International collaboration is important to widen opportunities for research, to work collaborative on research and on innovation and to share good practice. Since 2019 Sheffield Hallam University has a strategic partnership with La Trobe University, and, as part of this, funds three PhDs per year. I am part of this PhD programme – I am fully enrolled at Sheffield Hallam University and at La Trobe University, my supervisor team is made up of academics from both institutions, and, after figuring out some logistics in the post-Covid world, I got to go out to Melbourne to spend time in person at La Trobe from July 2022 to February 2023.
My PhD research explores the health and wellbeing impacts of parkrun participation in Australia – parkrun’s second largest territory after the UK, with over 450 locations and over 50,000 people participating every Saturday.
Being able to attend parkrun in Australia was a highlight and one of the biggest benefits of my time in Australia. By July 2022, I had spent about a year and a half planning a survey for parkrunners in Australia but had had very minimal contact with people in Australia, let alone people who parkrun in Australia. Even though it is built on the same principles as in the UK, where it is free, every week at the same time and place and always a 5K, it still felt different.
It was great to be able to talk to people about my research and stand next to them during the pre-event briefing and on the start line and know that these were all people that would be emailed my survey later that year and that I might soon be interviewing.
Though similar, there were some key differences in my parkrun experience: My local parkrun in Sheffield hosts around 500 people a week; at my local one in Australia it was less than 100. That meant it was easier to recognise people week to week and to catch up!
I also found that events are farther apart from one another (part of a bigger reflection that there is simply more space in Australia: Australia has more space – people drive everywhere). Where I live in Sheffield, I can run to two parkruns within about 35 minutes. In Melbourne, the closet parkrun to me was about a mile away, and the next closest would have been over an hour of running or a similar time on public transport.
Then there’s the wildlife: occasionally I would even see kangaroos on my way to parkrun, and, though there was a warning sign for snakes along the trail parkrunran down, I luckily never saw one!
Seeing kangaroos on the way to parkrun
All these were important experiences and were elements that I don’t think I would have understood the same way if I hadn’t had the opportunity to travel to Melbourne and actually be part of the initiative and people I am researching!
There were other opportunities I had because of my time in Australia: I got to attend the parkrun ambassador conference and share the very committed parkrun volunteers about my research and hear stories about how parkrun in Australia had impacted people’s lives.
When my survey finally went out to just under 680,000 parkrun participants after 18 months of planning and preparing, I was able to share about it on two local radio stations in Australia because I was in the right time zones to do so – this would have been difficult to do from the UK!
Speaking at the parkrun ambassador conference.
I also really enjoyed getting to know a different university and different staff members. Though the lockdown consequences were still very much felt there, and La Trobe’s campus was (so I was told by everyone!) still way emptier that pre-pandemic, it was still lovely to be able to chat to various La Trobe staff members, who not only helped me with my research and gave future career inspiration but also made sure I was introduced to all of Australia’s snacks and ice-creams before I went back to the UK. Meeting my La Trobe Supervisor in person to chat things through was also a big part of this; even though zoom meetings feel so normal now, real life is nicer.
Other things that made my time in Australia memorable: good coffee (everywhere), very loud birds, and that I maybe should have considered getting a car; I am used to walking everywhere in the UK, or catching the occasional bus, but getting around Melbourne required the constant catching of public transport, which wasn’t always quick or convenient – the closest university tram stop and train station are about an hour’s walk from each other.
Overall, I really enjoyed my time at La Trobe, and it was valuable from a personal and research point of view. If you’d like to hear me speak about my PhD in a bit more detail, please click here.
Crossing my final Australian parkrun finishing line volunteering as a tail walker.
To find out more about Charlottes work please check out her SHU profile or follow her on LinkedIn.
You can learn more about the SHU La Trobe partnership here.