Push in

When Associate Professor Kevin Vowles asked us to procure 250 Chinese finger traps for EP3 2015, we got a bit excited – our imaginations ran wild and we double checked our public liability insurance for the event. But Kevin didn’t leave the sell-out audience trapped in a daisy chain around a post at Flinders Street Railway Station, instead, he left them with a beautifully elegant experiential learning moment. You can see for yourself:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1-dKJUM5nk&w=560&h=315]

“The consequences of fighting harder, in this case, are not the consequences we want. In fact the consequences we want require us to do something a bit paradoxical, which is to push in, to the experience. To move a little bit more flexibly with the experience, to more a little bit more gently with the experience…

Kevin’s Chinese finger trap example was one of many educational highlights from EP3 2015 and along with Bob Coghill’s Wasabi – Mint- Chilli experience, made the three days memorable for all who attended. In 2016, EP3 is getting even bigger with five outstanding speakers over three days covering the latest in neuroimmunology, psychology, sensory processing research, education psychology, conceptual change science, brains, bodies, space and clinical pain science.

Joining us in 2016 will be Professor Frank Keefe, Editor-in-Chief of Pain, and a true heavy in the world of pain psychology. Frank was a fellow editor with Kevin for the updated version of the classic book Fordyce’s Behavioural Methods for Chronic Pain and Illness (eagle eyed readers will also spot Mark Jensen on that list of editors, our guest at the first EP3 in 2014) and his presence firmly establishes the tradition of EP3 events bringing you the biggest names in pain science, education and psychology.

We can’t wait to see Frank in Adelaide for EP3 2016 and look forward to see you there too.

-Tim Cocks