Paul Watson

Paul graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Exercise Physiology) from the University of Sydney in 2013. Paul has worked as an Accredited Exercise Physiologist in the fields of neurological and musculoskeletal physical activity and rehabilitation for the past eight years as a therapist and within operations management. In 2020, Paul commenced his PhD candidature after receiving the Spinal Cord Injuries Australia Postgraduate Research Scholarship. Paul’s research involves examining the physical activity levels of people with spinal cord injury, what influences these and what can be done to generate positive change.

Paul shares his experiences from the conference.

The 61st ISCOS Annual Scientific Meeting in Vancouver, Canada provided me with a unique platform to meet and engage with numerous researchers and experts in my area of study. Fortuitously, many of the experts in my field are located across Canada (and were present at the conference). Thus, I was eager to attend in-person. The opportunity SRI provided me to attend the conference gave me the chance to introduce myself to people who have greatly influenced my early PhD studies and direction in scientific research. In addition to orally presenting some of my initial work, I was able to attend the first Physical Activity and Disability Special Interest Group, which collected like minded researchers and specialists. Additionally, I gathered numerous contacts from around the world with whom I hope to engage with further, and was able to visit specialised practices and research facilities, such as the International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries, and the SCI Action Canada Lab. Without SRI’s generous funding contribution, I would not have been able to attend in-person and would have missed many of these opportunities. I found SRI to be very accommodating and supportive in all aspects of my attendance and they felt extremely approachable and interested in facilitating all attendees in their current and future work.