Speakers and workshops
1. Ann Cools
Ann Cools is a physiotherapist, working as an associate professor at the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy at the Ghent University, Belgium. Her topic of research and teaching expertise, is shoulder rehabilitation in general, and sport specific approach and scapular involvement in particular. Besides her academic work, she runs a shoulder clinic in a private practice.
She finished her PhD in 2003, debating scapular involvement in sports related shoulder pain in the overhead athlete, and she has published numerous papers in peer-reviewed international journals, wrote contributions and chapters in several international recognized books, and gives courses on a national and international level. She was head of the Physical Therapy Education at the Ghent University 2008-2016, and was founding member and president of the European Society of Shoulder and Elbow Rehabilitation (EUSSER) 2008-2012. Since 2016, she is also affiliated as senior researcher to the Department of Physiotherapy of the Bispebjerg Hospital and the Department of Sports Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
She is currently a member of the Board of the International Congress of Shoulder and Elbow Therapists, organizing the 3-annual world congress for shoulder and elbow therapists, and is founding board member of the Flemish Shoulder Network.
Presentation title: "Optimizing therapeutic strategies in shoulder instability, related to Ehler-Danlos Syndrome"
2. Caroline White
Caroline White is currently an assistant professor at the University of Birmingham where she is the programme lead for the Exercise and Sports Medicine Masters Programme and completing her professional doctorate in “Shoulder Injuries in the elite female collision based athlete.” She is a consultant physio with England Rugby Union working across their men’s and women’s teams having previously held a full time role within the RFU. Caroline has worked for the England Football Association for four years full time and has held consultancy roles with the UK sports institute, England Cricket and several other sports
Presentation title: "No One Cares About Care: Rethinking Support for the Elite Female Rugby Player"
3. Stephanie Coen
Dr. Stephanie Coen is Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham and Co-Lead of the Environments Designed for Gender Equity in Sport & Physical Activity Lab (EDGE Lab). Her research uses creative qualitative methods to identify and intervene in gender disparities in health, sport, and physical activity. A core strand of Coen’s work uncovers how seemingly taken-for-granted features of sport environments shape gendered inequities in participation and injury risk. She is co-creator of the award-winning Gendered Environmental Approach, which has been taken up by elite sport organisations to address social and cultural factors contributing to injury risk in female athletes.
Presentation title: "The Gendered Environmental Approach: Re-thinking the Factors Shaping Women’s Shoulder Injuries"
4. Jack March
The Rheumatology Physio is a Specialist Physiotherapist, educator, and speaker with over 10 years experince helping MSK clinicians better understand Rheumatology and inflammatory conditions. Through education, podcasts, courses, and online content, Jack translates complex evidence into practical clinical insights for healthcare professionals working in musculoskeletal and rheumatology care. He is also the Operations Director for Physio Matters delivering continuing education materials, events, online library and more.
Presentation title: "Female Rheumatological Presentations Across The Lifespan"
5. Adam Gledhill
Dr Adam Gledhill is a Visiting Fellow in Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University with an international research profile in the areas of talent development in sport, and sport injury psychology. With a passion for helping empower people, teams and organisations to maximise health and performance across education and sport, Adam has over 25 years’ experience in various education and performance sport roles. His performance sport roles have included Head of Sport Science in professional women’s football, Head of Psychosocial Development within the English girls’ football talent pathway, and most recently as a consultant with the Swedish Ice Hockey Association. His world view is that people come first, kindness matters, and that health, wellbeing and performance are complementary qualities as opposed to competing demands.
Adam is a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society, an accredited member of the Chartered Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences, a Science Council Chartered Scientist, and a Fellow of Advance HE. He is a previous recipient of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences Applied Practitioner Award and, in 2019, was granted Fellowship of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences in recognition of his services to sport and exercise science.
Presentation title: "There's a lot of weight on these shoulders, and not all of it is physical"
6. Lauren Guilfoyle
Dr Lauren Guilfoyle is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Sport Injury and Illness Epidemiology at Edinburgh Sports Medicine Research Centre at the University of Edinburgh. Lauren is a Chartered Physiotherapist and has worked across a variety of sports including Gaelic Games, Rugby Union and basketball. Following completion of her MSc in Sport, Exercise and Performance Psychology, she undertook a PhD at the University of Limerick (Ireland) which was supported by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU). Her doctoral thesis explored both tackle injury epidemiology and coach education for injury prevention in youth Rugby Union while she also led analysis of injury outcomes during the Global Lowered Tackle Height trial.
Lauren's research at the University of Edinburgh explores health outcomes in retired athletes. She is currently leading a three-year multi-site study focusing on retired female Olympian Health in collaboration with the UK Sports Institute, Scottish Institute of Sport, United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, LaTrobe University (Melbourne) and the Canadian Olympic Committee. Using a variety of methodologies, this work aims to better understand long-term outcomes of elite sport participation for female athletes across musculoskeletal, mental, cognitive, female (reproductive, breast, pelvic) and cardiovascular health domains.
