Meredith Smith
Meredith is a paediatric physiotherapist who has just submitted a PhD on chronic pain assessment in cerebral palsy. Meredith works as a lecturer in physiotherapy at the University of Adelaide and clinically at Novita and the Women’s and Children’s Hospital
2025 Australian Pain Society 45th Annual Scientific Meeting
I was very fortunate to receive a travel grant, as a final year PhD student, to attend the Australian Pain Society (APS) Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) in Melbourne, 2025. This was my third time attending the APS scientific meeting and I was excited to reconnect with attendees I had met in previous years.
A highlight for me was presenting a symposium on Advancing Innovative Methodologies in Paediatric Pain Research with Dr Nicky Pope (Melbourne) and Prof Jen Stinson (Toronto, Canada). This was a particular privilege as I first met both Nicky and Jen three years ago (at my very first APS scientific meeting) and now had the opportunity to present alongside them. In this symposium, I presented key findings from my PhD, including how we sought to meaningfully include children and young people with diverse cognitive and communication abilities in qualitative research. It was encouraging to have strong attendance and engagement from both clinicians and researchers, particularly during the discussion where we explored barriers and enablers to inclusive recruitment, as well as some of the practical learnings from my work. I also shared outcomes from the project, including two newly developed pain assessment tools designed to support self-report in children and young people with cerebral palsy and complex communication needs.
Another highlight for me was being selected to give a rapid communication based on my poster, Adapting Chronic Pain Assessment Tools for Children and Young People with Cerebral Palsy: A Multi-Stakeholder Consensus Study. Although I was initially nervous about summarising my research in just 90 seconds, the experience turned out to be fun.
The ASM offered a wide range of valuable learning opportunities. A standout session for me was Prof Tamar Pincus’s plenary on validating patient’s pain in clinical settings, which gave me much to reflect on for both research and practice. I also really enjoyed Prof David Bennett’s work on understanding and treating neuropathic pain. As a clinical researcher it was exciting to see the research pipeline all the way from basic science through to usual clinical care.
I am especially looking forward to APS 2026, which will take place in my home city of Adelaide. It will be wonderful to reconnect with colleagues from around Australia and share updates from the next phase of our research into pain management for children with cerebral palsy.
Declaration: Meredith Smith has nothing to declare.
Australian Pain Society 