Myself and my colleague, Reena Devi, are flying out to São Paulo, Brazil for a workshop: "Qualitative study design in healthcare-associated infection research" that is taking place betwween February 9 and 13 2015, coordinated by Maria Clara Padoveze, School of Nursing, University of São Paulo (Brazil), and Stephen Timmons - Centre for Health Innovation, Leadership and Learning, University of Nottingham (UK).
This workshop is fully funded by British Council Research Links and by FAPESP (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo) and relates to, two of our workstreams: Translating Research into Practice, and our Patient Safety Collaborative. It has provided financial support to gather a group from the United Kingdom and a group of researchers from the partner country, Brazil, whose members are at the beginning of their career. Why are we there? Well, we're in Brazil because because Reena and I are both early year researchers.
The workshop will provide us with a unique opportunity for sharing research expertise and networking, with a focus on building up links for future collaborations and participants selected on the basis of their research potential and ability to build longer term links.
There are eight of us going from the University of Nottingham Business School and we will be joined by other early year researchers from throughout Britain at Heathrow. We all hold a variety of health and research roles so there is the opportunity for networking within Britain as well as with our Brazilian colleagues.
I am really looking forward to meeting everyone else and not entirely sure what to expect when we get there although I have been informed that Sao Paulo is also colloquially known as Terra da Garoa (Land of Drizzle) and is famous for its architecture, gastronomy, severe traffic congestion and skyscrapers!!!! Metropolitan São Paulo is 6.5 times the size of New York.
Tchau (Goodbye) Lucy Sitton-Kent
Research Fellow in Health Innovation and Translation