Presentation title: "Retired Female Olympians - insights into long term shoulder pain and function"
7.Fredrik Johansson
Fredrik Johansson (PhD) is Associate Professor at The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, and has served as President of the Society for Tennis Medicine and Science (STMS) since 2023. In 2020, he founded the Tennis Research and Performance group and is currently the Head of Athletic Performance at the STMS Center of Excellence in Stockholm. At the university level, he teaches
various courses on return to play, sports injuries, and the young athlete. In 2017, he earned his PhD from Ghent University in Belgium, with a focus on tennis shoulder issues in his thesis titled “Adaptation or abnormality.” Between 2007 and 2019, he led a longitudinal study with the Swedish Tennis Association, testing over 200 young players, creating a database of 15,000+ data points on strength and conditioning to establish benchmarks for sustainable athlete development.
In 2018 he started a prospective cohort (n=301) called the SMASH-cohort and one out of the publications was rewarded in 2023 with the T. David Sisk Research Awards by Sports Health for best international paper. With 30 years of experience in clinical sports medicine and manual therapy (naprapathy), and a background in tennis coaching, he combines evidence-based knowledge with practical insights to enhance high performance in tennis.
Presentation title: "Male players are often in over their heads - what about the female overhead?"
8. Nicky Keay
Nicky is a medical doctor specialising in exercise endocrinology. Nicky’s clinical endocrine work provides personalised approach for hormone health, offering health advisory appointments, with a focus for those experiencing relative energy deficiency in sport (REDs) and women experiencing perimenopause and menopause. Based on her research into REDs, Nicky developed the free online personal availability questionnaire (PEAQ). Nicky is medical advisor to Scottish Ballet and a keen ballet dancer.
Nicky offers talks on a variety of hormone topics at international conferences for organisations and groups. Nicky is the author of “Hormones, Health and Human Potential” and editor of “Myths of Menopause”. Her research into the impacts of lifestyle, nutrition and exercise on hormone networks has been published in peer-reviewed journals. Nicky holds the position of Honorary Clinical Lecturer in the Division of Medicine, University College London.
Nicky studied medicine at Cambridge University. After gaining Membership of the Royal College of Physicians, London UK, Nicky worked as a Research Fellow at St Thomas’ Hospital, London, where she was part of the international medical team that developed an anti-doping test for growth hormone. Nicky is a member of the British Menopause Society (BMS) and has completed the BMS Principles and Practice of Menopause Care training programme and Management of Menopause Certification.
Presentation title: “Hormones across the Lifespan"
9. Ros Cooke
Bio
Presentation title: "The Female Athlete: Getting it Right from the Start"
10. Siobhan O’Donovan
Siobhán O’Donovan began her professional career as a Physical Education teacher, where the poor postural and movement habits of her students sparked a deep interest in posture, movement quality and injury. This ultimately motivated her to become a Chartered Physiotherapist, via a Masters degree and professional sports medicine qualification in the US. The focus on injury prevention and performance optimisation in this education has been the bedrock of her subsequently evolved approach, helping people to function and perform better in everyday life, whatever that may be for them.
More recently, she has pioneered a physiotherapy service in breast weight management as a result of the impact of breast weight and movement on health, posture, movement, and performance. Now widely known as “The Booby Physio”, Siobhán’s specialised expertise has led to her becoming a trusted authority in a hugely overlooked and underestimated area of female health, wellbeing and performance.
Presentation title: "Busting Booby Traps: The BioPsychoSocial Impact of Breast Weight"
10. Kate Turner
Kate works clinically as a physiotherapist in a joint-owned independent physiotherapy business in North Yorkshire. Kate is a Physiotherapy Lecturer at Teesside University two days a week. Her interest in menopause was sparked following an unsuccessful physiotherapy intervention with a lady presenting to me in 2018 with unexplained joint and muscle pains. This later transpired to be due to menopause and was resolved with effective medication. This was eye opening and led Kate into researching the area.
During her master's degree at Manchester Metropolitan University, Kate undertook a dissertation in 2024 on "UK Physiotherapists Perceptions of the Management of Menopausal Women Presenting with Musculoskeletal Conditions" which evolved into a published paper in 2025 with her co-authors Jenny Crampton and Nick Dodds. This study emphasised to Kate the lack of knowledge and understanding of this transition stage in life. Furthermore, Kate is passionate about breast weight management, in particular in this cohort of women.
Presentation title: "Physiotherapists' Perceptions on the Management of Musculoskeletal Conditions in Women of Perimenopausal and Menopausal Age"
11. Anna Higo
Anna Higo is a specialist physiotherapist with 30 years of clinical experience in musculoskeletal practice, with a particular focus on complex shoulder presentations and Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome/Hypermobile Spectrum Disorders. After graduating from Liverpool University, she began her career at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust before moving into private practice. She is currently undertaking a self-funded PhD exploring the conservative management of shoulder symptoms in individuals with hEDS/HSD.
