As I am now embarking on my final year of my PhD program disseminating my sports engineering research internationally is imperative to both strengthen my final dissertation and foster relationships. Furthermore, as the ISEA student member on the executive committee it is important for me to liaise with other students to ensure the ISEA is meeting their specific needs. The ISEA funds partially contributed to my airfares and expenses (e.g. conference registration fees and accommodation) to assist me visiting Europe to present at three conferences (Manchester, London and Delft).
On this trip I spoke at three conferences and spent two days at the Centre for Sports Engineering Research (CSER) at Sheffield Hallam University.
I achieved both my intended goals, in firstly engaging with other academics and industry end-users which will help shape my thesis and with diversifying my professional networks. This resulted in many new connections, with potential research collaborations emanating from this when I complete my PhD at the end of this year. Furthermore, as a direct result of this trip, one student now undertaking a internship with us at Griffith University from the Netherlands.
At each of these conferences I actively promoted the next ISEA conference (which I am on the organising committee for) and chatted to students in particular about the ISEA, what they want out of their membership, and how they can be involved.