Georgina Booth is studying for a Master’s degree in Psychology at Cardiff University. She recently completed a three-month placement at DECIPHer with Dr Rabeea’h Waseem Aslam and Dr Jemma Hawkins, working on their project focusing on healthcare provision for young people experiencing psychosis in the UK, Brazil and Peru.
I’ve really enjoyed my time on placement with DECIPHer, and I have gained so many skills from taking part. I started studying psychology a bit later, having studied Medical Sciences as my BSc before working in various roles, so was a bit worried about joining an academic research group. However, it has been great to apply some of the skills and experiences I have from the workplace to this placement whilst learning a lot more about how academic research is conducted.
The whole of the DECIPHer team have been incredibly welcoming, and working with Rabeea’h and Jemma has been a great opportunity to learn about qualitative research, and I have been encouraged to bring my ideas and thoughts to the group and learn from feedback, a great opportunity. I therefore wholeheartedly recommend a placement at DECIPHer if you would like the opportunity to be exposed to, and contribute to, really interesting public health research, working with experienced researchers like Rabeea’h and Jemma and sitting in on academic discussions across the department.
The whole experience has definitely cemented my interest in public health research and wider psychology, which is something both Rabeaa’h and Jemma have supported, encouraging me to apply for research roles and helping me understand how best to describe the research skills I learnt with DECIPHer, such as thematic analysis, use of coding software NVivo, and how recruitment can be conducted for semi-structured interviews. As part of my Master’s qualification, we are required to reflect on our experience over our placement, and it has been great to also reflect on how much I have progressed in my research capabilities over my time here. I will continue to use the skills I learnt at DECIPHer in my future career and to look back on this time fondly!
Georgina found her placement through the Cardiff University Psychology Placement Team. More information here: https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/psychology/about-us/placements.