RE-FRESH: Next Generation provides dedicated funding to allow opportunities for its Early-to-Mid-Career Researchers to advance their career. Dr Neha Lalchandani was a recipient of the award, travelling to London for two opportunities.
The RE-FRESH: Next Generation Knowledge Exchange funding enabled Dr Neha Lalchandani to both present on her work and gain further skills, in a two-week trip to London in June, 2024.
She shares how the opportunities arose and what she gained:
Since stepping into the Project Manager role for Promoting CHANGE last year, I have come to enjoy the multi-faceted nature of the position, and discovered a fervent interest in project management. In a quest to upskill, I have sought out various project management courses. However, many options in Australia were online-based, which lacked appeal for me. That’s when I discovered the accredited Project Management Qualification (PMQ) course by the Association for Project Management (APM) at the University of Westminster running from June 17-21, 2024.
Serendipity struck when I learned about the World Public Health Nutrition Congress taking place in London from June 10-13, conveniently being held at the University of Westminster ̶ the same location as the PMQ course scheduled for the following week. Suddenly travelling to London meant I could capitalise on two opportunities!
Opportunity 1: Oral Presentation at the Congress
During the congress, I delivered an oral presentation titled “Promoting CHANGE – A Novel Capacity Building Intervention to Influence Public Health Nutrition” as part of the ‘Public Health Nutrition Workforce Development’ session. I outlined the key elements of our multi-component intervention, detailing how it was co-designed with project partners, and shared interim results highlighting implementation outcomes thus far. The positive feedback I received pertained to the comprehensiveness of the ‘real-world’ trial, with commendations for operationalising it for a year and achieving meaningful changes between baseline and wave two.
My attendance at the various sessions of the congress showcased the critical need for political courage, community trust, and the reduction of harmful industry influences, all in alignment with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Engaging diverse community voices, especially those of youth and marginalised groups, is vital for addressing global nutrition challenges and driving impactful change. Furthermore, the discussions underscored an urgent need for inclusive health services, equitable access to nutritious food, and intersectoral actions to bolster health and food systems, ultimately fostering a stronger commitment to social protection.
Above: Award recipient Dr Neha Lalchandani at the Congress with colleague Bettina Backman.
The session that profoundly influenced me was a workshop on participatory planning research. This approach involves all impacted parties in the intervention planning process, ensuring community involvement and ownership, a key feature of the Promoting CHANGE project. By incorporating diverse perspectives, we enhance intervention success and foster trust: essential for community empowerment. While this method offers advantages such as credibility, skill-building, and strengthened community ties, it also poses challenges, including time constraints and potential misalignment in goals and objectives.
Overall, the conference primarily underscored the needs for systemic change to support individual health and choices, rather than detailing methods to achieve these changes. Discussions centered on creating supportive environments and policies that facilitate healthier lifestyles, emphasising the rationale behind such changes rather than specific strategies. The focus was on understanding why current systems are inadequate and what needs to be addressed to promote better health outcomes, with the practical implementation steps left for future exploration.
I am encouraged by the fact that Promoting CHANGE prioritises the ‘how.’ I look forward to advancing the trial, evaluating the results, and discussing our findings in the years to come.
Opportunity 2: Completing the APM PMQ Course
After the conference and a weekend of exploring London, I pursued the PMQ course. While theory-dense, the course covered a wide range of project management topics based on the APM Body of Knowledge 7 (BoK7), including project life cycles, budgeting, earned value management, communication, leadership, negotiation, procurement, sponsorship, and teamwork.
The 5-day intensive course provided a solid foundation in project management principles, methodologies, tools, and techniques, demonstrating how various elements of a project fit together and how projects of all sizes and scope fit into the strategic and commercial environment. I found the topics of resource and budget management, project scheduling, communication planning, and benefits realisation particularly interesting. The course also emphasised the importance of people skills in driving project delivery and gaining cooperation and agreement from all involved parties, focusing on techniques such as motivation, conflict management, and effective communication.
This formal training has equipped me to apply best practices to the project I manage, increasing the likelihood of its success and timely completion. I hope to ensure that the outcomes deliver the expected benefits to all parties involved, and ultimately contribute to the overarching objective of improving public health and building research capacity.
The next step after taking the internationally recognised PMQ would be to sit the APM PPQ exam (Project Professional Qualification), which is the next level up from the PMQ. The PPQ will then ultimately lead to the Chartered Project Professional (ChPP). Learning and upskilling never stops but, for now, I am glad to have another feather in my cap with the PMQ.
Final Thoughts
The knowledge exchange provided an invaluable opportunity for my career development, made possible by the generous funding from RE-FRESH, GLOBE, and the unwavering support of my mentor, Dr Miranda Blake, who I am truly grateful to work alongside every day!
Neha is an Associate Research Fellow within the Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition (GLOBE), Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University. She is predominately a research project manager conducting research focused on promoting public health nutrition using an implementation science approach, to test a capacity-building support package for local governments to create healthier environments in the retail spaces they are responsible for including sports and recreation centres. She is broadly interested in exploring socio-ecological influences on food choices and health behaviours, the development and implementation of health promotion initiatives, and finds great satisfaction in conducting qualitative research.
