A few weeks ago, we were lucky enough to have a visit from Dr Chris Shaw (Institute of Physical Activity & Nutrition, muscle metabolism expert) and Dr Amelia Carr (Deakin Centre for Sports Performance, sports nutrition expert) along with around 20 undergraduate students from Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. The visit was facilitated by Prof Gareth Wallis who saw staff and students attend several events while on their UK trip.
Within the University of Birmingham’s School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Science we have a number of special interest groups (SIG). Members of the GSSPP sit within the Performance Enhancement SIG, who invited Dr Carr to present some of her recent research on hydration considerations for exercising in the heat. A member of the group typically leads SIG meetings, so it was a nice opportunity to hear from an external speaker on something we are all interested in. There was clearly a passion for the applied research undertaken and I know it got a lot of us thinking about the results presented.
The session was also attended by several PGR students, which I always think is a nice way of further integrating doctoral students into the work that staff are undertaking. As the leaf for the Performance Enhancement SIG, this session made me realise that external speakers should be included more frequently to further broaden the expertise we’re exposed to and allow us to think more broadly than those within our groups.
If you’re reading this and think you’d like to come and deliver a session for us, then please reach out. Thank you again to Dr Carr, it was a great session, and we appreciate the time you took to deliver it.
T.Brownlee@bham.ac.uk