On Friday 27th January 2023, our new cohort of SPHR pre-doctoral fellows, post-doctoral launching fellows and PhD students attended the Wellcome Collection in London for an exciting day of talks and networking as they start their journey with the School developing their career in public health research. New trainees heard stories from SPHR alumni about their experiences over the last few years and top tips for making the most out of their studies. Following this, an alumni meeting took place to celebrate the achievements of SPHR alumni and and look ahead.
7 new PhD students and 8 fellows attended the day to welcome them into the School. The morning sessions included an introduction to the School and a group-based discussion about what we mean by Public Health. Trainees then heard from SPHR colleagues about knowledge exchange, communications and planning for public involvement and engagement.
Alumni stories
After lunch, trainees heard from SPHR alumni Emma Adams, Matt Keeble, Rhiannon Thompson, Davara Bennett, Cheryl McQuire and Naoimh McMahon about their career journeys. This was a valuable opportunity to hear from those who have gone through similar experiences. Lively and engaging talks from the alumni included their professional highlights, advice they wished they’d had, keeping a sense of perspective and not being too worried about what exact direction you are heading in.
Following this, trainees took part in speed mentoring sessions with the alumni where they could have more in-depth discussions and ask any questions.
Alumni advice for new trainees
“I found it really useful to write as I went along during my research, when I got to the end I found that a lot of it was already written and just needed bringing together. Another piece of good advice is to document all the key decisions you make throughout the research journey. Everyone can do research in a slightly different way and research always has its limitations, but actually if you can explain and justify why you did something you know you’re going to have a good research output at the end of it” Alice Porter
“Never compare yourself to others, your journey is unique to you and you will do it at your own pace. Reach out to others and treat it as one day at a time, even one hour at a time and keep going!” Yanaina Chavez-Ugalde
“Don’t be afraid to speak to people, you are not alone, it’s your project yes but you’ve got your supervisors, other PhD students and colleagues within SPHR. There are people to guide you. It’s also great to attend events related to your PhD topic but also outside as well to gain new perspectives” Denise Ndlovu
“The biggest piece of advice I would have appreciated is that it’s okay to not know what you want to do with your life, and it’s okay not to know what the path ahead of you is going to be. Knowing that it was okay to try different things and figure out what worked best for me was really valuable and I think had someone told me at the beginning that it’s not linear and there will be a lot of issues along the way for you and others…would have given me the reassurance that I needed” Emma Adams
Alumni celebration
In the evening, more alumni joined for a celebration event to reflect on their time at SPHR and next career steps. Highlights from their time at SPHR included them organising their own own week-long writing retreat in the Cotswolds.
Class of 2023 in numbers (to date):
- 165 publications published
- 19 placements
- 171 presentations delivered
- 31 blogs written
- 13 policy briefs produced
- 10 supervised internships
