18 Nov 2025

Looking Back: ENPHE Forum 2025 - The Future of Physiotherapy Education: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities

Overview of the Forum

ENPHE held its 2025 Forum in Differdange, Luxembourg, between the 18th and the 20th of September. The event was kindly hosted by LUNEX. This Forum picked up on the theme initially introduced during the spring Workshop in Breda - “The Future of Physiotherapy Education: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities”. We were very happy to welcome over 220 participants to this event! Bringing together educators, students, researchers, and institutions, the Forum was, as always, a dynamic and open space for co-creation, knowledge exchange, and collaboration. It was a full 3-day event with courses, presentations, workshops, keynotes, award ceremonies, and lots of networking.

We would like to give a special thank you to LUNEX for hosting such an incredible event, and to all the members of the staff and student organising committee for their hospitality, commitment, and support throughout the Forum. We are also grateful for the insights and learnings shared by our keynote speakers Steven Ambler and Lynn Frank, and for the continuous progress and innovative work of our Working Groups for leading such relevant work within the physiotherapy field. Last, but definitely not least, thank you to all the participants for joining us and for showing such genuine enthusiasm in your contributions to ENPHE and the physiotherapy field!

Below, we give a closer overview of the sessions, presentations and workshops featured during the Forum.

Keynote Speakers

We had the pleasure of welcoming two different speakers to our latest event. The first speaker was Steven Ambler, professor of physical therapy and orthopaedic surgery at the Washington University School of Medicine. On the 19th of September, Steven talked about curriculum development in light of the existing gap between what we say we are trained to do versus what we actually do in practice. He provided a transitioning model towards a competency-based education as a solution for this variation, whilst meeting regional needs and differences. Steven also lead an inspiration session on the 20th about the ROI of becoming a physical therapist, introducing the external factors associated with variability in practice and academics within physiotherapy, and how different regions are approaching this issue.

Our second speaker was Lynn Frank, a coaching psychologist, trainer, facilitator and supervisor from Luxembourg. Lynn talked about the importance of providing support to students in a time where anxiety and stress levels were never as high. The keynote highlighted the practical, evidence-based steps educators and institutions can take to respond to this "Anxious Generation", through mental health support, but also through redesigning curriculum, assessment methods, placement preparation, and academic staff - student relationships.

About the Working Group Sessions

Artificial Intelligence in Physiotherapy Education

During the European Network of Physiotherapy in Higher Education (ENPHE) Forum 2025, hosted and organised by Lunex University of Applied Sciences, the Working Group on Artificial Intelligence in Physiotherapy Education led two initiatives focusing on the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Higher Education.

On the 18th of September 2025, the Working Group, co-facilitated by António Alves Lopes, Pedro Chana Valero, and Jeroen Alessie, organised a full-day Pre-Forum Course entitled “Artificial Intelligence in Physiotherapy Education and Research – An Exploratory Approach”. The course aimed to enhance participants’ understanding of AI’s capabilities and its relevance in healthcare education and research.

The workshop addressed several themes, including:

the use of AI for personal organisation and communication;
AI applications in teaching and learning;
AI support for research activities;
strategies and ethical considerations for integrating AI into education and research.

On Friday, 19 September 2025, the Working Group held the session “Artificial Intelligence in Physiotherapy Education: Future Directions and Challenges”. The session presented the outcomes of recent educational activities, including surveys conducted among teachers and students. Discussions concluded with reflections on key future directions for integrating AI into physiotherapy education, such as strengthening students’ and teachers’ literacy, developing implementation strategies, providing ethical guidance and assessing impact, and supporting the transition from large language models (LLMs) to AI agents in education and research

Through these initiatives, the ENPHE Forum 2025 offered participants the opportunity to engage with emerging perspectives on AI, exchange experiences, and consider its implications for the future of physiotherapy education and research.

For more information about the Working Group, please visit the following ENPHE webpage.

Practice-Based Learning and Interprofessional Learning

In this forum we were pleased to present the final assessment form, which is also available on the ENPHE website. We gave a short explanation of the form to the workshop participants and kindly invited them to start using this form from now on. We will return to it briefly during the workshop in Aalborg next Spring to help further among ENPHE participants.

The working groups Practice-Based Learning and Interprofessional Learning jointly facilitated a workshop at this forum to examine areas of overlap between the groups and to identify best practices applicable to both. In this process, we drew upon the WHO Rehabilitation Framework, which serves as a comprehensive global guideline for delivering high-quality, person-centred rehabilitation. The framework underscores functioning as a key outcome measure, strengthens the importance of interprofessional collaboration, and promotes the systematic use of evidence-based interventions across all levels of care. By applying this framework, we were able to identify and consolidate best practices that are relevant to both working groups and that hold significant value for the future advancement of our profession.

