Dr Ben Heller is an Associate Professor in the Centre for Sports Engineering Research at Sheffield Hallam University. His expertise is in medical engineering and instrumentation, particularly for the ambulatory monitoring of human activity. Current research areas include ambulatory monitoring of physical activity, motivation of exercise in virtual worlds, ecologically valid measurement of dynamic balance (the smartfloor), characterisation of running biomechanics and advanced functional electrical stimulation approaches in neural rehabilitation.

Dr Ben Heller is a Associate Professor in the Centre for Sports Engineering Research at Sheffield Hallam University. His expertise is in medical engineering and instrumentation, particularly for the ambulatory monitoring of human activity. 

After gaining a degree in Engineering Science at the University of Cambridge Ben completed a PhD in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Strathclyde. He subsequently worked in Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals for 14 years where he specialized in the design of medical instrumentation and the clinical measurement and rehabilitation of movement. After moving to CSER in 2006, Ben continued his work in rehabilitation, but also in the measurement and analysis of information for sports applications. 

Currently Ben's research focuses on the motivation of movement and exercise through the use of technology-mediated games, monitoring activity and performance in sport and recreation through wearable technology, ecologically valid measurement of dynamic balance (the smartfloor), characterisation of running biomechanics and advanced functional electrical stimulation approaches in neural rehabilitation. In addition to his research Ben supervises several PhD students and manages the Sheffield Physical Activity Observatory; a collection of resources for objectively measuring physical activity.

Areas of interest:

• Motivation of movement and exercise through the use of technology-mediated games
• Monitoring activity and performance in sport and recreation through wearable technology
• Ecologically valid measurement of dynamic balance (the smartfloor)
• Characterisation of running biomechanics 
• Advanced functional electrical stimulation approaches in neural rehabilitation (SheffStim)