52 weeks in public health research: part 30

Posted by Amelia Lake, Martin White and Jean Adams

From Amelia Lake: My messy desk as I try to analyse data from our NIHR food environment project. Some tidying required!

From Martin White: I recently stayed at the Royal College of General Practitioners where the NIHR Public Health Research Funding Board held its June meeting. It has rather swanky hotel accommodation with well appointed meeting rooms, but what I liked most was the sympathetic architectural treatment, bringing together old and new, with light and airy atria and retention of period details. So much nicer than a drab hotel chain - indeed positively uplifting. I wonder if it affected our decisions? Now there's a study that needs doing...

From Martin White: The most recent Fuse Quarterly Research Meeting was held at the National Glass Centre, which is now owned and managed by Sunderland University. Offering a range of exhibits on the history of glass and examples of glass as art, the centre also boasts some excellent meeting rooms and a huge and airy café/restaurant - with glass on three sides (yes, more great architecture). This photo shows an exhibit in a show case on a galleried walkaway above the café. Outside the huge windows the river Wear is reflected in a curved mirror backdrop. I think we'll be using this venue again...

From Jean Adams: Arty shot of my academic gown and hood. There are a few tasks that academics are required to do that took my a little by surprise. One was that we 'must' take part in the academic processions that occur at all graduation ceremonies. There are about 20 academics at each ceremony, so if everyone is nice and takes their turn, each person only has to do this once every couple of years. The first few times I was bored. This year I attended one of the MBBS congregations. A few of my tutees and other students who have worked with me were graduating. Sir Paul Nurse was awarded an honorary doctorate and gave a great acceptance speech. His advice to the new graduates: don't loose your curiosity, your passion, or your sense of humour. The university's chancellor, Sir Liam Donaldson, spoke about the advances in medicine (nicely expressed in epidemiological terms), he has seen in his career and encouraged the graduates to go forth and advance the field some more. It turned out to be an uplifting 90 minutes away from my desk to reflect on why we do science, medicine, and teaching and how to keep doing it well.

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Just to remind you:

Each Thursday of 2014 we’ll try and post around four pictures on the Fuse blog that capture our weeks in public health research, from the awe-inspiring to the everyday and mundane. Given that more of the latter than the former exists in my life, I foresee problems compiling 208 images worth posting on my own. So this is going to have to be a group project. Send me an image (or images) with a sentence or two describing what aspect of your week in public health research they sum up and I’ll post them as soon as I can. You don’t have to send four together – we can mix and match images from different people in the same week.

Normal rules apply: images you made yourself are best; if you use someone else’s image please check you’re allowed to first; if anyone’s identifiable in an image, make sure they’re happy for it to be posted; nothing rude; nothing that breaks research confidentiality etc.