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UOW Shoalhaven – Friday. 14 and Saturday, 15 March, 2025

UOW Rural Health Research Conference 2025

Register now Conference program

Healthcare professionals and researchers will gather at UOW Shoalhaven to explore ‘Multidisciplinary and Community-Engaged Approaches in Rural Healthcare’. This conference offers a unique opportunity for healthcare workers and researchers to:

  • Share expertise: Present and discuss innovative practices and strategies.
  • Exchange knowledge: Engage in insightful discussions and learn from peers.
  • Foster collaborations: Build networks and partnerships that will shape the future of rural and regional healthcare.

We invite you to be a part of this event and contribute to the advancement of rural healthcare.

2025 conference details

Conference themes

  1. Digital health
  2. Rural and regional workforce development
  3. Innovations in care delivery
  4. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health

 

Speakers

Welcome Address

Fiona Phillips
MP – Federal Member for Gilmore

Keynote Speaker

Professor Russell Roberts
Professor of Management and Leadership at Charles Sturt University with a focus on mental health

Conference prices:

Students

  • Both days: $50.00
  • Friday only: $20.00
  • Saturday only: $30.00

Non-students

  • Both days: $200.00
  • Friday only: $70.00
  • Saturday only: $130.00

Conference dinner

  • Student & non-student: $60.00

If you would like to attend the 2025 UOW Rural Health Research Conference, you can register online.

Registration closes: Friday, 28 February, 2025.

Call for abstract submissions has closed.

All abstract submissions relate to a Conference sub-theme and address methods, results and implications for rural health.

Types of presentations:

  • 90-minute workshops (Friday afternoon)
  • 25-minute concurrent session presentations (20 mins + 5 mins Q&A)
  • 15-minute concurrent session presentations (10 mins + 5 mins Q&A)
  • Poster presentations

Please note that all presenters will be required to pay the Conference registration fees.

Student registrations:

To encourage student engagement, the Graduate School of Medicine is offering up to 20 free registrations to students who present at the 2025 Rural Health Research Conference.

Eligibility for free Conference registration:

  • Be a UOW undergraduate and postgraduate students studying within the Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health.
  • Submit to present either a workshop, presentation, or poster; student/s must be the presenter and the one submitting the abstract.

Note: This offer does not include Conference Dinner tickets.

Students whose abstracts are successful will be notified by Wednesday, 11 December 2024, along with presentation guidelines and information on their free Conference registration.

Submissions now closed.

 

Registration prices

Students

  • Both days: $50.00
  • Friday only: $20.00
  • Saturday only: $30.00

 Non-students

  • Both days: $200.00
  • Friday only: $70.00
  • Saturday only: $130.00

Conference dinner

  • Student & non-student: $60.00

Conference location

UOW Shoalhaven campus has been providing the local community with access to world-class university education for 27 years; proudly producing over 2,100 UOW graduates. Located on George Evans Road, Mundamia, the campus offers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses, a pathway program and academic support throughout your degree.

Getting to UOW Shoalhaven campus

Live Traffic NSW

Accommodation

A range of accommodation options is available, including those in popular tourist towns like Berry and Huskisson, situated approximately 25 minutes away by car from UOW Shoalhaven Campus. 

Recommended accommodation options in the Shoalhaven area:

Recommended areas to visit:

Have a question? Reach out to enquire.

gsm-research@uow.edu.au

 

2025 Conference Program

Some sessions run concurrently; please review the schedule to plan your experience.

  • Robert Jerome: Australian rural General Practitioners’ attitudes towards antimicrobial shared decision-making aids. 
  • Eliza West: Attitudes of rural General Practitioners towards the use of point-of-care CRP testing as a decision-making tool in the prescribing of antibiotics.
  • Benjamin McAulay: Barriers and facilitators to the implementation of C-reactive protein point-of-care testing for antimicrobial stewardship in Australian rural General Practice. A qualitative study.
  • Crystal Wilson: The effect of a delirium education intervention on delirium detection rates in perioperative PACU patients – a non-randomised pre-post intervention case study in a regional hospital. 
  • Kara Warrilow: Impact of rurality and socioeconomic status on functional gain in multiple sclerosis patients attending impatient rehabilitation in Australia.
  • Harison Towns: Reasons why Indigenous Australians do not wait to be seen by a Doctor in rural emergency departments.  
  • Carmen MacGregor: Understanding perioperative delirium risk factors and improving delirium education within rural hospitals.
  • Nicholas Mott: A descriptive study of the Royal Flying Doctor Service South Eastern section medical chest activity.
  • Zoe Louise Ferguson: Exploring paediatric usage of the RFDSSE Medical Line.
  • Bradley Dovenor: Describing the mental health and AOD services of the RDFS wellbeing place.
  • Rebecca Castor: Compliance with surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis (SAP) guidelines in a regional hospital.
  • Nathan Brown: Patient perspectives on using joint decision-making tools for the prescription of antimicrobials in rural Australian general practices. 
  • Spela Berlec: Resilience levels of people in rural, regional and metropolitan Australia.

