It is important for all students to gain an understanding of the research process. The undergraduate course includes a compulsory research dissertation (years 3-4). Students are guided through their dissertation by the Research Dissertation Coordinator, supported by a team of supervisors.

The type of dissertation can be chosen from a wide range, including literature reviews, surveys and questionnaires, experimental primary data collection and single case studies. We have a range of research resources available to support these dissertations and we are also developing our qualitative research approaches.  The ESO  encourages collaboration with osteopaths in practice and other higher education institutions. In the past we have been able to undertake research investigations at sports clubs, retirement homes, busy office environments, in the community and even on farms and an equine veterinary referral centre!

There have been almost 700 completed BSc projects since 1995; the dissertations from these are available from the ESO’s library and contribute a valuable research resource.

Undergraduate Dissertation Prize A prize is awarded, by the Research Working Group at graduation, to the student with potentially the most publishable, high-standard dissertation. The prize-winner is encouraged to submit an article for publication and is supported throughout the process. Click here to view recent prize winning titles.

Undergraduate Project sees the light of day

In a first for the ESO, an undergraduate project conducted by Maria Sonberg, class of 2006, has been written up and published as a research paper in the IJOM.  Maria found evidence suggesting that osteopathic treatment of post menopausal women being medically treated for hypothyroidism can result in reductions in pain. Also, the pain interferred less with everyday activities. Although small, studies like this are an important first step towards conducting more powerful research. The abstract is available to view on line at www.sciencedirect.com.

Chiropractic Osteopathy Physiotherapy Conference

The ESO encourages graduands who have produced high-quality research dissertations to submit an abstract to the annual Chiropractic Osteopathy  and Physiotherapy (COP) Conference. This is an extremely popular, multi-disciplinary, undergraduate level one day event for students and teaching faculty, which provides an opportunity to share experiences and learn from others. The most regarded work is published in the journal Manual Therapy (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/1356689X). A full list of ESO papers that have been accepted for publication can be found on our Publications page.

Further research

The undergraduate research dissertation provides an important foundation for other osteopathic research later in a practitioner’s career; several osteopaths from the ESO have studied for an MSc or PhD. A research dissertation is often at the core of these studies. Many and varied topics have been used for recent MSc/PhD dissertations