Skip to main content

Staff Profile

Dr Fiona Menger

Lecturer

Background

I am Speech and Language Therapist, graduating from the University of Reading with an MA in Language Pathology in 1998. My clinical specialism is acquired neurological disorders with a special interest in aphasia and acquired brain injury. I worked clinically for the NHS in Winchester, Newcastle, and North Tyneside for 14years before I was awarded a Stroke Association Research Fellowship and moved to Newcastle University to complete my PhD on supporting people with post-stroke aphasia to use the Internet.

Since completing my PhD, I worked as a Teaching Fellow at Newcastle University and a Lecturer in Speech and Hearing Sciences at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. I then moved to the Institute of Population Health Sciences at Newcastle University, where I worked as a post-doctoral researcher on the Life after Head and Neck Cancer Study.

I currently work part-time as a Lecturer (T&R) in Speech and Language Sciences in the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences. I am interested in:


  • Assessment and intervention of acquired writing difficulties (dysgraphia) following stroke/brain injury.
  • Speech, language and communication needs of brain tumour survivors.
  • Head and neck cancer survivorship and quality of life.


Please get in touch if you think our interests align and you would like to explore working together.

My usual working days are Mon, Wed, Fri but I may work flexibly outside of these times.

Research

My current research is related to an NIHR Research for Patient Benefit Study, "Researching Speech and Language Therapy for people living with Brain Tumours" (RESuLT_BT). This project runs for two years from November 2025. The RESuLT_BT project is part of a wider interest in cancer survivorship, particularly cancers which have an impact on speech, language, communication, and swallowing. A website for the study will be available soon.


My PhD Research focused on digital inclusion of people with aphasia. I have a continued interest in digital technologies and aphasia and in collaborations between Speech and Language Therapists and Computer Scientists. For example, the DAAWN (Digitised Assessment for Aphasia of Written Naming) was produced as part of a collaboration between Speech and Language Sciences and the Newcastle University Research Software Engineering Team. The software is freely available for clinical or research use at https://daawn.ncldata.dev/



Teaching

I find teaching hugely rewarding, and am passionate about inspiring the next generation of speech and language therapists to become evidence based practitioners and to champion our profession. I am involved in clinical supervision of Speech and Language Therapy students on placement within the Tavistock Aphasia Centre and teach on modules related to adult acquired neurological impairment. I also teach modules on research methods, supervise student dissertations and extended case studies, and am a personal tutor to students of Speech and Language Sciences.


I represent Speech and Language Sciences on the ethics committee for the school of Education, Communication and Language Sciences.

Publications