13:00-13:45: Registration 
Central Foyer of Ray Cleary Building 300

14:00-14:20: Welcome to County
Ray Cleary Front Lawn

14:25-14:55: Afternoon Tea
Ray Cleary Building 300 

15:00-15:30: Welcome Address - FIONA PHILLIPS MP
Ray Cleary Building 300 UG03

17:15: Dinner
Café on Campus Building 301

Day one: Friday, 14 March, 2025

15:30-17:00: Workshops 

Workshop 1 - Ray Cleary Building 300 – UG03

PROFESSOR ANDREW BONNEY and PROFESSOR JUDY MULLAN:
Writing effective grant proposals. 

Workshop 2 - Ray Cleary Building 300 – UG04

PROFESSOR ROWENA IVERS, LIZ HALCOMB, FIONA WILLIAMS AND REBECCA BOSWORTH: 
The curious clinician – clinician researchers in rural settings.

 

08:30-08:55: Registration 
Central Foyer of Ray Cleary Building 300

09:00-09:20: Welcome to County / housekeeping 
Ray Clearly Building 300 UG03

09:20-10:20: Keynote Speaker, PROFESSOR RUSSELL ROBERTS
Ray Clearly Building 300 UG03

10:20-10:45: Morning Tea
Ray Clearly Building 300

12:10-13:10: Lunch 
Café on Campus Building 301 CG02

14:25-14:55: Afternoon Tea
 Ray Clearly Building 300 

13:15-13:40: Tracey Parnell and Tana Cuming
Staff education promotes inclusivity and accessibility of health services for people with disability

15:20-15:35: Louise Roser
Strengthening the local workforce to meet local need

15:40-16:00: Awards / summaries / Thank you
Ray Cleary Building 300 UG03

Day two: Saturday, 15 March, 2025

Ray Cleary Building 300 UG04

10:50-11:05: KATHERINE RILEY:
Domestic violence – understanding the rural landscape. A scoping review

11:10-11:25: KAREN HAYES:
Preparing occupational therapy students for practice in rural areas: Initial results of a scoping review

11:30-11:45: KAREN HAYES:
Workforce drought: the persistent maldistribution of the occupational therapy workforce

11:50-12:05: KARLA KUZMINS:
Unveiling the hidden rural workforce: Exploring nursing roles and challenges in multipurpose services

13:15-13:40: TRACEY PARNELL:
Staff education promotes inclusivity and accessibility of health services for people with disability

13:45-14:00: SAMANTHA AVITAIA:
Growing our own – regional healthcare traineeship collaboration

14:05-14:20: AYELE KASA:
Measuring the effects of nurse-led frailty intervention on community-dwelling older people

15:00-15:15: OLUWADARE CHRISTOPHER T:
Community responses to Covid-19 containment and its socio-economic impact in rural Kwara State of Nigeria

15:20-15:35: LOUISE ROSER:
Strengthening the local workforce to meet local need

 

Ray Cleary Building 300 UG03

10:50-11:05: PROFESSOR ROWENA IVERS:
How can rural towns attract and retain GPs? A grey literature review

11:10-11:25: DR COLIN CORTIE:
Medical specialists in Australia: Who are they and where are they working?

11:30-11:45: ISABELLE MEYER:
Supporting the rural workforce through National Dementia Education and Training Standards

11:50-12:05: ANNE DAVIS:
Why (not) rural practice? The literature springboard

13:45-14:00: EMILY VOHRALIK:
Rural Australians’ perceptions of the health impacts of extreme weather events: a systematic review

14:05-14:20: CLARE O’TOOLE:
The impact of remoteness on ADHD assessment availability in Australia

15:00-15:15: KAREN HAYES:
Mapping disease burden across modified Monash levels of remoteness in Australia

15:20-15:35: ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR PHILIP BARKER:
The use and effectiveness of sunscreens in workplace and recreational situations

Day two: Saturday, 15 March, 2025

Ray Cleary Building 300 UG05

10:50-11:05: DR MARGARET JORDAN:
C-reactive protein point-of- care testing in acute respiratory infections: perspectives of rural GPs

11:10-11:25: JODIE BRABIN:
Revolutionising Rural Eds: The impact of patient experience officers on community health

11:30-11:45: JAMES LINDEN:
Whole of system commissioning – linking COPD care

11:50-12:05: RAPHEL JOMAAH:
Tackling the hidden environmental threat of iodinated contract media

13:15-13:40: DR MARGARET JORDAN:
Co-designed resources to enable quality antibiotic use for acute adult respiratory tract infections

13:45-14:00: LEIGH WILSON:
Suicide interventions in rural Australia: the role of the GP

14:05-14:20: JODIE BRABIN
Innovative approaches to suicide prevention evaluating a rural and remote mental health program

15:00-15:15: NO PRESENTATION SCHEDULED

15:20-15:35: NO PRESENTATION SCHEDULED

Day two: Saturday, 15 March, 2025

Ray Cleary Building 300 UG26

10:50-11:05: DR PAUL SAUNDERS:
Striving for Aboriginal intercultural development through medical education

11:10-11:25: BRONTE HAYNES:
Placed based community led solutions

11:30-11:45: MEG KELLY:
Cultural determinants of health. A scoping review

11:50-12:05: NO PRESENTATION SCHEDULED

13:15-13:40: LEANNE McCARTHY AND BRONTE HAYNES:
The ironbark standing strong and tall project

13:45-14:00: NO PRESENTATION SCHEDULED

14:05-14:20: NO PRESENTATION SCHEDULED

15:00-15:15: NO PRESENTATION SCHEDULED

15:20-15:35: NO PRESENTATION SCHEDULED

Past events

Past Rural Health Conferences