New co-chairs take over MICRA PhD Network and announce future plans for the network

The outgoing co-chairs of the MICRA PhD Network formally handed over the reins at an online event on 28 September.

Francisca Ortiz and Louise Mitchell celebrated a wonderful run from 2019-2021 as MICRA PhD Network co-chairs. In that time, they hosted coffee mornings, dealt with the change in circumstance due to the pandemic, and transitioned the planned 2020 PhD and Early Career Researcher Conference from a physical event to a virtual conference. They continued the online events with seminars, lectures, workshops and training events, and then hosted an acclaimed online seminar on “Ageing in a Pandemic” which featured academic speakers from the three GM partner universities.

The event on 28 September introduced the three new co-chairs for 2021-22. These are Siobhan Kelly (University of Salford), Hannah Cross (University of Manchester) and Shunqi Zhang (University of Manchester).

Siobhan is in the second year of her Sociology PhD programme at the University of Salford. Her research investigates the lived experience of older charity shop volunteers in the North West of England in order to better understand active ageing within the community.

Hannah is a second-year PhD student at the University of Manchester. Her PhD is funded by the Alzheimer’s Society and focused on addressing the communication needs of residents living with hearing loss and dementia in long-term care homes.

Shunqi is also a PhD student at the University of Manchester. Her research focuses on the association between social participation and health among older adults in China.

The new co-chairs are developing plans for events in 2022, and have also initiated a virtual writing space. They are planning to continue the MICRA PhD newsletter and blog, and are hoping to launch a podcast.

Follow the MICRA PhD Network on Twitter @MicraPHDNetwork.

You can view a short presentation from the handover event.