Dr Enrico De Luca, a Senior Lecturer in the Academy of Nursing at the University of Exeter reflects on his time at GW4 Crucible 2024.
The GW4 Crucible 2024 programme has been an inspirational and exciting opportunity to connect and thrive, demonstrating the positive impact it can have on individuals and their research endeavours.
I applied to GW4 Crucible 2024 after I came across a call in a faculty email and I was surprised to find out what it was about. I was looking for research collaboration, interdisciplinary work, and creative approaches and being accepted was already a reward for me! As someone who had to start anew in a different country, transitioning from years of clinical practice and education, I was not formally considered a researcher.
The GW4 Crucible facilitators' methodology and approach were very engaging. They gradually helped us hone our projects by providing specific details about the process and how to build collaboration and partnership, and supported the group in being creative, inclusive, and essentially 'thinking outside the box'. Creating a safe space and the flexibility to choose and encounter like-minded people to develop and share research ideas during the two residential workshops were insightful and fruitful experiences. Furthermore, I believe this methodology has helped build faster trust and partnerships that would take much longer with other approaches.
The theme of this year's GW4 Crucible (Tackling health inequalities and driving social justice through radical interdisciplinarity) was another reason I am very grateful to have been part of this cohort. This theme resonated with my research interests as I aspire to become a lead researcher to support health equality and tackle social injustice.
Thanks to the GW4 Crucible, I have started a collaboration with an interdisciplinary group composed of academic experts in architecture, law, epidemiology, health psychology, and geography to explore the topic of LGBTQ+ and Ageing. I am the principal investigator of this research project, and we have just secured a GW4 bid to support us in a community engagement activity for local LGBTQ+ communities in the southwest. This activity will lead us to reinforce collaboration, have a deeper understanding of the topic and a future application for an NIHR Grant for Research in Social Care Programme.
What I will take away from this experience is that to be creative in research, you need to have a free space (not solely a mental one!) for your thoughts and effectively allocate time to expanding and exploring the potential.
The GW4 Crucible experience has been transformative for me and also alleviated the 'impostor syndrome' that often plagues researchers. Now, I feel empowered to think, create, and explore without the burden of justifying my productivity or feeling guilty. This personal and professional growth represents how the GW4 Crucible programme can be an inspiring and motivating experience.
