NEXT SPARK AWARD

The award is designed to support early career researchers in health and medical sciences.  This initiative aims to bring bright ideas to life that benefit children and young people born prematurely and their families.

Expressions of interest open 4/8/25 and close 22/9/25 with finalists receiving individual mentoring in October to perfect their Pitch.  You are all invited to the live Pitch event which will take place at Mounts Bay Sailing Club on November 16.  Make a pledge to support the award and purchase your tickets for the pitch on the ‘Tickets’ link below.  Everyone in attendance will vote and the winner will take home the prize and most importantly have some resources to turn their Next Spark idea into an epic bonfire.

Huge thanks to Graham Hall and Clare Berry who have generously provided their time and expertise to help us bring the Next Spark Award to life.

📆 Sunday, 16 November 2025

🕰️ 4pm - 6pm

🎟️ One beverage on arrival and light refreshments

📍 Mounts Bay Sailing Club, Australia II Drive, Crawley *The function room is only accessible via stairs*

Strong Starts for Tiny Sparks: Helping your little one with toileting and independence

Helping Your Little One with Toileting and Independence

This free webinar in the Strong Starts for Tiny Sparks series explores helping your little one with toileting independence. It will cover:

🧻 Understanding the Journey: Learn what toileting readiness can look like for children.

🧻 Toilet Training Tips That Work: Discover gentle, consistent approaches to toilet training that build confidence and preparedness for both you and your child.

🧻 Practical Support for Everyday Life: Explore simple, real-world strategies to manage setbacks, encourage routine, and make toileting part of your family’s daily rhythm.

Please join us for this insightful webinar presented by Karina Caldwell, continence physiotherapist with the Western Kids Health Team on:

📆 Thursday, 7 August

⏰ 1pm

Registration is essential.

Have a say

We feel it is essential to hear from our community about what they love about the things we do and where they see opportunities for new things in the future. We’ve opened up a short survey to help support this process. If you have been part of any of our programs, care packages, playgroup, webinar series, special occasion gifts, World Prematurity Day celebrations we would love to hear from you!

Join a Focus Group - EOI Open

Your opportunity to shape meaningful, woman-centred change in maternity care.

The Every Week Counts program will soon conduct two Consumer Focus Groups centring around ‘Gestational Diabetes’ and ‘Pre-eclampsia screening during pregnancy’ and we need your help in spreading the word.

We are seeking interested participants from all over Australia that fall into the following groups:

- People who have experienced gestational diabetes

- People who have experienced pre-eclampsia

- People with a complication free pregnancy.

The meetings will take place online and those selected to participate will receive an honorarium for their time.

We invite anyone interested in participating to complete an Expression of Interest which can be found here: https://everyweekcounts.com.au/get-involved/

These focus groups will provide an opportunity to share perspectives and help shape the direction, design and delivery of initiatives aimed at safely reducing preterm and early term birth.

Strong Starts for Tiny Sparks: Fussy Eating in Toddlerhood

This free webinar in the Strong Starts for Tiny Sparks series explores why toddlers are often fussy eaters and offers practical tips to support:

🥣 healthy eating habits

🥣 reduce mealtime stress

🥣 encourage a positive food environment

Please join us for this insightful webinar presented by Brooke Penny, Dietician with the Western Kids Health Feeding Clinic on:

📆 Wednesday, 23 July

⏰ 10am

Registration is essential.