Category: Journal (Page 2 of 2)

Ciao cari amici della scienza,  persona interessate e che vorrebbe esserlo!

During the week of 17 May, Dawn, Sabrina and I were in Ticino, in Brissago to be precise, for the next workshops at the Clinica Hildebrand together with Dr Daria Dinacci and Paolo Paolantonio. But before we start, I just have to show you the sunrise from our hotel.

Your envy is quite appropriate at this point 😉 I am really lucky to have such a stunning place to work.

Unlike the workshops in England, these workshops took place over four days and there was no lunch together. As we were in a clinical setting and the patients had a strict daily routine, other organisation was unfortunately not possible. Nevertheless, I had the impression that everyone felt comfortable and enjoyed the workshops despite the few opportunities for personal exchange. In fact, many would have liked more time and even more workshops. This circumstance is mainly due to Paolo and his great presentation and leadership of the workshops. He really succeeded in captivating everyone and making sure that everyone had fun. As Dawn always says, Paolo is a superstar! I am very happy that he is also a part of the project and that we will continue to work together in the future.

Daniele, the participating music therapist, was also great. The group musical exercises he led during the percussion workshop on Friday felt almost magical. Here is a small impression:

It felt indescribably beautiful to be a part of it and to feel the energy that flowed out from the participants.

I am really looking forward to the workshops in Lucerne to find out if and what differences there are between the three locations.

Grazie mille for reading this blog and feel very welcome to leave comments. I can’t wait to tell you about all the other exciting things and experiences.

Ciao and see you next time!

Hello dear research friends, enthusiasts and those who would like to become one!

From 25th of April to 6^th of May, we have been up in Hatfield, England to do the first steps of our project: a motion capture pilot study and holding the English workshops. And I can tell you it has been an amazing time!

It was Sabrina and mine’s first time visiting the University of Hertfordshire, which I am becoming a PhD student of. The picture below shows the P. C. Snow Building aka the department of ‘Psychology, Sport, and Geography’.

As you can see, following the tradition of good researchers the first thing we did was buying some coffee at the local coffee shop. Of course, it had to be a Starbucks 😉

It was great to finally meet my other supervisors Dr Caroline Whyatt and Dr Lucy Annett in person and having the chance to get to know each other better. They are both amazing researchers, and wonderful and supportive supervisors. I am so happy to work with them and having the chance to learn from them. We’ve also met Alex, the tech genius of the UH, and Jon, the handyman of the UH. Both are an incredible help for the project. Alex helped figuring out how to synchronize the motion capture software with the pressure sensitive gait mat, while Jon built the doorframe we would use for our test sequence measuring the functional mobility of the people with Parkinson’s. Doesn’t it look awesome?

Also, you can tell from the pictures below Dawn and I had a lot of fun doing the calibration of the motion capture cameras by waving the wand (it’s actually a calibration stick, but we prefer calling it a wand because you sort of feel like Harry Potter :-D). Furthermore, I had the pleasure to be the control participant for our pilot study. It felt weird being all stuck up with those little shiny markers for the first time, but by now I am used to it. Actually, it is very funny and interesting seeing and analyzing your movements later on.

The workshops have also been a wonderful experience, not only to me but also to the participants, I think. It was my first time working with people with Parkinson’s and seeing their openness and altruism to contribute something for the next generations of diseased has left me deeply impressed. Those are wonderful, incredible people and I am very grateful to be part of this project and get the chance to help them. I think, organizing a lunch between the workshops was an import part because it gave us all the opportunity for mingling and socializing. To me it was very helpful hearing the people talk about their experiences in general as well as regarding their participation in our workshops particularly. Here are a few impressions:

Jane and Alison, two of the participants, were so kind to invite Dawn and me to Alison’s house to have some coffee and cake. On that day, Dawn and I had driven by Jane’s house to pick her up and she showed us her garden first. Look at this, it felt like THE English garden to me. The coffee and cake were very nice, and I think everybody enjoyed themselves. It was great spending some free time together, getting to know each other some more in an opener space. I am really looking forward to seeing them again in September when we will be coming back for the fifth and final workshop.

Thank you for reading this blog, and please feel free to leave some comments. I am very interested in your opinion. I can’t wait to keep you posted with all the exciting things going to happen.

Take care and see you for the next read!