Burwood Academy Trust

The Burwood Academy of Independent Living (BAIL) is a research academy based at Burwood Hospital, Christchurch committed to delivering research excellence and outcomes that improve the lives of people living with disability. We support the ‘Independent Living Paradigm’ particularly the notions of self-determination and empowerment. Research that matters by people who care! We are currently involved in a number of national and international research projects. Research raises important questions and contributes solutions to large societal problems. Our research framework consists of four key elements prioritised by people living with disability: Remaining Healthy, Engaging Rehabilitation, Maximising Participation and Creating an Enabling Society. It is important to us that our work is built around the voice of those who actually live with disability as it sharpens the focus and enhances the integrity of our research. We don’t do research on people – we do research with people. PLEx (People with Lived Experience) are involved in every aspect of our work; nothing about us, without us. We deliver education opportunities and excellence to researchers, people living with disability, clinicians and tertiary students. We apply a culture of knowledge translation research across all that we do focusing on how our research will lead to real and tangible changes for people who live with disability and close the current 17 year gap between research and practice.