Free paper sessions will be held on Tuesday 21 April, from 1.45pm - 3.00pm.
Please click below for session outlines and speakers. Speakers are given 9 minutes to present their paper, followed by 3 minutes for Q&A.
Authors must register by the early bird deadline, Tuesday 24 February 2026 to ensure their free paper is kept in the program. Authors who do not register by this date may have their paper removed from the program. Any questions should be sent to the Conference Secretariat.
Free Paper Session 1: Rest, Relief, and Resilience: Rethinking Pelvic Pain
- Ms Wanyun Huang, University Of Queensland, QLD: Reciprocal relationships between sleep discontinuity and pain in the early acute stage after minor-to-moderate motor vehicle crash injury: a random-intercept cross-lagged model
- Dr Aidan Cashin, Neuroscience Research Australia, NSW: Neuromodulatory medicines for chronic pelvic pain: Systematic review and meta-analysis
- Dr Lucy Kocanda, University Of Newcastle Dept Rural Health, NSW: ‘What can I eat?!’ Nutrition advice in the context of persistent pelvic pain: Findings from a cross-sectional survey
- Miss Sophie Obreza, Western Sydney University, NSW: “You’re not a complete person”: The inter-relationship between pelvic pain, body image and identity
- Dr Courtney Munro, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, VIC: Sleep disrupted: The overlooked impact of dysmenorrhoea and pelvic pain on sleep and fatigue in young people
Free Paper Session 2: Turning Evidence Into Action for Safer Pain Management
- Dr Stephanie Mathieson, University Of Sydney, NSW: Efficacy and harms of opioid analgesics for acute pain: overview of systematic reviews and meta-analyses
- Miss Sophie Young, University Of Sydney, NSW: Electronic health record interventions to improve opioid use in hospitals: A scoping review
- Dr Ilaria Pozzato, John Walsh Centre for Rehabilitation Research, The University of Sydney, NSW: Pain, Catastrophising, and Autonomic Dysfunction After Traumatic Injury
- Mr Jack Devonshire, University Of New South Wales, NSW: The efficacy, effectiveness and safety of treatments for Phantom Limb Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
- Dr Stuart Azzopardi, Eastern Health, VIC: A Comparative Analysis of Adverse Effects Between Sublingual Buprenorphine and Immediate-Release Tapentadol in Postoperative Adult Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study
Free Paper Session 3: Smarter Moves, Mindful Choices, Better Outcomes
- Mr Marinus du Preez, The University of Sydney, NSW: Evaluating the effect of an implementation PACkagE to improve insurer knowledge and behaviour when managing claimants with whiplash (Pace-Whiplash)
- Dr Laura Hutchison, SA Health, SA: The effect of toe-in and toe-out gait retraining compared with active placebo gait retraining on pain in people with medial knee osteoarthritis: A randomised controlled trial
- Mx Andrew Natoli, University Of New South Wales, NSW: The effect of goal setting embedded in behavioural interventions on pain, disability and physical activity in people with chronic musculoskeletal pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis
- Dr Nicole Rickerby, The University Of Queensland, QLD: An evaluation of brief, self-guided, internet-delivered mindfulness meditation and therapeutic hypnosis for injury-related pain in competitive athletes: A replicated single case experimental design study
- Dr Jessica Stanhope, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, SA: The estimated effect on pain intensity of having a park or nature reserve within a 5-minute walk from home
Free Paper Session 4: Pain Under the Microscope: From Molecules to Mind
- Dr John-Paul Fuller-Jackson, University Of Melbourne, VIC: Impact of osteosarcoma on sensory nerves in the mouse femur: A three-dimensional investigation
- Dr Sanam Mustafa, University Of Adelaide, SA: Differential modulation of TLR4 signaling by (+)- and (–)-naloxone revealed by real-time ITLR4 assay
- Miss Dolores Huang, The University Of Sydney, NSW: Altered hypothalamic functional connectivity in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome revealed by 7-TESLA FMRI
- Dr Dusan Matusica, Flinders University, SA: Comparative serum-based proteomic analysis of chronic pain rat models
- Mr Sam Williams, Neuroscience Research Australia/unsw, NSW: Lived experiences and outcome priorities in phantom limb pain: A qualitative study to inform outcome measure selection
Free Paper Session 5: Voices of Pain: From Bullying to Belonging
- A/ Professor Michael Swain, Macquarie University, NSW: Does bullying predict spinal pain in adolescence? Secondary analysis of the Australian Raine Study
- Dr Rebecca Fechner, Children's Health Queensland, QLD: The prevalence of co-existing motor proficiency delay and chronic pain in children presenting to a tertiary pain service: a cross-sectional observational study
- Dr Scott Tagliaferri, University of Melbourne/Orygen, VIC: Co-occurring depression, anxiety, and chronic pain in Australian adolescents: An analysis of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children
- Dr Louise Wiles, University Of South Australia, SA: Micro-community co-design of public chronic pain messaging with and for rural Australians: The Equipp Project phase 2
- Ms Ruth Appiah, University of South Australia, SA: Learn, move, connect: Refugees' experiences of a culturally responsive, community-based pain management program
Free Paper Session 6: Translational Advances in Pain Research: From Diet and Drugs to Digital Solutions
- Mr Harrison Hansford, UNSW Sydney, QLD: Estimating the smallest worthwhile effect on pain intensity of medicinal cannabinoids for chronic low back pain
- Miss Talia Barnet-Hepples, The University Of Sydney, NSW: The effects of mindfulness-based programs on pain-related cognitions in individuals with chronic musculoskeletal pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis
- Dr Katherine Brain, The University Of Newcastle & Hunter Integrated Pain Service, NSW: Food for thought: Exploring diet and pain in Australian adults with ADHD. A cross-sectional study
- Mrs Hannah Kennedy, Gold Coast Health, QLD: Virtual reality to enhance pain science education: A three-arm randomised clinical trial in a tertiary pain service with six-month follow up
- Professor Maree Smith, The University Of Queensland, QLD: Amitriptyline evoked dose-dependent relief of pain behaviours in a mouse model of ross river virus disease
