WHERE WERE YOU BEFORE RECEIVING THIS AWARD?
Before receiving this award, I was focusing almost exclusively on undergraduate and postgraduate research supervision activities, and also on secondary data analysis, to ensure my research productivity. This worked well and collaborating and co-investigating on others’ research projects was also a source of research productivity for me – as well as a great early career source of building international networks. However, I was very much driven to create new lines of empirical research that were directly related to my interests, and that directly leveraged my research expertise. Before receiving the ISSF award, I also had few collaborations within a clinical setting – particularly within Ireland (and the Ireland East region) – and I felt like this was potentially negatively affecting my chances of having real-life research impact.
YOUR RESEARCH PROJECT IN LAY TERMS
Physical activity is widely regarded among health practitioners and researchers as very therapeutically beneficial, and it is widely promoted for its wellbeing-enhancing effects. The purpose of this project is to explore perceptions about the benefits of and barriers to physical activity among parents of children with a disability – namely, children with spina bifida. Research shows that functional outcomes and daily living skills of children with spina bifida are directly related to their physical activity levels. Despite this, research also shows that children with spina bifida have very low rates of physical activity – the lowest among children with any disability – and that their parents often perceive few benefits and many risks to them living an active lifestyle. Lack of physical activity among such vulnerable children risks deteriorating physical and mental health as well as access to social opportunities. This research project, therefore, aims at developing an evidence base that can support health practitioners to better advocate for physical activity among families of children with disabilities.
HOW HAS ISSF HELPED YOUR RESEARCH CAREER?
ISSF has given me the capacity to extend my research experience in physical education and physical activity into a clinical setting and to build a new line of research that will therapeutically benefit an under-researched and developmentally vulnerable population groups – children with Spina Bifida. ISSF has supported my personal engagement in the recruitment, training, and mentorship of postdoctoral research staff, which is a landmark achievement for early career researchers, and it has also provided me with the resourcing necessary to consolidate and expand new international research collaborations in the USA. These ISSF-based research activities have been instrumental in seeding new research projects which have been published and successfully funded.
TANGIBLE OUTPUTS AS A RESULT OF RECEIVING THE AWARD
- Leveraged funding from Enterprise Ireland, 2020: € 15,949
- Leveraged funding from UCD Seed Funding Scheme, 2021, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strand: € 8,927
- ISSF-funded research trip to the USA resulted in the collaboration which forms the basis for this paper: Abdullah, M. M., Neville, R. D., Donnelly, J. H., & Lakes, K. D. (2021). Are parental depressive symptoms related to the sleep quality and physical activity of their children with developmental disabilities? Research in Developmental Disabilities, 119, 104091.
- Submitted grants for the ERC Consolidator Award (April 2021) and IRC Consolidator Laureate Award (November 2021) programmes
WHAT DID THE AWARD MEAN TO YOU PERSONALLY?
Successfully achieving an ISSF award has given me great confidence that my research passions are also recognised and valued by the broader research community who reviewed my work. Validation is an important part of the early career research process, and having an ISSF award has often been noted as a source of esteem amongst my co-workers and colleagues. From a career development perspective, holding an ISSF award has exposed me to many new training and mentoring opportunities – which are commonly sought-after esteem indicators on large grant applications. ISSFrelated research and collaborations make me feel personally ready to take on the next stage larger grant to consolidate my career.