Dr Oonagh Giggins
Biography
Dr. Oonagh Giggins is a physiotherapy researcher and Theme Lead within the NetwellCASALA Research Centre at Dundalk Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on women’s health, physical activity, rehabilitation, and the use of digital technologies to support health and wellbeing across the lifespan.
Oonagh graduated from University College Dublin with a First Class Honours BSc in Physiotherapy and was awarded the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists prize for excellence in clinical placement. She subsequently completed both her MSc and PhD at UCD, developing an interdisciplinary research focus at the intersection of healthcare, technology, rehabilitation, and patient-centred innovation. She was later awarded an Industry Fellowship from Science Foundation Ireland, undertaking a one-year fellowship with Novartis in their Global Service Centre in Dublin.
As Theme Lead for Physical Activity, Performance & Women’s Health, Oonagh leads research focused on enhancing women’s health and physical performance through the development and evaluation of digital and exercise-based interventions. Her work aims to support cardiovascular health, reduce sedentary behaviour, and improve rehabilitation outcomes through inclusive, technology-enabled solutions. With a strong emphasis on prevention, self-management, and recovery, her research addresses important gaps in women’s health by tailoring interventions to key life stages including pregnancy, midlife, and menopause.
Current projects include the Research Ireland-funded Digi-PAM project, which investigates the factors influencing physical activity participation in midlife women. This work examines how physical activity can be optimised to support menopause symptom management and seeks to develop a digital intervention aimed at increasing physical activity, reducing sedentary behaviour, and lowering cardiovascular disease risk in menopausal women.
Oonagh also leads work on the ECME Cardiac Rehabilitation Platform, funded under the larger Research Ireland ARC-HUB initiative. This project explores the remote delivery of rehabilitation exercise, particularly cardiac rehabilitation, and investigates how digital technologies can support accessible, effective, and engaging rehabilitation programmes for individuals recovering from cardiovascular conditions.
Qualifications & Awards
Qualifications
- PhD, UCD 2015
- MSc, UCD, 2010
- BSc (Physiotherapy), UCD, 2009
Awards
- DkIT - President's Award for Research Excellence, 2022/2023
Research & Interests
- Women’s health, including menopause, midlife health, pregnancy, and physical activity participation
- Digital health technologies, wearable technologies and personal sensing in healthcare and rehabilitation
- Remote and technology-enabled rehabilitation programmes
- Cardiovascular health and cardiac rehabilitation
- Physical activity promotion
- Rehabilitation and exercise-based interventions
Publications
The publications listed below represent my 10 most recent works as recorded on ORCiD
Geriatrics
30 September 2025
DOI: 10.3390/geriatrics10050128
Type: Journal article
JMIR Formative Research
20 May 2025
DOI: 10.2196/77742
Type: Journal article
20 May 2025
DOI: 10.2196/preprints.77742
Type: Preprint
Advances in Rehabilitation Science and Practice
January 2025
DOI: 10.1177/27536351241311845
Type: Journal article
Heart Rhythm O2
July 2024
DOI: 10.1016/j.hroo.2024.06.003
Type: Journal article
2024
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-59717-6_28
Type: Book chapter
PLOS ONE
8 June 2023
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286707
Type: Journal article
5 May 2023
DOI: 10.2196/preprints.48759
Type: Preprint
JMIR Cardio
10 February 2023
DOI: 10.2196/40283
Type: Journal article
JMIR Formative Research
1 September 2022
DOI: 10.2196/34280
Type: Journal article