in a study evaluating a diabetes group service consisting of exercise and healthy lifestyle education run within the UNSW Lifestyle Clinic. If you would like to participate or would like further information, please contact Kelly McLeod at diabetesclinic@unsw.edu.au.
Improving Exercise Physiology Outcomes Through Reinforcement Learning
Machine learning is poised to play an increasingly prominent role in medicine and health care because of advances in computing power, learning algorithms and the availability of large datasets. Exercise physiology, which involves the personalised adaptation of training intensity and volume over time to achieve training goals, is particularly well-suited to the application of reinforcement learning. This project will be the first to develop and test a reinforcement learning algorithm for exercise physiology. The algorithm will automatically determine the optimal training intensity and volume for a client, based on baseline clinical characteristics and routinely acquired pre- and post-exercise data. This research is being conducted by Dr Sebastiano Barbieri from the UNSW Centre for Big Data Research in Health in collaboration with the UNSW Lifestyle Clinic.
