Meet the 2026 SCI Research Collaboration Grantees. Five countries. One global SCI community.
The Spinal Research Institute (SRI) is pleased to announce the nine recipients of the 2026 SCI Research Collaboration Grants.
From Dhaka to Cali, Istanbul to Sydney, our nine grantees are on their way to Kuala Lumpur for ISCoS 2026, which starts tomorrow, 7 October. Over four days, they'll present their work, exchange knowledge and connect with researchers, clinicians and people with lived experience from around the world.
If you're at the conference, come and meet them. Larnie Ball, SRI's International Research Collaborations Manager, and Antonio Vecchio, SRI's Community and Consumer Engagement Manager will also be on hand throughout the event to answer your questions and share more about Spinal Research Institute's mission and vision.
This year's recipients are based across Australia, Bangladesh, Colombia, India and Türkiye:
- Australia
- Dr Jamie Ellis — Murdoch Children's Research Institute
- Building a stronger future for children with spinal cord injury
- Dr Michaela Filipcikova — Griffith University
- Turning community priorities into action
- Rhianne Kerr — Western Sydney University
- Co-designing better opportunities to be active
- Shawna Power — Western Sydney University
- Supporting meaningful roles after spinal cord injury
- Dr Jamie Ellis — Murdoch Children's Research Institute
- Bangladesh
- Shovan Parvez — Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed
- Making assistive technology more accessible
- Nafisa Sultana — Bangladesh Health Professions Institute
- Making remote rehabilitation work in Bangladesh
- Shovan Parvez — Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed
- Colombia
- María Fernanda Rosero Chamorro — Universidad del Valle
- Bringing sexuality into comprehensive rehabilitation
- María Fernanda Rosero Chamorro — Universidad del Valle
- India
- Manpreet Kaur — Indian Spinal Injuries Centre-Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences
- Strengthening breathing and respiratory health after spinal cord injury
- Manpreet Kaur — Indian Spinal Injuries Centre-Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences
- Türkiye
- Melisa Zengin — Istanbul Medeniyet University
- Creating opportunities beyond rehabilitation
- Melisa Zengin — Istanbul Medeniyet University
International collaboration is essential to improving outcomes for people living with spinal cord injury. It brings diverse expertise and perspectives together, helps researchers address shared challenges, and creates opportunities for mentoring, multicentre studies, joint publications and new research partnerships.
For researchers with limited access to international networks, attending ISCoS can open doors to expertise, resources and collaborations that may not be available locally, strengthening research, accelerating the translation of evidence into practice, and increasing its potential to make a lasting difference in the lives of people with SCI.
The SCI Research Collaboration Grants are provided with the generous support of the SRI Patron's Program Future Leaders of SCI Research initiative.