Recreation & Wellbeing
Half Day Conference
Tues 8 Sept | 9.30AM to 1PM
The Lights Community & Sports Centre
Tickets are now fully booked. Register for the livestream.
Hosted by ABC Journalist
& Presenter, Charles Brice
Don’t miss the highlight event for Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Week.
Hosted by ABC Journalist and Presenter, Charles Brice.
Tuesday 8 September
9.30am to 1pm
Morning tea provided.
This Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Week, join South Australia's leading voices in spinal cord injury for a free, engaging half-day conference featuring lived experience, research and practical innovation.
Hear inspiring stories from para athletes, learn about the latest research, explore inclusive recreation and employment, and discover new ways to build opportunity and wellbeing.
The topics will explore:
Lived experience and peer perspectives
Elite sport and recreation including stories from Paralympians and Para Athletes
Supporting return to work
Disability access in South Australia's national parks
The latest in SCI research
Whether you're living with SCI, supporting someone who is, or working to create more inclusive communities, you'll leave with new insights, valuable connections and practical ideas you can put into action at work, in your community, or everyday life.
Your Host, Charles Brice
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Charles Brice is an ABC News presenter and reporter who sustained spinal cord injury in 2010. Charles travelled to Paris to report on the 2024 Paralympics and is regularly seen presenting sport on News Breakfast. A keen handcyclist, he has won six national championships and has raised more than $350,000 for research into spinal cord injuries.
Be inspired by Para Athletes
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Grace Bowman grew up in rural South Australia and enjoyed a variety of different sporting pursuits such as netball, basketball and equestrian. Following a horse-riding accident when Grace was 12, she became a paraplegic and had to adjust to life in a wheelchair. Within 6 months of the accident, she was “back in the saddle” and by age 15 she was selected for her first international Para dressage competition.
Represented Australia at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Paralympic Games. She was the first South Australian selected to represent Australia at the Paralympic Games in para equestrian and remains the youngest para equestrian to have represented Australia at a Paralympic Games. Grace retired from competition after the London Paralympics. She now practices as a Clinical Psychologist at the Women’s and Children’s hospital and is a mum of three.
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Richard is a T6 complete paraplegic, since 2014.
Richard started his para sporting career playing wheelchair basketball with Adelaide Thunder in the 2016 season. He played for 2 seasons before attending a Paralympics event and got invited to try out para-badminton.
He played para-badminton from 2018 until 2023, representing Australia in 3 Oceania tournaments and won several medals over those tournaments, from singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles. He also represented Australia in 2 international events for badminton, Japan in 2019 & Dubai in 2022.
In 2023 Richard decided to go and try para-archery as a different sport due to the challenges in para-badminton classification. Since starting archery, he was initially successful in gaining selection in the para-archery pathways squad and in February 2026 was selected in the national team to attend an international tournament in Bangkok.
Richard’s current goals are para and able-bodies archery nationals in October (this year), followed by working to gain selection to represent Australia in the 2027 World Championships in Australia. This will then lead into the selection for the 2028 Paralympics.
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Libby Kosmala has lived with paraplegia since birth. She used a wheelchair throughout her schooling, and learned to walk at age seven with full-length calipers, surgical boots and walking sticks. Though in her 80s she has now been advised not to walk unassisted, given the risk of a fall.
Libby worked full-time before starting a family, and part-time after having her two children, including a long career as a public relations officer for the Spina Bifida Association.
She is best known, however, as one of Australia's greatest ever Paralympians. Libby competed at twelve consecutive Paralympic Games, from Heidelberg 1972 through to Rio 2016, a fifty-year career spanning shooting, swimming, archery and fencing. She won thirteen Paralympic medals, nine of them gold, with her standout performance coming at the 1984 Stoke Mandeville Games, where she won gold in all four of her events and broke four world records.
Libby was Australia's flag bearer at the 1996 Atlanta Opening Ceremony, and was the oldest Paralympian competing at both the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Games. She was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2021.
Hear from Industry Experts
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Meet Yvie Eglinton, a disability advocate, nature lover, and mother who is helping transform South Australia’s parks into places everyone can experience and enjoy.
March 31, 2009, is a date Yvie Eglinton will always remember. It was the day her life changed forever, and the beginning of a journey that would redefine her purpose. A cycling accident resulted in a spinal cord injury, making Yvie a full-time wheelchair user and requiring her to reimagine a future she had planned.
