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The travel award recipients were asked to provide brief reflections on their experience attending and presenting at the annual meeting.
Cynthia Smith, Physical Activity:
Wow, what a week, and what a fantastic first ISBPA experience! Uppsala provided a
beautiful backdrop to what was an empowering and informative conference. I thoroughly enjoyed the NESI workshop which gave me an opportunity to meet and connect with other EMCRs immediately, and the dance breaks at key note presentations were invigorating. I was able to showcase my research to other delegates through my poster presentation and it was inspiring to hear about research, and connect with the researchers, in the children and families space. Thank you for the opportunity to attend and present, I look forward to the next time.
Alexandra Descarpentrie, Mixed:
In every way, I found this ISBNPA conference in Uppsala unique. Fine experts shared thought-provoking presentations which will enable me to refine my PhD thesis work and give it more perspective. In addition, I was delighted to get my research acknowledged by the Children and families SIG travel award. The networking events were also of incredible quality and includes not only a wonderful lunch organized by the ISBNPA Mentoring Program committee but also a large “Network of Early career researchers and Students of ISBNPA” (NESI) diner that allowed more than 140 minds to connect. Looking forward to next year conference!
Megan Clemans, Sedentary Behaviour:
Attending ISBNPA 2023 in Uppsala, Sweden was an excellent experience! For the first time in my graduate studies, I had the opportunity to meet other researchers in my area of study in-person. Exchanging ideas about study designs and interpretations of results came naturally, especially at the special interest group meeting where similar research topics are grouped together. The conference had a full schedule of poster and oral presentation, meaning that there wasn’t a wasted minute to learn more about current research findings. In summary, attending ISBNPA this year has allowed me to form professional connections and broaden my perspective of related research. Thank you to the children and families SIG for supporting my attendance!
Alexandra Manson, Nutrition:
ISBNPA 2023 marked my first international conference experience since beginning my PhD at Flinders University in Australia. I was lucky enough to share two of my PhD studies in oral and poster presentation formats, making the conference a very memorable experience! My PhD project is exploring parent interest in adopting school provided meals in Australia. Therefore, the conference provided the invaluable opportunity to connect and exchange with international researchers from vastly different school food systems. Thank you to the committee and members of the Children and Families SIG for the support!
Olivia Finnegan, Sleep:
In my first year attending the ISBNPA Annual Meeting, I was impressed by the novel and innovative research being done internationally to support human health. I was excited to share findings from the Wearables for Kids study on the calibration of accelerometry and heart rate produced by consumer wearables and research-grade devices. Discussion with attendees following the presentation sparked new directions for this research and identified some constraints to consider in adopting a device-agnostic approach to sleep measurement in children. Attending the ISBNPA Annual Meeting was an incredible opportunity to learn and network with researchers within my discipline.
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