Tobias Perren

Tobias Perren

  • u_tperren at bournemouth dot ac dot uk
  • Lecturer in Physiotherapy (Respiratory)
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Biography

Toby is a Lecturer in Physiotherapy in the Faculty of Health, Environment and Medical Sciences at Bournemouth University. He leads the Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology unit on the BSc (Hons) Physiotherapy programme, contributes extensively to the Cardiovascular and Respiratory Physiotherapy unit, and teaches on the Level 6 Advanced Holistic Physiotherapy unit.

Before moving into higher education in 2024, Toby spent around ten years in NHS respiratory and critical care physiotherapy, working with critically ill and mechanically ventilated adults. He completed much of his specialist respiratory training at the Royal Brompton and Royal Marsden hospitals in London, and continues to work clinically alongside his academic role.

Toby is undertaking a part-time PhD through Bournemouth University’s Doctoral College. His doctoral research explores whether heart rate variability can be used as a marker of how adults respond to, tolerate and recover from early rehabilitation after critical illness...

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Research

Toby is in the first year of a part-time PhD at Bournemouth University, investigating heart rate variability (HRV) as a marker of how adults respond to, tolerate and recover from early rehabilitation after critical illness. Early rehabilitation is now a routine part of intensive care, but tolerance is still mostly judged from standard vital signs and the patient’s clinical presentation. HRV is a non-invasive measure of autonomic nervous system activity and may offer a more sensitive picture of physiological load and recovery. The project has three stages: a scoping review of the existing evidence, a prospective observational study in intensive care, and a feasibility study of collecting standardised HRV data around rehabilitation sessions. Toby is currently working on the scoping review, supervised by Dr Emma Mosley, Dr Rebecca Neal, and Dr Vicky MacBean.

Journal Articles

  • Carvalho, F., Qiu, S., Panagi, V., Hardy, K., Tutcher, H., Machado, M., Silva, F., Dinen, C., Lane, C., Jonroy, A., Knox, J., Worley, L., Whibley, J., Perren, T., Thain, J., McPhail, J., 2023. Total Pelvic Exenteration surgery - Considerations for healthcare professionals. Eur J Surg Oncol, 49 (1), 225-236.
The data on this page was last updated at 06:01 on October 12, 2026.