Roma Forbes

Roma Forbes is the Program Director of the Bachelor of Physiotherapy (Honours) program at The University of Queensland. She is a highly experienced APA titled musculoskeletal physiotherapist and Senior Teaching-Focused Lecturer. Roma is a Director of the Australian Physiotherapy Council and the national Chair of the Accreditation Committee, and represents Australia on the World Physiotherapy Education Committee. She serves on a number of editorial boards and is an Associate Editor for The Clinical Teacher.

Ensuring health professional students are prepared for a challenging and changing workforce is a global priority. Roma leads programs of research that explore the use of work integrated learning and the readiness of health professional graduates across emerging and challenging aspects of clinical practice and workplace settings. Her work spans local, national, and international efforts, where she leads work-integrated learning and health professional education advocacy and policy.

Roma's current research focuses on teaching and learning in the health professions, with a specific focus on graduate preparedness for clinical practice and outcomes of clinical education. This research uses several approaches to explore graduate, educator, and employer perspectives with a focus on knowledge translation to improve clinical education capacity and outcomes. She has a strong track record of national and international collaborations in patient education training, clinical education capacity, and physiotherapy teaching and learning. Roma is passionate about health professional education research and enhancing graduate readiness for practice and fostering a stronger, more supported community of health professional educators and researchers at UQ and abroad.

Awards and Fellowships

• Advance Higher Education Global Impact Award (2023)
• The University of Queensland Award for Teaching Excellence (2023)
• Association for the Study of Medical Education - Medical Education Developing Scholarship Award (2023)
• Higher Education Academy Senior Fellow (2023)
• Health and Behavioural Sciences Faculty Award for Programs that Enhance Learning (2023)
• Australian Award for University Teaching Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning (2021)
• Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) Fellow (2021)
• The University of Queensland Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning (2020)
• Flinders University - ANZAHPE Award for Excellence in Health Professional Education (2020)
• Higher Eduction Academy Fellow (2019)
• Health and Behavioural Sciences Faculty Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning (2019)
• School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning (2018)
• Australian and New Zealand Association for Health Professional Educators (ANZAHPE) Associate Fellow (2018)