Career destinations: where are former students now?
Our graduates have gone on to a range of interesting career destinations, some of which are detailed below:
Dr Li Benfield
Li Benfield graduated with a PhD from the Department in 2008. Since then she has been employed in the Department of Social Medicine at the University as a statistician /analyst for carotid ultrasound scan images which are analysed in relation to adiposity and cardiovascular health. She has developed expertise gained from both her PhD and her current post to complete further training and accreditation in measuring carotid IMT and other vascular measurements from the ultrasound scans. Li is also responsible for the organised retrieval and coding of the scans as well as quality checks of all clinical data. In the past year, Li has made contributions as both first author and co-author of five publications using data from ALSPAC, as well as being involved in two MRC funded international meetings (UK-China Genetic Epidemiology & Cardiovascular Disease Collaboration and the European Birth Cohorts Collaboration).
Dr Cecile Thøgersen-Ntoumani
Cecilie Thøgersen-Ntoumani graduated with a PhD from the Department in 2003. Since then, she has been employed as a lecturer in exercise and sport psychology at the University of Aberystwyth for 3 years, a research fellow at the University of Wolverhampton and is currently in the 4th year of her Roberts Research Fellowship at the University of Birmingham. Her PhD from Bristol and all that she learnt through Ken Fox (her advisor) during her PhD has enabled her to succeed in these positions (through numerous peer-reviewed publications, teaching activities and obtaining grant applications). She has continued the area of work she specialised in during her PhD, workplace physical activity promotion and mental well-being, and was recently awarded a BUPA Foundation grant to support this work, a project which involves collaboration with her former PhD advisor.
Dr Afroditi Stathi
Afroditi Stathi completed her PhD in the Department in 2001. She worked with Professor Ken Fox in the research area of physical activity and ageing. Her degree was the stepping stone for an academic career and she developed a wide range of academic skills, working closely with a dynamic research team and in a great environment which promoted the social as much as the academic activities. Since 2001 she has further developed her research in the area of ageing and physical activity, maintaining a great collaboration with colleagues at Bristol University which has provided the opportunity to be involved in a number of national and international projects. "I strongly encourage students to consider the programme of PhD studies at the Department of Exercise, Nutrition, and Health Sciences as a great investment for their professional development".