Dr. Sheryl Chatfield (Assistant Professor) is one of 14 international post doctoral or early career researchers accepted into the inaugural workshop, “From junior to senior researcher in research on ageing and health,” at the Swedish National Graduate School for Competitive Science on Ageing and Health (SWEAH)—and the only participant from outside Europe.
Participants met three times during the year with faculty from the Lund University Medical School. Workshop topics included the role of gender in academics, time management, project management, and ongoing professional development. For the final assignment, attendees had the opportunity to prepare a funding proposal for an opportunity in their respective sub-disciplines and geographical locations which was reviewed and critiqued by the members of the SWEAH board. Dr. Chatfield's proposal was an extension of her dissertation research on the ageing process on men and the impact of physical activity on that process.
In addition to Dr. Chatfield, participants represented various European nationalities: Swedish, Finnish, British, Portuguese, and French. Dr. Chatfield has made some good friends and hopes to find ways to collaborate going forward. Another benefit for Dr. Chatfield has been the opportunity to see the profound difference in lifestyle activity in Sweden and Denmark when compared to the U.S. Everyone, including the professors, walks or bicycles almost everywhere. In fact, Lund, Sweden has 5,000 bicycle parking spaces.