We caught up with each of them to find out more about their adventures and impact of their work.
Doctoral researcher Iain Gowans visited the University of Queensland, Australia in July 2022. Iain presented to a Paralympic research group and discussed his personal journey alongside his current research into integrity risks of athlete classification in Para sport. Iain said: “visiting Australia was a fantastic experience and a great networking opportunity. I came away with future project ideas and a revised title for my thesis, which was great. It was also fantastic to spend time with my co-supervisor, Dr Emma Beckman, who kindly coordinated and supervised my trip” Iain’s trip was funded through the Santander Mobility Award and Loughborough University’s Doctoral College Kickstart Travelfund.
In July and August 2022, Jordan Fenton and doctoral researcher Heather Macrae travelled to Ontario, Canada. Their first stop was to the Canadian Sport Institute, one of Canada’s primary hubs for sport science, sport medicine and performance support for elite and up-and-coming athletes. Jordan was given a tour of the facilities by Canadian researcher Erica Gavel and physiologist Melissa Lacriox. Jordan said, “I was thoroughly impressed by the vast range of state of the art facilities that cater Olympic and Paralympic sports”. Heather also added “it was a privilege to tour their facilities and learn more about how they operate and provide world-class support to their athletes.”
Jordan then visited McMaster University to discuss his doctoral studies and had the opportunity to get involved with lab-based activities in the Vascular Dynamics Laboratory with doctoral researcher Sydney Valentino. He had the chance to discuss research going on within the university with the McMaster Physical Activity Centre of Excellence Director Professor Stuart Phillips and the Dean of the university Professor Maureen MacDonald.
Heather also visited Ontario Tech, Brock and McMaster University and was able to meet several other doctoral researchers, she said it was a “fantastic opportunity to learn and observe how they conduct their research both in the lab and in the field.”
In another trip across the pond, doctoral researcher James Haley also visited different areas of Canada in October 2022. James presented some of his spinal cord injury (SCI) PhD meta-analysis at the SCAPPS (Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology) conference in Montreal. Whilst in Montreal, James also had the chance to meet Dr Jennifer Tomasone and other PhD students at Queens University to discuss current areas of SCI research. James’ second part of his trip involved travelling to the Cirris Rehabilitation Centre, to showcase his PhD work. James said, “I really enjoyed meeting post docs, seeing the research facilities and participating in a graduate seminar series”. To finish off his trip, James visited Professor Shane Sweet and students at McGill University and checked out some of their research facilities and work undertaken in their department.
In November 2022, our centre’s information officer and research assistant Ellie-May Storr took a trip to Amsterdam, Netherlands to present the World Anti-Doping Agency funded project into “Clean Sport in International Cerebral Palsy (CP) Football”. Ellie-May led a presentation at the International Federation of Cerebral Palsy Football’s (IFCPF) general assembly, to several members of the IFCPF and CP football clubs from across the world. She said “Travelling to Amsterdam was a great opportunity to recruit for our study, we had lots of interest. I also enjoyed meeting members of the CP football community from across the world to tell them about PHC research and our impact. Networking with the CEO of IFCPF was great and I’m excited to share the findings of our research project”.
We are extremely proud of our members for showcasing our centre’s wide amount of research on an international stage. With more abroad trips to come in 2023, such as Professor Vicky travelling to Canada and the USA over the next few months and team members gathering data in France (Paris), stay tuned for another travel posts and follow our twitter @PHC_Lboro for updates!