We will review the results of the workshop together to determine which topics were discussed most frequently and which areas participants would like to explore further in the upcoming meetings.

We reflect on a highly productive workshop in which participants demonstrated strong engagement, and which clearly presents valuable opportunities for further collaboration with the Working Group Interprofessional Learning.

Internationalisation

Based on the work of the Working Group Internationalisation of the past workshops & forums in Begen, Coruna, and Breda, the WG developed ‘The Quest for the Global Competent Physiotherapist'. Participants developed their own (part of) the curriculum orientated on the Global Competent Physiotherapist by the steps on the board game. Along the way they collected competences, learning outcomes. Choose an assessment and picked teaching activities. By reaching the finish the groups started discussing their gathered cards en develop their idea for education.

In the game the working group collected all the developed material. Attached you’ll find the different elements of the game. Feel free to download the game and play this back at home with your colleagues to develop our education for the global competent physiotherapist.

Board Game - The Quest for the Global Competent

Planetary Health

Planetary Health Group advances sustainability in physiotherapy at ENPHE Luxembourg

On 19–20 April 2025, the ENPHE Planetary Health Group gathered in Luxembourg to push forward the integration of planetary health into physiotherapy education and practice. Led by Andrea Ribeiro with Volcmar Visser, Eveline de Smidt, João Venâncio and Filip Maric, the team facilitated hands-on sessions linking environmental determinants to clinical reasoning and patient outcomes.

Highlights included a Europe-wide collaborative class with six universities and a PhotoVoice showcase, where students and staff presented images and reflections on the environment–health nexus. The group also piloted engagement tools such as the Blob Tree to map perceptions and emotions around sustainability and care.

Participants reported clearer connections between pollution, green spaces, mobility and rehabilitation, and emphasised skills in critical observation, reflection and the use of visuals as pedagogical tools. Recommendations for curricula featured outdoor learning and field activities, real-world case studies, debates/role-play, escape rooms and gamified quizzes.

Next steps include publishing the PhotoVoice outcomes, scaling the collaborative model, and developing a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) on Emergency, Disaster and Planetary Health. The Group’s message is simple: physiotherapists are key agents of change—equipped to improve health while advancing environmental responsibility.

Research

During the ENPHE Forum held in Luxembourg from September 18–20, 2025, the ENPHE Research Group actively contributed to the event’s theme “The Future of Physiotherapy Education: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities.” The group presented development initiatives and results from its various sub-groups, focusing on advancing evidence-based physiotherapy.

The sessions provided a platform for sharing ongoing research, discussing methodological approaches, and fostering collaboration among European higher education institutions. Participants engaged in meaningful dialogue around current challenges and future directions in physiotherapy education, reinforcing the importance of research-driven development in the field.

Pain Education

At the ENPHE Forum in Differdange, Luxembourg, the Pain Education Working Group hosted a one-hour interactive workshop attended by 35 participants, including around 10 students. The session began with a brief overview of the group's context, history, and current activities, including the development of the EFIC Core Pain Curriculum for Bachelor Physiotherapy Programmes.

Participants then engaged in small group discussions focused on communication strategies in pain education. Using Mentimeter, they shared insights on models, teaching methods, learning activities, and challenges encountered in their institutions. These contributions will inform the development of a resource folder and support the 'Building Competences' work package.

Notably, few attendees were familiar with the EFIC bachelor curriculum beforehand, but many expressed interest in integrating it into their evolving curricula.

Professional Issues/Direct Access

During the last inspirational session, the WG session covered:

a) A presentation of a French student about Direct Access : Camille (from EFOM, Paris) led this humble, yet thought-provoking survey with her colleague Valentine in their 2nd year of physiotherapy studies. This aimed at collecting qualitative and quantitative data about students'/physiotherapists' concerns about Direct Access in their country (France/Spain/Portugal).

b) A discussion about the draft for a curriculum framework specific to Direct Access: What are the educational needs we have to respond to as an organisation? How should we support our members (whether EQF 6 or 7) in the implementation of such changes in the curriculum?

This led the group to think that a robust framework for Direct Access in physiotherapy education is needed to anticipate the compulsory adaptation of the European workforce. This is important to ensure students' readiness for autonomous practice.

You can learn more about each working group and stay up to date with their contributions in our website's ENPHE Groups page.

Looking back…

…The Forum was a special time for new beginnings, both with the work that was developed and shared within the network, as well as the new board members that officially started their new roles after this event. We are looking forward to seeing where this new phase takes us and encourage everyone to join us in future events and helping bring physiotherapy education forward!

We hope to see you all again soon at the ENPHE Workshop 2026 in Aalborg, Denmark! For more information about this, go to our Workshop 2026 page.

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