Maddocks, Matthew

Selman, Lucy E

Stiel, Stephanie

Since 2009, through its Early Researcher Award, the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) has recognised and supported the work of scientists and clinicians who make an outstanding contribution to palliative care research. Here, Lucy Selman, Matthew Maddocks and Stephanie Stiel reflect on the path their careers have taken since they won the award in 2012

Selman, Lucy

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EAPC early researcher award 2012 – Looking back

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                          Selman, L. E., Maddocks, M., & Stiel, S. (2015). EAPC Early ResearcherAward 2012 – looking back. European Journal of Palliative Care, 22(6), 299-301.Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of recordLink to publication record in Explore Bristol ResearchPDF-documentThis document is held under copyright by Hayward Group Ltd, publisher of the European Journal of PalliativeCare [http://www.ejpc.eu.com]. It may be downloaded for single academic use only. Reproduction for any otherpurpose is not allowed. For further information, please contact the editorial team by emailingedit@hayward.co.uk.University of Bristol - Explore Bristol ResearchGeneral rightsThis document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the publishedversion using the reference above. Full terms of use are available:http://www.bristol.ac.uk/pure/about/ebr-terms.htmln Lucy Selman: ‘Central to my work in the past three years was beingappointed Cicely SaundersInternational Faculty Scholar in February 2013’299EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PALLIATIVE CARE, 2015; 22(6)fter eight years of research in palliative carein India, Africa and the UK, I was honouredto be awarded the Early Researcher Award in2012. It was a high point of my career to give aplenary presentation in Trondheim on my PhDresearch, which investigated the spiritual well-being of patients receiving palliative care in South Africa and Uganda. It was daunting topresent to such an expert audience, but alsoimmensely rewarding. The award opened many doors, offering newopportunities, widening my network of researchpartners and strengthening my relationships withcolleagues in Europe. Since 2011, I have been Co-chair of the research subgroup of the EAPCSpiritual Care Taskforce. With funding from theSir Halley Stewart Trust, I organised conferences onwww.ejpc.eu.com Researc hEAPC Early Researcher Award 2012 – looking backSince 2009, through its Early Researcher Award, the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) hasrecognised and supported the work of scientists and clinicians who make an outstanding contribution topalliative care research. Here, Lucy Selman, Matthew Maddocks and Stephanie Stiel reflect on the paththeir careers have taken since they won the award in 2012spiritual care at the Cicely Saunders Institute in2012 and 2014, and coordinated an internationalfocus group study called InSpirit. Through my linkswith the EAPC Taskforce, I was also invited to attendan international expert meeting on spiritual care inGeneva in 2013. Central to my work in the past three years wasbeing appointed Cicely Saunders InternationalFaculty Scholar in February 2013. This postdoctoralposition aims to foster future leaders in palliativecare research. The Early Researcher Award added tomy confidence in taking up this role. I spent the first year of this new post at theUniversity of California, San Francisco (UCSF) as avisiting scholar. At UCSF, I collaborated with thedepartment of physiological nursing, leading thequalitative component of a randomised pilot trialof a tele-yoga intervention for people with heartfailure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.This gave me a fascinating insight into the potentialfor helping isolated patients at home by bringinglive yoga classes to them via remote video link-up. I provided qualitative expertise, exploring theacceptability and feasibility of the intervention andtrial design. This project consolidated my interest inthe development and evaluation of complexinterventions in palliative care populations – anarea I will continue to explore. While at UCSF I also worked with the departmentof palliative care on two studies of the InternationalAccess Rights and Empowerment (IARE) project: asurvey of bereaved family carers and an in-depthethnography of palliative care in the hospital. TheIARE project is a research collaboration betweencentres in London, Dublin, New York and SanFrancisco aiming to generate evidence to improveaccess to specialist palliative care and improveservices for patients and carers. Leading the studyin San Francisco was a wonderful opportunity togrow as a researcher and become familiar with avery different healthcare system. It also gave me aninsight into the benefits of using mixed methodswhen investigating complex topics, whichA››The