The Subject Centre for Health Sciences and Practice is one of 24 Subject Centres funded within the Higher Education Academy

Higher Education Academy

The Higher Education Academy is an independent organisation in the United Kingdom that supports higher education institutions with strategies for the development of research and evaluation to improve the learning experience for students.-History:...

 to promote high quality learning and teaching in UK Higher Education

Higher education

Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...

 (HE) by providing subject-based support for sharing innovations and good practices. It is hosted by King's College, London. The Director is Prof Catherine Geissler. The centre was founded in 2000

The Higher Education Academy itself came into being in 2004 through the amalgamation of the Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN), the Institute for the Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (ILTHE) and the Higher Education Staff Development Agency (HESDA) in order to enable comprehensive, knowledgeable support for practitioners and institutions with an aim to the greater professionalisation of HE teaching.

The Subject Centre supports teaching and learning (both in academic classroom and practice settings), in Audiology

Audiology

Audiology is the branch of science that studies hearing, balance, and related disorders. Its practitioners, who treat those with hearing loss and proactively prevent related damage are audiologists. Employing various testing strategies Audiology (from Latin , "to hear"; and from Greek , -logia) is...

, Dance and movement therapy

Dance therapy

Dance therapy, or dance movement therapy is the psychotherapeutic use of movement and dance for emotional, cognitive, social, behavioral and physical conditions. As a form of expressive therapy, DMT is founded on the basis that movement and emotion are directly related...

, Podiatry

Podiatry

Podiatry is a branch of medicine devoted to the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disorders of the foot, ankle, and lower leg. The term podiatry came into use first in the early 20th century United States, where it now denotes a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine , a specialist who is qualified by their...

, Complementary Medicine, Drama Therapy

Drama therapy

Drama Therapy is the use of theatre techniques to facilitate personal growth and promote mental health. Dramatherapy is used in a wide variety of settings, including hospitals, schools, mental health centers, prisons, and businesses...

, Health Informatics

Health informatics

.Health informatics is a discipline at the intersection of information science, computer science, and health care...

, Health promotion

Health promotion

Health promotion has been defined by the World Health Organization's 2005 Bangkok Charter for Health Promotion in a Globalized World as "the process of enabling people to increase control over their health and its determinants, and thereby improve their health"...

, Health Visiting, Medical physics

Medical physics

Medical physics is the application of physics to medicine. It generally concerns physics as applied to medical imaging and radiotherapy, although a medical physicist may also work in many other areas of healthcare...

, Medical Imaging

Medical imaging

Medical imaging is the technique and process used to create images of the human body for clinical purposes or medical science...

 and Diagnostic Radiography

Medical radiography

Radiography is the use of ionizing electromagnetic radiation such as X-rays to view objects. Although not technically radiographic techniques, imaging modalities such as PET and MRI are sometimes grouped in radiography because the radiology department of hospitals handle all forms of imaging...

, Mental Health

Mental health

Mental health describes either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and...

 and Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...

, Midwifery

Midwifery

Midwifery is a health care profession in which providers offer care to childbearing women during pregnancy, labour and birth, and during the postpartum period. They also help care for the newborn and assist the mother with breastfeeding....

, Nursing

Nursing

Nursing is a healthcare profession focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life from conception to death....

, Occupational therapy

Occupational therapy

Occupational therapy is a discipline that aims to promote health by enabling people to perform meaningful and purposeful activities. Occupational therapists work with individuals who suffer from a mentally, physically, developmentally, and/or emotionally disabling condition by utilizing treatments...

, Operating Department Practice, Orthoptics, Osteopathy

Osteopathy

Osteopathy and osteopathic medicine are often used interchangeably for the philosophy and system of alternative medical practice first proposed by A. T. Still MD, DO in 1874....

, Palliative care

Palliative care

Palliative care is a specialized area of healthcare that focuses on relieving and preventing the suffering of patients...

, Paramedic Services

Paramedic

A paramedic is a healthcare professional that works in emergency medical situations. Paramedics provide advanced levels of care for medical emergencies and trauma. The majority of paramedics are based in the field in ambulances, emergency response vehicles, or in specialist mobile units such as...

, Pharmacy

Pharmacy

Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs...

, Physiotherapy, Public Health

Public health

Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...

, Radiotherapy, Resuscitation and Speech and Language Therapy. It works closely with the Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine (MEDEV) Subject Centre. The Centres are part of the HEALTH Network Group.

The centre produces various publications and reports. It works through various Special Interest Groups including those focusing on assessment, e-learning and widening participation.