Research Opportunities

The Office of Healthy Aging (OHA) and our affiliates work to exchange and integrate discipline-specific knowledge, methods, and resources to achieve the common goal of advancing healthy aging. To achieve this goal, OHA gladly shares numerous research participation opportunities from ECU’s very own researchers. If you are interested in participating in research related to aging, please look over the current research opportunities available to you below. 

How you can be Involved with Current Research 

• The STAR Laboratory, Department of Physical Therapy, ECU is looking for healthy men and women to participate in a research study that measures saccadic eye movements. The purpose of this study is the established the normative value for the saccadic eye movement. If you are a healthy older adult aged 70 to 85 without any cognitive issues, you may be eligible for this study. The study participant will have 1 visit to the ECU faculty-run physical therapy clinic to complete a cognitive assessment and questionnaires regarding your balance confidence and symptoms of dizziness and measure your fast eye movements in sitting. The visit will last about 30 minutes. You will be paid $20 in the form of a gift card for the visit.

  If you are interested in participating, please complete the survey HERE and a staff member will determine if you are eligible for participation and be in contact with you about your eligibility. You can also call the STAR Laboratory at 252-744-6251 if you have any questions.  

  *** Please note that this study is different than the one below***

• The STAR Laboratory, Department of Physical Therapy at ECU, is looking for healthy volunteers aged between 25-45 and 65-85 who have experienced falls. This study investigates the brain activities and balances during optic flow environment providing by a virtual reality headset. If you are a healthy individual between the ages of 25-45 and 65-85 years old, or older adults with a history of falls, you may qualify for the study. Two sessions of data collection will be needed. It is estimated 2 hours to complete the study protocol. You will be paid $40 for a visit and a total of $80 for two visits upon the completion of the study. All study procedures are non-invasive. 

If you are interested in participating, please complete the survey HERE and a staff member will determine if you are eligible for participation and be in contact with you about your eligibility. You can also call the STAR Laboratory at 252-744-6251 if you have any questions.