Students to explore the future of physiotherapy at Scottish conference

The Scottish Physiotherapy Student Conference is an annual event organised by students themselves, where they pair their education with expert lessons, in an effort to improve the profession for service users going forward.

Each year the conference rotates between RGU, Glasgow Caledonian University and Queen Margaret University, and this year will see students, graduates and experienced physiotherapists travel to RGU’s Garthdee campus on Saturday 27 October.

This year’s conference, which has been put together by a small team of RGU Physiotherapy students, will focus on the theme of ‘Innovation Without Limitations’.

There will be presentations from a number of key speakers on a variety of topics, including Alex McKenzie, Chair of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists Council, who will address future population rehabilitation needs; Valerie Cooper, a Hippotherapist and Riding Therapist for ARC Hippotherapy and Camphill School; and Dr Darragh Whelan, from The Insight Centre for Data Analytics, who will demonstrate the effectiveness of wearable sport technology.

Mark Dunphy, 4^th year Physiotherapy student and one of the organisers of this year’s conference, said: “This event is the result of work which began back in April, with the excellent support of the School of Health Sciences, and each of us are looking forward to seeing it come to fruition.

“Under our theme of innovation, we hope to open the minds of students from across the country with a new forward way of thinking. To that end, we will host speakers with expertise in areas such as policy and pathways, neurorehabilitation, wearable technology and respiratory physiotherapy.

“Not only will this event allow for open discussion and collaboration between different universities, but every student in attendance will be taking home a professional development certificate to mark their independent active participation in directing their own studies.”

Craig Walker, Physiotherapy lecturer at RGU, added: “All of us in the School are proud of the work that our students have put into making this conference possible.

“This will be a fantastic learning opportunity for everyone who takes part, as they look forward to their professional careers and explore the best ways they can improve the care of their patients and service users.”