Events — Institute of Health and Wellbeing

Professor Valerie Gladwell, Director of the University’s Institute of Health and Wellbeing was one of around 14 GB age group athletes (out of 400 GB athletes who attended the event as a whole) who took part in both races of the 2023 Europe Triathlon Championships in Madrid this month.

Despite suffering from Crohn’s and a blood clot on her lung hampering her training efforts, Professor Gladwell finished 13th in the Saturday ‘Standard’ event on June 3 and finished 10th in the ‘Sprint’ a day later.

Water quality issues resulted in the triathlons becoming duathlons on both days, with an additional run replacing the swimming legs. Saturday’s ‘Standard’ featured a 5km run, 40km bike ride, and 10km run, while Sunday’s ‘Sprint’ comprised a 2.5km run, 20km bike and 5km run.

Professor Gladwell said: “I was thrilled to represent GB – it was an amazing experience and I really hope to do more of this in the future. I am inspired by my children who take part in triathlons and I cannot do it without the support of my husband and family.

“I had hoped to finish a bit higher but I suffer from Crohn’s and had been in flare since November and it is just under control. I also had a blood clot on my lung in early March so I had to take my training very steady and not over-push myself in both training and the races.”

Professor Gladwell was selected to represent GB in her age group after securing a top 20 slot in qualifiers in May last year at Eton Dorney for the Sprint and in Leeds in June for the Standard.

Her training regime includes running alongside her daughter, Darcy, at Ipswich Harriers and is also a member of TRISudbury for swimming training.

She said she did her first triathlon in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic, and took up the sport thanks to her son.

“The reason I took it up is because my son, Harvey, suffers from ulcerative colitis. In 2020 he had his colon removed and when he was in his hospital bed he said ‘I am doing an Iron Man and you are going to do it with me’,” Professor Gladwell said.

The pair completed a DIY ‘Iron Man’ in August 2021, raising more than £2,000 for Crohn’s and Colitis UK. Professor Gladwell is now eyeing the world championships in Malaga in 2024, with a qualifying event coming up at the end of July in Sunderland next on her radar.

Professor Gladwell is Director of the University’s Institute of Health and Wellbeing, with current research projects exploring a range of important areas such as the Menopause, active travel, physical activity, Diabetes and NHS Neighbourhood Teams. 

30 June 2023

Members of the Institute's Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) project research team attended the Suffolk and North East Essex ACP conference held at Ipswich Town FC today.

The conference was an opportunity for networking and knowledge share among local allied health practitioners from a range of professional roles, from nursing, to paramedics and mental health care, whom are either Advanced Clinical Practitioners (ACP) already or are interested in working towards accreditation.

At the conference, Dr Naomi Brewer, Dr Ariya Arvant and Miranda Hyde gave a presentation on research being carried out on a number of different streams around the ACP role, its effectivity, and barriers to engagement and qualification as an ACP.

There were opportunities for delegates to find out more about the University of Suffolk and our post-graduate education, with a lot of enquires regarding PGR complimentary studies, CPD, and PhD opportunities.

13 February 2023

Dr Marco Beato (Institute theme lead for 'Physical Activity and Sport') and Antonio Gualtieri (one of Dr Beato's PhD students) are both named authors on a recently published paper. This paper is a fine example of industry collaboration between the University of Suffolk and one of the best sport clubs in the world. 

Gualtieri, Antonio, Rampinini, Ermanno, Dello Iacono, Antonio and Beato, Marco (2023) High-speed running and sprinting in professional adult soccer: current thresholds definition, match demands and training strategies. A systematic review. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living. 

Additionally, Dr Marco Beato has published an online article written in collaboration with Brentford Football Club: Return to performance after hamstring injuries - Sportsmith

8 February 2023

An evaluation report, conducted by the Institute of Health and Wellbeing in conjunction with University of Essex and State of Life, went live on 31st January. The project team evaluated the Prevention Enablement Model (PEM) which is a strategic partnership between Active Essex, Essex County Council Adult Social Care and Sport for Confidence. 

PEM Evaluation Report Jan 2023.pdf

Additionally, members of the Institute team finalised their report on Sleep Satisfaction: Protogerou C, Gladwell V and Martin C (2022) Development of a self-report measure to assess sleep satisfaction: Protocol for the Suffolk Sleep Index (SuSI). Front. Psychol. 13:1016229. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1016229

“There is something so invigorating for the mind when a group of strangers are brought together in a room, firing ideas, striving to achieve a united goal. The day really reminded me of why I love working in the community, and why it’s so important. It has kickstarted a drive in me to go back and study, now I’m thinking ‘what’s next’’

Lindsey Woods, Local Outreach Artist

On Thursday 4^th July 2024, The Institute of Health and Wellbeing, University of Suffolk, hosted an ‘Explorative Research Summit for Health Inequalities’ at the University Waterfront building. The event was attended by over 40 researchers, health and wellbeing professionals and community stakeholders. Attendees ranged from academics from University of Suffolk, University of Essex, and University of East Anglia. A variety of practitioners from the NHS, Suffolk County Council, MIND, Active Suffolk as well as a rich range of community stakeholders, including local outreach musicians and local advocacy representatives took part in the day.  The summit brought people together and allowed attendees to share learning and good practice from an interdisciplinary portfolio of research conducted in the wider context of health and wellbeing.

“The summit was a great opportunity to share my passion and knowledge as a keynote speaker in the morning, but also to be able to connect with like-minded people who are dedicated to reducing health inequalities too”

Professor Gail Findlay, keynote speaker

 Within the interactive workshop sessions, participants discussed experiences of challenges and successful evaluation techniques, and worked together to trial mapping exercises, and to establish best practice for community involvement, including collaborative ranking and voting on key priorities.

Workshops included:

• Exploring what works in community health initiatives, and why? Led by Professor Valerie Gladwell, UOS
• Harnessing ‘Ripple Effects Mapping’, led by Dr. Rob Southall-Edwards, research fellow at UOS.
• Exploring the evaluation of a Complex system: A case study’ led by Dr Andrew Brinkley & Erica De La Garza, University of Essex
• Neurodiversity in Research and Evaluation, led by Ellie Rossiter & Dr Ella Malloy, UOS

The day ended in an open panel discussion, during which audience members were able to ask questions and share insights from the day. Panel members included Professor Valerie Gladwell, Director of the Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Dr Andrew Brinkley, University of Essex, Christopher Grover, Behavioural Change Lead at Suffolk County Council, and both keynote speakers, Professor Gail Findlay from Well Communities and Kelly Ann Ibrahim from Royal Greenwich. The panel session was chaired by UOS Research Fellow, Dr Ruby Farr.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this event such a great success!

In October 2023, Professor Colin Martin and Consultant Midwife Patience Pounds gave a presentation to second year Midwifery students at the University of Suffolk, about their career journeys into academic research. The students also learnt about some current research projects and their potential impact on the field.

24 May 2023
In person event was held at our Ipswich Waterfront Campus. 

18 May 2022

The symposium was sponsored by STATSports and Metrica Sports.

This event enabled guests to hear from internationally recognised sports scientists, about the latest industry standards and scientific thinking.