We are delighted to introduce our keynote speaker Emma Beesley who will be presenting on How to successfully collaborate with lived experience expertise in research.’
As a stroke survivor of 8 years living with moderate aphasia, Emma has readily offered her lived experience of aphasia to researchers. She believes it is important for people with aphasia not to be excluded from research. Emma shares how to help create a successful co-design collaboration throughout the research process.
Emma Beesley was a lawyer working in the Family Court of Australia when she unexpectedly suffered a stroke at the age of 33 in 2016. For the following 10 months she had no name for her communication and language problems. Finding out that her condition was called aphasia prompted Emma to make it her mission to educate more people in the community about it. By sharing her experiences, she has tried to inspire other aphasia sufferers and help educate the wider public about living with aphasia.
Unfortunately, stroke research often excludes people with aphasia because of their language difficulties. Emma, however, is determined not to accept this exclusion. She has been a Research Partner with the Aphasia CRE and contributed to the Young Stroke Project with the Stroke Foundation. This publicity, led to opportunities to be more than just a research participant but also to be included in projects from inception. Her latest project was a collaboration with Dr Claire Bennington on the design of an International Aphasia Awareness campaign, which they co-presented at IARC 24 in Brisbane.
Emma also values being a member of an aphasia community group. She is immensely proud to be the President of the Maitland Aphasia Communication Group, as well as a member of the Australian Aphasia Association.
The ASA 2025 Program will be available on the website next week and tickets are available for sale from the 25th August 2025. We are looking forward to seeing you at ASA 2025!