deadline forsubmittingapplications for theEarly ResearcherAward 2016 is 13 December 2015. The winners will beannounced at the9th World ResearchCongress of theEAPC in Dublin inJune 2016(www.eapcnet.eu/research2016). Read more aboutthe Early ResearcherAward on the EAPCBlog(https://eapcnet.wordpress.com/)First prizeA stepping stone along the pathLucy Selman, Cicely Saunders International Faculty Scholar,Cicely Saunders Institute, Department of Palliative Care, Policyand Rehabilitation, King’s College London, UKCopyright © Hayward Medical Communications 2015. All rights reserved. No unauthorised reproduction or distribution. For reprints or permissions, contact edit@hayward.co.ukI hold a lecturer post with a focus on healthservices research for older people and am basedat the Cicely Saunders Institute in London, led byProfessor Irene Higginson. This position offersrelative stability, and I’m beginning to grow ateam to explore the interface between palliativecare and rehabilitation. Reaching this point has involved navigating theusual academic hurdles: turning ideas into grants,studies into papers, and passing on findings viaeffective dissemination. Of course this is, in part,the result of hard work, persistence and some goodfortune. It is also due to sound advice from mymentors and colleagues. I thought the mostvaluable contribution I could make here would beto reflect on these wider aspects of career learning.More than ever, I value collaborations, and spendtime forging new ones and strengthening thosealready in place. Some of my best collaborators arefrom outside the immediate specialty; for example,from respiratory or geriatric care. There seems moreto share and bring to the partnership when theperspectives of each person differ, so havingdifferent backgrounds can be a real advantage. I’ve learned to not only look to more seniorcolleagues for collaborations. It is important to joinforces with one’s peers, some of whom will becomethe next wave of leaders. I also enjoy working withlocal clinicians and partnering with staff in nearbyhealthcare services. It can be really rewarding tosupport the translation of research into clinicalpractice. Often this only requires small changes toservices that strong clinical teams embrace withopen arms. These links can help you staymotivated, as well as help you realise where yourresearch should go next, as you discover the nextknowledge gap or unmet area of need. When building an academic CV, I have been toldto think of the bigger picture. To ask myself: howwill this project develop my overall body of work? Itcan help to have an overall theme in mind. For me,this is ‘rehabilitation in advanced disease’, whichmeans I’ll steer away from, for example, studies ingroups cured of disease or public health questions.In line with this, I’ve found it worthwhile tocontribute in a small way to the big projects in thefield. This allows you to see first-hand how others – often people with vast experience – work. Oncethe project comes to an end, you have played yourpart, albeit small, in a landmark study. Perhaps the most difficult advice I’ve been givenis to look ahead, think forward and pre-empt theproblems we will face in three, five or ten yearsfrom now. If you get it right, you can collect pilotdata, model interventions and commence studies300 EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PALLIATIVE CARE, 2015; 22(6)confirmed my commitment to furthering mixed-methods research in palliative care. Since returning to the UK in 2014, I have beenleading a multicomponent, mixed-methods studyevaluating palliative care training for non-specialistend-of-life care providers, such as nurses working inintensive care units and GPs in the community. Weare currently completing a large systematic reviewof training in end-of-life communication skills. Thestudy has also generated novel data regarding thetraining needs of GPs and hospital volunteers, aswell as evidence to refine existing multiprofessionaltraining provided by clinician colleagues in London.This multifaceted evidence base will, we hope,inform a future trial of a training intervention forgeneralist palliative care providers.  Throughout my career I have been privileged todo work that I value and enjoy, and to collaboratewith excellent colleagues at King’s College Londonand other institutions in Europe and further afield.Winning the Early Researcher Award was animportant stepping stone along this path neceiving an Early Researcher Award in 2012was a great confidence boost. It felt like amark of international recognition of my doctorateresearch, which focused on the role of exercise for people with cancer cachexia. Three years on, RnMatthew Maddocks: ‘I value collaborations andspend time forging new onesand strengthening thosealready in place’Second joint prizeWider aspects of career learningMatthew Maddocks, Specialist Physiotherapist and Lecturerin Health Services Research, Cicely Saunders