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Dr Annalu Waller
Senior Lecturer Queen Mother Building (Google map) QUALIFICATIONSPh.D. (Computer Science), Dundee, Scotland - 1992 Blissymbolics Training Certificate, Toronto, Canada - 1986 M.Sc. Med. (Biomedical Sciences), awarded with distinction, Cape Town, RSA - 1988 B.Sc. Hons. (Computer Science), Cape Town RSA - 1983 Annalu holds an Honorary Research Fellow contract with NHS Tayside. EXPERIENCEAnnalu entered the field of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) for non-speaking people in 1983 and was a founder member of Interface Total Communication for the Disabled, the first association for AAC in Southern Africa. Having qualified as a rehabilitation scientist at the University of Cape Town, Annalu joined the staff at Eros (a school for children with cerebral palsy) where she established an augmentative communication service. She left South Africa in 1989 to read for a Ph.D. at Dundee University. Her research dealt with the incorporation of story texts in AAC devices and she is now adapting this research for use by people with dysphasia. Annalu remains in close contact with colleagues in South Africa and returns to consult and lecture on an annual basis. She spent three months in Toronto during 1992 as the Blissymbolics (a semantic graphic-based language) Resident Specialist. This followed a two month secondment to Don Johnston Inc. (Chicago) in order to transfer her doctoral research to the commercial sector. This culminated in the launch of a communication system called Talk:About in 1994. Annalu was the principal researcher on the "Development of TalksBac" project. The TalksBac software aims to facilitate interactive communication of adults with dysphasia. She was apointed as lecturer in Applied Computing in November 1997. She was seconded to the Smith's Research Fellowship in November 1997 and co-ordinates several funded research projects. Annalu has over a hundred publications in research journals and a translation of a children's book into Blissymbolics. She belongs to many organisations and committees dealing with issues facing people with disabilities and was awarded the Shirley MacNaughton Award for Exemplary Communication in recognition of her leadership in the field of AAC in 1996. She spent two months in Australia in 2003 on a visiting scholarship at the University of Sydney. Annalu is an honorary chaplain within the University's Chaplaincy team and also serves as a team priest at St Margaret's Episcopal Church, Lochee. Annalu trained part-time for the ordained ministry at the Theological Institute of the Scottish Episcopal Church (Anglican) in Edinburgh from September 2001 to June 2004, gaining The Diploma in Theological for Ministry. She was ordained deacon in 2004 and was priested in 2005 - she served her curacy at St Margaret’s Church from 2004 to 2007. Annalu has also been involved in acting and gained her Equity card while acting in an educational play/workshop "Operation Elvis" at Edinburgh Festival in 1992. COMMERCIAL PRODUCTSThe original TalksBack research (developed as part of Annalu's PhD work) has been successfully transferred into the commercial sector as a component of an integrated communication system called Talk:About marketed by an American software company, Don Johnston Inc. (Chicago). MEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL COMMITTEESBlissymbolics Communication UK Trust Blissymbolics Communication International Scottish Churches Disability Agenda Group MEMBERSHIPSBCS - British Computer Society (Member of HCI Group) ACM - Association for Computing Machinery (SIGCHI & SIGACCESS) ISAAC - International Society of Augmentative and Alternative Communication RESNA - Rehabilitation Engineering Society of North America | |||
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