Her research focuses on an under-recognised and under-diagnosed patient population that predominantly affects women, highlighting substantial diagnostic delays and disparities in clinical understanding. Anna’s work aims to advance evidence-based approaches to assessment, intervention, and clinician-patient communication within this group. She presents her findings nationally and internationally and is committed to improving the visibility, quality, and equity of care for individuals with hypermobility-related shoulder presentations.
Presentation title: "Joining the Dots: Understanding the Symptomatic Hypermobile Female Shoulder – Evidence, Inequity and Communication"
12. Kate Holt
Kate works as clinical and research neurophysiotherapist in movement disorders at City St Georges, University of London and St George’s University Hospital. Her role involves treating patients with complex functional movement disorders within an outpatient service and multidisciplinary setting. Kate also has an interest in dystonia and provides a monthly physiotherapy treatment clinic for cervical dystonia.
Kate also contributes to education and research and was a codeveloper of the Physio4FMD trial intervention and training programme. She has presented at national and international conferences, and has co-authored two textbook chapters on Physiotherapy in FND.
Presentation title: "Physiotherapy for Functional Neurological Disorder/ Physiotherapy for Functional Movement Disorders"
13. Abi O’Kell
Abi Okell is the Lead Physiotherapist for the Sale Sharks Women's Team. Her passion for working with female athletes first took root during her time with the GB Taekwondo development team, where she pioneered an educational programme designed specifically for female athletes and their coaching staff. Building on this foundation, Abi later developed a similar initiative for GB Snowsport, across both Olympic and Paralympic programmes. Now at Sale Sharks, Abi continues to champion the development of female athletes through a clinical approach that focuses on empowerment through tailored rehabilitation programs that promote recovery and enhance performance
Presentation title: "Physiotherapist perspective- putting it all into practice"
14. Angela Jackson
Angela Jackson is an experienced Youth Athlete Consultant physiotherapist dedicated to transforming the care of young athletes. She has worked with national teams, Premier League football clubs, within county cricket, schools, and helped thousands of children return safely to sport following injury.
She is the creator of Kids Back 2 Sport, a trusted information platform providing evidence-based guidance for parents, coaches, and teachers and a directory of experienced youth athlete health professionals to help get injured athletes safely back to sport.
A passionate educator, Angela is the author of the course Kids Back 2 Sport: Assessment, Diagnosis and Return to Play in Youth Athletes and regularly lectures worldwide delivering workshops and at conferences. For nearly two decades she has consulted for the Cheshire Cricket Board, developing Ready 4 Cricket a unique online injury prevention programme and authored a chapter on “The Prevention of Lumbar Stress Fractures” in the recently released book Cricket Sports Medicine.
Presentation title: "Break point”: Proximal humeral bone stress injury in an adolescent tennis player
15. Toni Rikkonen
Dr Toni Rikkonen, PhD, is a Research Director and Adjunct Professor at the Kuopio Musculoskeletal Research Unit, University of Eastern Finland. He leads multidisciplinary research in clinical medicine and epidemiology. His work focuses on musculoskeletal ageing, particularly osteoporosis, frailty, and fractures, integrating cohort and interventional studies with registry data to improve prevention and patient outcomes.
Presentation title: "Frailty, Osteoporosis and Exercise in Ageing Women: Mechanisms, Risks, and Prevention"
16. Santiago Navarra-Ledesma
Santiago Navarro-Ledesma is Professor at the University of Granada (Spain) and Director of the Chair in Clinical Psychoneuroimmunology. He is a physiotherapist whose academic, clinical and research work focuses on musculoskeletal physiotherapy, chronic pain, and Frozen Shoulder, integrating Clinical Psychoneuroimmunology and lifestyle-related factors into rehabilitation.
He holds a PhD from the University of Málaga (Spain), awarded the Extraordinary Doctoral Prize, and a PhD in Medical Sciences from the University of Antwerp
(Belgium). He has published more than 70 scientific papers and leads research on the immunometabolic, psychosocial and clinical mechanisms underlying musculoskeletal disorders, with particular interest in Frozen Shoulder and the translation of evidence into physiotherapy practice. He is principal investigator of funded research projects, supervises
doctoral theses, and regularly presents at national and international conferences.
Presentation title: "Frozen Shoulder as a Systemic Immunometabolic Disorder in Women: An Integrative View"
17. Elaine Wilmore
Presentation title: “I Haven’t Got Time for This: Hidden Pain, Emotional Burden, and the Female Experience of Frozen Shoulder”
18. Kári Arnason
Kari Arnason is an Icelandic sports and orthopedic physiotherapist and an assistant professor at the Department of physiotherapy, University of Iceland. Kari finished his PhD thesis "More than the shoulder? Kinematics of the jump throw and factors influencing shoulder problems in handball" in 2025 from the University of Iceland. Along side his academic work, Kari works at Iceland´s lead sports and orthopedic clinic where he treats various types of shoulder problems. Kari was part of medical staff for the Icelandic male u21 national handball team between 2021 - 2025 and has since 2016 been working as a consulting physio for the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.
Presentation title: "More than the shoulder? Gender-related differences in shoulder problems and throwing technique in handball"
19. Susan Alexander
Presentation title: TBC
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