Monique Wilson
Monique is a final year PhD candidate with the Persistent Pain Research Group at the University of South Australia. Her work is centred around co-designing solutions to improve the clinical implementation of pain science education.
Using co-design to improve physiotherapist-delivered pain science education in private practice settings
As always, the Australian Pain Society (APS) Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) did not disappoint! Thanks to the generous support of the APS travel grant, I was able to attend the 2025 ASM in Melbourne — my third time at this fantastic national conference. As I think back on APS 2025, several key highlights stand out to me right away.
Just like previous years, networking proved to be one of the most valuable aspects of the week. The vibrant and welcoming atmosphere that defines APS creates a genuine space for meeting new people and reconnecting with familiar faces. Coming off the back of an already busy conference period in March (Australian Osteoarthritis Summit and EP3 with Noigroup), it was especially rewarding to cross paths again with people I had only recently met just a few weeks earlier.
I was especially looking forward to catching up with Professor Tamar Pincus. I was lucky enough to visit Tamar’s research group for a week at the University of Southampton in July of 2024. It was wonderful to catch up in person and hear updates from her amazing group. As always, her talks were brilliant and engaging, and I found them particularly relevant to my current work in peer mentorship.
The trainee ‘Meet the Minds’ session is always a worthwhile part of the program. It offered a great opportunity to sit down in small groups with some of the international and national leading experts in the field. The conversations were insightful and provided early career researchers with useful takeaways.
Finally, I was given the wonderful opportunity to present a free paper talk. I shared my co-design work which involved partnering with physiotherapists and people with lived experience of chronic pain to develop novel resources aimed at improving the clinical implementation of pain science education. It was truly wonderful to see the increasing interest and growing support for co-design methodologies in research, reflecting the expanding recognition of its value. It was also a great moment to reflect on how far I have come since presenting at APS last year. I felt better-prepared, less nervous and more comfortable engaging the audience – definitely a sign of personal growth. The other talks in my session were outstanding; with a shoutout for the best rhyming research rap I have ever seen!
I am really looking forward to next year’s APS Annual Scientific Meeting in Adelaide. As a proud born-and-bred Adelaide girl, I am excited to showcase everything this small, vibrant (and often underrated) city has to offer. We will be welcoming you with open arms, big smiles, and a generous glass of South Australia’s finest wine. Looking forward to seeing you all there!
Declaration: Monique Wilson receives support from the Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship.
Australian Pain Society 