Before her injury, Yvie spent more than seven years working as a marine biologist, diving on reefs and studying South Australia’s marine environment, work driven by a deep love of nature and conservation. While her time underwater came to an abrupt end, her connection to the natural world did not.
Yvie has since channeled her passion into creating lasting change. She has played a key role in the development and implementation of marine parks, started a family, and now leads accessibility initiatives as Coordinator, Access for All. In this role, she is helping ensure South Australia’s national parks are welcoming, inclusive, and accessible to people of all abilities.
Through resilience, leadership, and lived experience, Yvie continues to shape a future where nature truly belongs to everyone.
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Associate Professor Diana Dorstyn, MPsych (Clin), PhD is a registered psychologist and established researcher at Adelaide University, where she leads an internationally recognised research program focused on the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions in neurological rehabilitation. Widely published in leading journals, her work is dedicated to advancing evidence-based practice in spinal injury care.
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Dr Ryan O’Hare Doig is a leading spinal cord injury researcher whose work focuses on advancing the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of neurotrauma through molecular imaging, neuroinflammation research, nanomedicine, and regenerative therapies. As Head of Spinal Cord Injury Research at SAHMRI and a researcher at the University of Adelaide, he leads multidisciplinary programs spanning discovery science, translational research, and early-phase clinical trials. His research investigates biomarkers of spinal cord injury, mechanisms of tissue degeneration and repair, and innovative therapeutic approaches, including nanozyme-based drug delivery and stem cell therapies. Dr Doig has secured more than $17 million in research funding and published over 40 peer-reviewed studies, contributing significantly to the development of new strategies aimed at improving long-term outcomes and quality of life for people living with spinal cord injury.
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Dr Ryan Dorrian is a postdoctoral researcher at SpineLabs Adelaide, School of Medicine, Adelaide University. Ryan's research incorporates both clinical and translational preclinical models to evaluate non-motor outcomes of spinal cord injury (SCI). His PhD thesis established novel functional testing methods for urological outcomes after SCI, and demonstrated that sciatic nerve stimulation via a novel device (graft-antenna) may alleviate neuropathic pain following injury. His current research aims to extend our understanding of urological deficits following SCI using machine learning algorithms, characterise pathophysiological consequences of autonomic dysfunction following SCI and identify individuals at risk of future cardiovascular disease, and develop novel interventions that improve quality of life following spinal injuries.
Check out the exhibitors at the SCI Expo
Our Expo
Take time to explore our Expo, featuring a range of exhibitors showcasing products, services and supports designed to improve independence, wellbeing and community participation. Chat with organisations, discover new resources, collect information and enjoy giveaways throughout the morning.
It's a great opportunity to connect with services, ask questions and learn about the latest innovations and opportunities available to people living with spinal cord injury.
The Expo will run through until 1pm.
Plus be the first to know as we launch a new, exciting community sports initiative for wheelchair users. We can't wait to share this with you.
Tickets are now fully booked.
Register here for livestream of the event.
The Lights Community & Sports Centre
244 - 270 East Parkway, (Corner Hampstead Rd and East Parkway), Lightsview , SA 5085
The Program
Tuesday 8 September
Hosted by ABC Journalist and presenter Charles Brice
Expo Open
From 9:00am
Registration
From 9:00am
Welcome: Nicole Sykes (estara CEO)
9:30am
Session 1: Wheelchair Community Sports Program Launch
Introduction to new program:
Scott Crowley (estara Program Lead)
and Nicole Sykes (CEO)
9:35am
Session 2: Activity for Wellbeing
Panel Discussion + Q&A: Facilitator: Charles Brice Panellist: Grace Bowman Panellist: Matt Brumby Panellist: Richard Davis Panellist: Libby Kosmala
10.00am
Yvie Eglinton:
Disability Access in South Australia's National Parks
10.35am
Morning Tea Break
11.05am to 11.30am
Session 3: Research and Innovation Showcase
A/Professor Diana Dorstyn:
Supporting Return to Work
Dr Ryan Doig & Dr Ryan Dorrian: SCI Research Update
12.00pm
11.30am
Conference Close
12.30pm
Expo Close
1:00pm
Tickets are now fully booked. Register here for livestream.