Institute, Department of Palliative Care, Policy and Rehabilitation, King’s College London, UKResearc h www.ejpc.eu.comCopyright © Hayward Medical Communications 2015. All rights reserved. No unauthorised reproduction or distribution. For reprints or permissions, contact edit@hayward.co.ukn Stephanie Stiel: ‘Havingprogressed from “early” to“senior” researcher withintwo years, I now sometimesworry about what willhappen in the next two years!’301EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PALLIATIVE CARE, 2015; 22(6)to get a head start on your peers. The result can be‘state of the art’ – and not ‘me too’ – papers whichextend rather than just confirm current thinking.There is far more to learn. I am only just beingexposed to the wider aspects of leadership, such asteam management and effectively influencingpolicy-makers. I am truly grateful for the continuedsupport of my mentors, who pass on their expertknowledge, without hesitation, to invest in me andin the specialty nwww.ejpc.eu.com Researc ho be one of the Early Researcher Awardwinners in 2012 was a great honour andvery meaningful to me. I wasn’t convinced that I was competitive enough to make it through theselection process, but in the end I gained plentyof self-esteem from this achievement.When I moved into a new flat in 2013, I madesure I took the award with me and hung it again onthe wall of my new study, which is also my guestroom. When a visitor asks me about it, it brings asmile to my face and I feel how proud I still am.Thinking back to the moment when I was on stagein Trondheim and received the prize, I rememberfeeling like ‘a princess for a day’. Travelling to EAPCcongresses it happened to me more than once thatpeople recognised me at the airport and said:‘Aren’t you the Early Researcher Award winner?’. Now, three years later, I’ve been asked to lookback and reflect what path my career has takensince I won the award. First of all, it was mostmeaningful to me to finish my ‘habilitation’, aGerman postdoctoral qualification that opens up ateaching career in higher university education. Thishad been my goal since 2010, when I finished mydoctoral thesis. Somehow the habilitation was themost logical next step for me to take in my career. Itwas also my personal aim to further qualify forworking at a medical faculty in Germany. On the 21of October 2013 I gave my inaugural speech,entitled ‘How much time is left? Prognosis interminally ill patients’. Never before had I receivedso many bouquets of flowers. I had to use mycleaning buckets as flower vases. It was awonderful event!Following this, the head of my department,Professor Christoph Ostgathe, gave me the chanceto become leader of the research unit at thedepartment of palliative medicine, ErlangenUniversity Hospital. Of course I happily acceptedthis opportunity. Since the summer of 2014, I amresponsible for the entire research team, do a lotmore supervisory work and have the honour topass my knowledge and experience on to mycolleagues. Having progressed from ‘early’ to ‘senior’researcher within two years, I now sometimesworry about what will happen in the next twoyears! But whatever it may be, it is certainly tooearly for retirement.Meanwhile, on the 2 October 2013, I received an email from Heidi Blumhuber, former ChiefExecutive Officer of the EAPC, inviting me to jointhe scientific committee of the 14th EAPC WorldCongress in Copenhagen in May 2015. Because I was an Early Researcher Award winner, I was askedin particular to take an active part in organising thescientific programme. How lucky! In Copenhagen, I had the opportunity to chair scientific sessionsand even a plenary session together with AugustoCaraceni. All this gave me a number of new andexciting insights into the organisation of an EAPCcongress. I very much enjoyed working with someof my most admired role models and meetingbeautiful people. I am thankful to the EAPC for thisgreat opportunity.Today, I still love what I do and hope to be ableto continue doing it. Setting up research projects,writing proposals and grant applications gives methe opportunity for free thinking. With every newresearch project involving patients and familycaregivers, I’m aware of the importance of myfindings for future end-of-life care. I feel grateful tobe involved in projects that I believe aremeaningful, and to be able to spend my time atwork with talented colleagues nSecond joint prizeCleaning buckets as flower vasesStephanie Stiel, Psychologist and Leader of the Research Unit,Department of Palliative Medicine, Erlangen UniversityHospital, GermanyTCopyright © Hayward Medical Communications 2015. All rights reserved. No unauthorised reproduction or distribution. For reprints or permissions, contact edit@hayward.co.uk

EAPC Early Researcher Award 2012 – looking back

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EAPC Early Researcher Award 2012 – looking back

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