Meet the ChiP Lab at EACD 2026 in Galway, 3 June. Read more
The ChiP Lab studies how children and young people with movement disorders take part in everyday life. Working alongside children, young people, and their families, we focus on rehabilitation, on measuring the outcomes that matter to them, and on putting evidence-based approaches into everyday paediatric practice. Our programme is hosted at Queen Mary University of London and Barts Health NHS Trust, and is partly delivered in partnership with Dr Katherine Knighting at Edge Hill University. The lab has been funded by an NIHR Advanced Fellowship awarded to Dr Hortensia Gimeno (2024–2028).
Everything we do starts with children, young people, and their families—and with a commitment to creating change for groups too often left out of research. We work in three connected areas. First, we create change for under-represented groups, designing research with and for the children and families who are least often heard. Second, we measure what matters, studying which outcomes to use in clinical trials and clinical practice so that results reflect what children and families truly value. Third, we focus on interventions that matter, designing and evaluating cognitive, rehabilitative, and occupational approaches that help children take part in the activities most important to them. Across all of this, we work hand in hand with therapists and services to turn evidence into everyday practice.
We are a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, academics, and experts with lived experience, working collaboratively to deliver research that makes a real difference for the people who matter most—children, young people, and their families. The team is led by Dr Hortensia Gimeno, NIHR Advanced Fellow, Clinical Reader in Child Health Research at Queen Mary University of London and Associate Director of Therapies Research at Barts Health. Full team profiles and photos are listed on the team section of this site.
The lab is based at Queen Mary University of London within the Blizard Institute, and at Barts Health NHS Trust in east London. We collaborate with paediatric neurology, neurodisability, and therapy services across the UK and internationally.
The lab's core programme is funded by an NIHR Advanced Fellowship (NIHR303636, 2024–2028) awarded to Dr Hortensia Gimeno. Individual studies receive additional support from clinical, charity, and research partners listed on each study page. Views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.
Dr Hortensia Gimeno
Principal Investigator and Lab Lead
Clinical Reader in Child Health Research, Queen Mary University of London. Associate Director of Therapies Research and Clinical Effectiveness, Barts Health NHS Trust. NIHR Advanced Fellow.
ORCID: 0000-0003-1488-6415
The ChiP Lab is led by Dr Hortensia Gimeno at Queen Mary University of London and Barts Health NHS Trust. Our work is mainly funded by an NIHR Advanced Fellowship (NIHR303636). Views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.