Travel story: Beck O'Hara

Beck O'Hara from the Robinson Research Institute travelled to Toowoomba, Queensland to present at the Queensland Women's Health Forum in September. 

This is what Beck had to say about their experience:

What was a highlight of the travel?

Getting an overview of the main concerns for women’s health in Qld which aligned nicely with RRI’s themes.

List workshops or meetings associated with the travel as part of the RRI collaboration and translation strategies you attended. Please provide a brief summary.

I was an invited speaker at the Qld Women’s Health Forum. I presented on the co-creation of EndoZone within the chronic disease stream at the meeting. Whilst I was in Toowoomba I had the opportunity to meet with the President and Treasurer of QENDO who have been involved in the co-creation of the platform and are part of the National Action Plain for Endometriosis Implementation Committee. I also participated in round table discussions on key priorities for the Qld Women’s Health Strategy which are being collated following the meeting and presented to the Qld Government and stakeholder committee who have been tasked with developing the plan. Many of these priorities align with RRI research themes so there may be future opportunities to contribute to this strategy document.

Please provide details on any researchers or collaborators of significance that you met at the conference and why they are important to your work?

I met with Gita Mishra a UQ based researcher who coordinates the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women’s Health who is currently running some analysis on experiences of endometriosis in Qld which are beginning to show an increased prevalence in this state compared to national average.

How will the experience support you and your research going forward?

It has strengthened existing collaborations, met new people that were interested in our research and promoted EndoZone to regional/remote colleagues.

What was the most exciting thing you learned/experienced as part of your travel?

That there is a higher prevalence of endometriosis in Qld when compared to national average (the reasons why this is occurring are still being investigated).

What was the most interesting or unexpected moment of your travel?

It was good to meet some other researchers in the women’s health space that I had been liaising with via email but never met in person.