In June 2018, I was accepted to take part in the ICL-TUM Global Fellows Programme hosted by Imperial at the Lee Valley VeloPark in Stratford, East London. The theme of the week was Healthy Cities and brought together PhD researchers from Imperial, Germany, Singapore, China, Australia and India with academic expertise covering a wide range of disciplines. Following on from a great 5 days in London, which gave participants the opportunity to tackle a global problem within their interdisciplinary teams, I was given a further opportunity to spend 3 weeks undertaking a research visit at TUM.
My 3 weeks in Munich were spent working at the chair of Sport and Health Management at TUM, working directly with Professor Joerg Kognifstorfer and two of his PhD students; Anna Mei Habitzreuter and Michaela Soellner. My PhD research aims to provide designers with emotion-based tools to create products focusing on physical activity (PA) uptake. At Imperial we don’t have a huge amount of expertise in subjects like sports psychology and exercise science so having the opportunity to work with experts in this field at TUM was invaluable. In my short time in Munich, I managed to complete the necessary steps to get my first study surrounding the emotions people feel before, during and after PA underway. Joerg, Anna and Michaela were all amazing, I can’t thank them enough for welcoming me into their team!
Whilst in Munich I also did a lot of sightseeing around the city and ventured a little further afield at the weekends to places including Dachau Concentration Camp, Neuschwanstein Castle and Salzburg. I run for Imperial’s Cross Country and Athletics team so whilst in Munich I made the most of the beautiful weather by running in the Olympiapark and training on the ’72 Olympic warm up track. Of course, I also spent some time exploring the countless beer gardens and eating giant pretzels! Munich is a fabulous city with lots to see and do and it really topped off a fabulous and fruitful research visit.
If I was to give any advice to future applicants of the Global Fellows Programme it would definitely be to take up the opportunity of completing a research visit at Imperial’s partner university – not only will you undoubtedly learn something new about your research area, but you will have so much fun exploring a new city. For anyone going to TUM, make sure to visit the Vorhoelzer Café in the university’s main campus. In a city with no skyscrapers, the views from this roof top café are spectacular!
"If I was to give any advice to future applicants of the Global Fellows Programme it would definitely be to take up the opportunity of completing a research visit at Imperial’s partner university – not only will you undoubtedly learn something new about your research area, but you will have so much fun exploring a new city. "