Rosanna Maletta, Psychology, University of Liverpool (2021 Cohort)

I recently wrote a blog post (see: https://nwssdtp.ac.uk/2023/08/08/my-first-conference-experience/) which allowed me to reflect on my first conference experience. So, when the NWSSDTP asked me to consider writing about my second conference experience I was happy to have an opportunity to reflect again on my experience. Within the second year of my PhD, I began disseminating my research findings at conferences. After already being accepted to speak at the Understanding Society conference, I thought it would be a great experience to also present work at a different conference. This time I decided to submit an abstract based upon my second piece of work. This work continues to use secondary data. However, this time the focus is on the changing prevalence of discrimination, mental health, and social inequalities within the UK between 2015-2020. My supervisor suggested applying to the 37th Annual Conference of the European Health Psychology Society (EHPS), as it had a focus on health inequalities this year. In addition, he knew some colleagues had submitted abstracts too. I was happy to find out I was accepted to give a 10-minute oral presentation and that my colleagues had also been accepted to speak. I knew my experience at this conference would be different in comparison to my first conference, both because this would be my first overseas conference (based in Bremen, Germany), and also because this time I would not be attending independently.

Within a few months of acceptance, I had registered, booked my flights and accommodation, and it was already time to travel to Germany. This involved taking two flights from Liverpool to Bremen (via Frankfurt) on 3^rd September. I had met a colleague at the airport, so we were able to travel together. On our tram journey between Bremen airport and the hotel, we met another attendee of the conference and it was interesting to hear about the work that they would be presenting. After checking into the hotel, we went out to a local restaurant that evening and got our first experience of German cuisine. This was a highlight of the week, eating a range of national dishes at local restaurants (if you have never tried a currywurst I highly recommend it). The following day the welcome reception started in the evening, so we had some free time to explore Bremen. The city is filled with interesting things to see. We were able to relax by the Weser river in the brilliant weather. During our sightseeing, one of the most interesting things we saw is a statue of four animals known as ‘the Town Musicians of Bremen’ (based upon a German Fairy Tale by the Brothers Grimm). The belief is that touching the Donkey’s legs may bring you good luck. I thought this was worth trying, with hopes it may bring me some luck for my upcoming presentation. We attended the welcome reception later that evening, and then returned to the hotel ready for an early start the following day.

The conference presentations began on Tuesday morning. I listened to a variety of talks and posters throughout the day, including some interesting mental health research. I went back to the hotel that evening and began to prepare for my own presentation, which was scheduled first thing the following morning. After practicing this and ensuring I was keeping to the 10-minute time limit, I felt confident for the following day. When I attended my session on Wednesday, it was nice to see my colleagues in the room. I had presented my work to them previously at lab meetings, so it was reassuring to know I had already given presentations to some individuals within the room. The main aim of my talk was to highlight our concerning findings of increasing mental health and discrimination in the UK between 2015 to 2020. I was able to keep to time, and confidently respond to questions after the presentation had finished. After completing this, I instantly felt more relaxed and I knew I could now focus on listening to other academics’ research for the rest of the conference.

On the Wednesday evening, we had the conference dinner to attend. This was held in a nice restaurant, which we had to take a couple of trams to get to. I wanted to attend this as I knew it would be a good networking opportunity. However, I didn’t expect the night to additionally involve so much food, wine, a live band, and dancing. It was a very enjoyable evening, and it felt like the perfect celebration after completing my presentation that day.

I attended talks from my colleagues and other interesting talks over the remaining days before I travelled back to Liverpool on Friday. Reflecting on the week, I returned home feeling very tired but extremely satisfied with the experience of my first overseas conference. I listened to a lot of talks both within and outside my field of interest. Some of those outside my field were really new ideas to me, but very interesting concepts. If you are going to a conference I recommend listening to some talks outside of your research field, as they may end up being some of the more interesting talks you attend. I also really enjoyed the experience of having colleagues with me for this conference, as it was nice to be able to explore the city and spend our free time together. If you can arrange to go to a conference with colleagues it is a very enjoyable experience. However, as my first conference experience demonstrated, attending independently is not something you should worry about as you will meet a lot of new people at conferences.

I want to again thank the NWSSDTP for providing funding which allowed me to go to this overseas conference, and to the EHPS for allowing me to share my research at this conference.