Caring Futures Institute - Better Systems

Matthew Flinders Fellow, Senior Lecturer

Dr Elizabeth (Liz) Lynch is dedicated to improving how stroke rehabilitation is provided. Liz’s research involves working with healthcare teams and people living with stroke to develop and test systems so that every person who has experienced a stroke receives rehabilitation interventions that have been proven to reduce disability and optimise function.

Liz has extensive experience working as a physiotherapist in inpatient rehabilitation settings, where she received state and national awards for implementing evidence-based-practice. She obtained a PhD in Health Sciences (University of South Australia, conferred 2016) before working in the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Stroke Rehabilitation and Brain Recovery as the Implementation Science Research Fellow. Liz was awarded an NHMRC Early Career Research Fellowship (2018-21) to pursue her research investigating implementation of the Australian Clinical Guidelines for Stroke Management. She joined the Caring Futures Institute, Flinders University in February 2021.

• Implementation science
• Co-design
• Stroke rehabilitation
• Health literacy
• Clinical practice guidelines

Liz has expertise in implementation science research. She has used multiple research methodologies and has published findings from cluster-randomised controlled trials, randomised controlled trials, systematic reviews, qualitative studies as well as surveys and observational cohort studies.

Liz collaborates closely with the Stroke Foundation, and co-chairs the Australian-New Zealand Living Guidelines for Stroke Management. Liz was awarded a consumer-led MRFF grant (2022-25) to develop and evaluate a digital resource to support health self-efficacy for people with stroke (ASSET-Stroke). In this project, Liz is leading a team of people with lived experience of stroke, health professionals, digital designers and academic researchers to codesign and evaluate the digital resource.