George Austin-Cliff is a PhD candidate in Health Sciences at the University of Lucerne, conducting research on employment trajectories and labour market participation after spinal cord injury. Working at Swiss Paraplegic Research (Nottwil), he draws on life-course methods and biographical narrative approaches to examine how people with SCI engage with "work" over time. Before his PhD, he trained in sociology and worked on research projects at the intersection of youth research and Disability Studies. He is committed to participatory and collaborative research designs that involve people with lived experience of SCI alongside the rehabilitation professionals who work with them.

Kimberley Monden, PhD, is a tenured Associate Professor, Licensed Psychologist, Vice Chair of Research, and Director of the Division of Research & Innovation in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School with experience in spinal cord injury clinical care and research. Dr. Monden’s research focuses on psychosocial adaptation to injury, including resilience and injustice appraisals. She is interested in improving quality of life and long-term psychosocial outcomes after SCI. Dr. Monden also has expertise in dissemination and implementation science. She is the founder and director of the Spinal Cord Injury Psychosocial Outcomes and Wellbeing Research (SCIPOWeR) laboratory. Dr. Monden is the Project Director of the inaugural Minnesota Regional Spinal Cord Injury Model System. She has funding from NIDILRR, DoD, and the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation. Dr. Monden is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association.

Toshiyuki Shimizu, MD, is a PhD student in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Keio University School of Medicine. His research focuses on neuromodulation and regenerative medicine for spinal cord injury, with particular interests in translational neurorehabilitation and stem cell–based therapeutic strategies.

Sunpreet Singh Hanspal is an Occupational Therapist at the Department of Spine and Rehabilitation, Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute, New Delhi, India. He specializes in spinal cord injury rehabilitation with a strong focus on technology-driven interventions. His work integrates gamified sensor-based systems, robotics, and task-oriented neurorehabilitation to enhance upper extremity function and functional independence. He is actively involved in research exploring innovative, evidence-based approaches to improve outcomes in neurological populations. His broader interests include neuroplasticity, human–technology interaction in rehabilitation, and advancing accessible rehabilitation solutions in resource-constrained settings.

Beatrice Ugiliweneza, PhD, MSPH, MSCS is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology, and a Director of Biostatistics for the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center at the University of Louisville. She holds a Bachelor’s in Mathematics and Physics from Abdou Moumouni Dioffo University of Niamey in Niger (2006), a Master’s in Biostatistics (2011), a Doctorate in Applied and Industrial Mathematics (2011), and a Master’s in Computer Science and Engineering (2024). Her research focuses on advancing clinical and real-world evidence through Clinical Trial Analytics Research (CTAR), Health Outcomes and Economics Research (HOER), Health Services Research (HSR), Health Analytics Research (HAR), Real-World Evidence Research (RWER), and Explainable Machine Learning (EML) with emphasis on neurotrauma, treatment effectiveness, and outcome optimization. She has extensive experience in large databases including claims data, registries, surveys, electronic health records, and administrative databases. She has designed and executed multiple projects involving quantitative and qualitative analysis, including descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics. She has collaborated in multidisciplinary teams, working closely with other scientists, engineers, researchers, medical doctors, allied health professionals, and postdoctoral scholars, resulting in more than 150 publications and millions in extramural funding. Her work has been disseminated at various regional, national, and international meetings.

Akira Toga, MD, is an orthopaedic surgeon and PhD candidate at Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. His research focuses on neuroplasticity and functional brain connectivity after spinal cord injury using awake resting-state fMRI in common marmosets. He is particularly interested in developing MRI-based biomarkers to evaluate recovery and rehabilitation-related brain reorganization after spinal cord injury.