Graduate Prospects - March 5, 2008 - (Page 15)

www.prospects.ac.uk Issue 62 · 5 March 2008 · Fortnightly PROSPECTS GRADUATE 15 POSTGRAD BLOGGER ‘The panel is like Dragon’s Den, but comprised of five or six academics’ GRAHAM FOSTER APPLIES FOR FUNDING AFTER SEVEN YEARS OF PUTTING HER LANGUAGE DEGREE TO GOOD USE, JO COULSON CHANGED DIRECTION COMPLETELY. My dissertation title was ‘How does exercising at work, before or during the workday, influence employees’ mood and perceived job performance: a mixed methods study’. I showed that, amongst regular exercisers in white-collar working environments, mood significantly improved on days that people exercised, compared to days that they didn’t. I found people felt that they significantly performed better on ‘exercise days’. Pre-topost exercise mood was also significantly better. I supported the quantitative work with focus groups and explored performancerelated themes and the experience of exercising from work. THE WORK OUT The format was three full TURN AROUND WHEN I GRADUATED I DID A TEFL COURSE AND AN EXERCISE-TO-MUSIC (AEROBICS) INSTRUCTION COURSE. HOWEVER, FOR A COMBINATION OF PERSONAL CIRCUMSTANCES, FEELING THE APPEAL OF FULL-TIME, REGULAR EARNINGS FOR THE FIRST TIME AND (IN RETROSPECT) FEELING THAT NEITHER OPTION FELT LIKE IT HELD ENOUGH ‘SUBSTANCE’ FOR ME, I FELL INTO WORK. teaching days per unit, on three consecutive weeks. Teaching days were Tuesdays and Thursdays only, though, allowing you to fit in personal and other work responsibilities. I did a little bit of part-time work during the course, helping out the administrator in the department itself and also working on the reception of a private gym. Aside from some pocket money, the latter job was mainly to confirm once and for all that I didn’t want to use my MSc to go down the route of peripatetic teaching or health club management. enjoyed exercise and I’d done A-level Home Economics with my languages, so when I found this MSc in Nutrition, Physical Activity and Public Health, I couldn’t believe my luck! The course just sang out to me. It sounded very unusual in combining physical activity and nutrition, but gave me the flexibility to tailor the assignments to my particular interests and veer towards the physical activity side of things. The modules sounded fascinating, covering diverse topics. I held various positions during my seven years of employment, including an account coordinator (bilingual), importing pre-school toys for a French manufacturing group and a business development executive, selling lorry space for a European freight-forwarding company. When I completed the programme I worked as a Health Promotion Specialist in SmokeCHANGING THE SUBJECT Going from an arts free Public Places for two years (before the degree to a social sciences discipline was a national legislation - if only I could claim that huge step. I hadn’t even heard of terms such was all my hard work!). Then I moved on to as evidence base, peer-reviewed journals or become a Research Assistant back at the BACK TO UNIVERSITY But when a maternity dual paradigm. I certainly had my mind Department, on a project to see if leave post at the University of Bristol came up opened to a whole new world, and found environmental changes at a neighbourhood for a departmental administrator at their myself really quite intrigued by it. I learnt Language Centre, I jumped at the chance. I how to read academic papers, developed skills level can lead to increased physical activity spent just over 12 months there, loving the around critical thinking/analysis and scientific levels in the local community. learning and academic atmosphere again. writing and, for the first time, really learnt Currently I am employed as a Research When the contract came to an end and they how to condense and summarise information. Associate, on a project to examine older couldn’t keep me on, I decided to take the people and active living: a multi-method, I was also able to incorporate both an plunge and do an MSc at the university. cross-sectional study to profile and better intensive study-abroad element and a I decided to turn a corner and try something workplace-based internship, the latter leading understand the physical activity and dietary patterns of 70-year-olds. to my dissertation choice. completely different, though. I’d always INFORMATION AND ADVICE www.prospects.ac.uk/findcourses POSTGRAD FUNDING FACTS www.prospects.ac.uk/links/fundstudy LATEST POSTGRAD COURSE OPPORTUNITIES www.prospects.ac.uk/links/latestcourses SEARCH THE POSTGRAD DATABASE SEND YOUR VIEWS, SUGGESTIONS AND COMMENTS editorial@prospects.ac.uk http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Graduate_jobs/p!edcaefX http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Feature_Articles/Feature_articles_2008/PhD_blog__8/p!ecadXgF http://www.prospects.ac.uk/findcourses http://www.prospects.ac.uk/links/fundstudy http://www.prospects.ac.uk/links/latestcourses

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Editorial: Where Am I? Ofgem Editorial: Is There a Graduate Sell By Date? Royal Bank of Scotland Group Bibby Financial Services Majestic Wine Warehouse Graduate Prospects Manhattan Associates Royal Navy Chartered Institute of Personnel Costain Oil & Gas Process Ltd Somerset County Council Digby Morgan EPSRC MSPS Ltd Samuel Heath & Sons Plc Manhattan Furniture BSRIA InBev ORC International Editorial: Turn Around Editorial: Postgrad Fairs Bournemouth University Queen Mary, University of London University of Manchester

Graduate Prospects - March 5, 2008

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