The benefits of attending a conference during your DPhil

Being a DPhil student can get lonely – especially as the topic of your research becomes increasingly narrow and specific and you end up struggling to find anyone else working in the same field. All the more important it becomes, therefore, to attend and participate in conferences in your area of research. It’s not just about sharing your findings, but also about making connections with other experts in your field.

The Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology (SRIP) Annual Conference in York on 12-13th September brought together researchers and practitioners from across a range of backgrounds – from clinical psychology through social science to public health – with an interest in the psychological health and well-being of mothers and infants.

My DPhil work on perinatal depression in migrant women fit in to this theme well, and I had the opportunity to present my findings from the Thai-Myanmar border. As I am planning to submit my thesis in a couple of months, it was helpful to practice getting my key findings across clearly and succinctly and to receive constructive comments and questions from the audience. Seeing a number of presentations from other final-stage PhD students also provided me with inspiration around effective and engaging ways to present results, and highlighted the importance of referring back to (and staying aligned with) your key aims and objectives at every stage of a study.

One of the most interesting lectures I attended was given by NPEU’s Dr Maggie Redshaw, who was presented with the SRIP Lecturer Award. Maggie reflected on her fascinating and varied career to date. She spoke about her early work on the behaviours of chimpanzee, gorilla and orang-utan babies and their mothers before moving on to the effects of maternal depression on children and the important role fathers play in their children’s development.

One of the things that made this conference enjoyable and useful for me was the fact that it was relatively small. Of the 100 or so delegates, well over half gave a talk, presented a poster or chaired a session. Combined with having breakfast, lunches, a formal dinner and plenty of tea breaks together, this meant that by the end of the two days, I had had a chance to speak to many of the other participants conducting similar work to me. I came back full of ideas and with a much better sense of where my research sits within the wider context of perinatal mental health.

Gracia Fellmeth studied Medicine and Medical Anthropology at University College London. Following Foundation Training in Dorset, UK, she undertook an MSc in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She subsequently worked as a Specialty Registrar in Public Health within the Oxford School of Public Health, completing her training in 2015.