Ihi Heke is indigenous Māori and was raised in the mountain environments of New Zealand’s South Island. During the past 40 years Dr Heke has variously guided mountain bikers, skiers and outrigger paddlers. Dr Heke also has post graduate degrees in Environmental Management, educational psychology and a PhD in indigenous population health. Dr Heke’s most recent research focus has been utilising Systems Dynamics to help indigenous groups build health and wellness activities through traditional environmental knowledge. Dr Heke was also awarded a research grant by Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore) combining Systems Science and Maori Environmental Connections. Over the last several years Dr Heke has been consulting to Google X and recently developed a VR180 Māori environmental experience reel with a particular interest in high performance sport. More specifically his work has been looking at converting elite athletes into environmental champions by teaching them how to be environmentally centred rather than athlete centred in the ways that they train and evaluate elite performance.

Key Research areas

• Ancestral Māori concepts of health obtained from the environment
• Production of Indigenous ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) AI powered plug ins.
• Environmental connections between climate change, well-being, indigenous ways of knowing and high performance sport.

Dr Nathan Elsworthy is a Senior Lecturer in Exercise and Sport Sciences at Central Queensland University (CQUniversity) since 2017, teaching in the Skill Acquisition and Motor Control units. Prior to this, he was a Lecturer at Victoria University. Nathan’s research has encompassed the physical, physiological and decision-making demands of team sport officials, and he has completed projects in elite officiating groups, including World Rugby, Australian football league (AFL), Women’s national basketball league (WNBL), National rugby league (NRL) and A-league soccer. Further to this, Nathan also has ongoing projects examining the fluctuations in neuromuscular status and well-being measures in National basketball players (via Cairns Taipans), and sub-elite NRL players, and well as international rugby union players (Tonga rugby).

Esme has worked as an Accredited Exercise Physiologist with a Women’s Health special interest for the past 10 years, and now both owns & works in her own clinic, Pear Exercise Physiology & Physio in Brisbane, Australia.

When she isn’t working with patients, Esme is the Co-Director of The Women’s Health Collective, where she promotes & teaches allied health education in all aspects of Women’s Health. She is passionate about both learning more, & teaching more in Women’s Health space, and feels we need to ‘change the face’ of women’s health to reduce taboos & stigma, and welcome more younger practitioners into the field.

She is also the Exercise and Sports Science Australia (ESSA) Women’s Health Media Expert. Through these roles Esme is actively involved in teaching and presenting across Australia with a range of institutions, and has taught in the women’s health and exercise prescription space for ESSA, NSW Health, Sports Medicine Australia, and Australian Catholic University.

 VP of Sports Performance (REsearch & Innovation), Playermaker, UK

Steve is currently the Vice President of Sport Performance at Playermaker, alongside board roles with the UKSCA (United Kingdom of Strength and Conditioning Association), Hytro (BFR) and Sweatsearch (training app) ; previously, he has held positions across national football teams, premier league, championship and other roles within the sports tech industry. He completed both his Msc and PhD at the University of Hull, UK, looking at the utilisation of microtechnology for performance enhancement and injury risk reduction. His current research areas include performance/return to play monitoring in open and closed environments and the application of sub-maximal/ HIIT training methods across different sports, particularly around gait based metrics

Steve’s Keynote title is “Answering performance questions in an applied setting: The role of academia to support practice”

Applied PhD, Masters, Honours students have been utilised by sport organisations to gain greater insights into specific areas of interest to the organisation. However, creating an environment to support both facets can be challenging across multi-disciplinary departments and in different sports to ensure the best outcomes for the club, the student and the university. The current key note explores working examples and challenges faced within the applications of these models. 

Associate Professor

Dr Brigit Mirfin-Veitch is the Director of the Donald Beasley Institute (DBI), and a Research Associate Professor with the Centre for Post Graduate Nursing Studies, University of Otago (Christchurch). Brigit is committed to initiating and achieving social change through evidence-based research. She has led or been involved in a wide range of disability rights-based projects in the area of health and well-being, access to justice, violence and abuse, parenting, and the progressive realisation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, particularly Article 12 – Equal Recognition Before the Law – and Supported Decision Making. Brigit was centrally involved in the recent Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.

Abstract

In 2008, the New Zealand Government signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), which affirms disabled people’s right to participate in recreational, leisure, and sporting activities equally. Even so, research shows that disabled people continue to experience barriers when accessing these human rights, often leading to poorer health and life outcomes. In this presentation, Associate Professor Brigit Mirfin-Veitch and Dr Robbie Francis Watene will draw on recent research with people with learning (intellectual) disabilities about their perspectives on sport and physical activity. Their presentation will explore important models and frameworks from the disability sector, discuss ethical considerations regarding segregated, integrated and mainstream sporting opportunities for disabled people, and provide future aspirations and direction for upholding disabled people’s right to participate in recreational, leisure and sporting activities.

Donald Beasley Institute

Dr Robbie Francis Watene is a disabled leader, scholar and advocate from South Auckland. With 35 years lived experience of disability, Robbie has worked in the disability sector for over 15 years as a support worker, humanitarian documentarian, social entrepreneur, researcher, consultant, and advisor. She has experience working with disabled people in France, Bangladesh, India, Mexico, Colombia and Ecuador, and has also spearheaded research on gender, war and disability rights. Robbie is Kairakahau Matua Whaikaha – Disabled Research Lead at the Donald Beasley Institute (DBI), where she oversees a team of disabled and disability researchers, as well as a range of human rights research projects.