Hello everyone! This is Vienne. It’s been a while since I wrote my last piece. I apologise for the delay, as things took an unexpected turn within our VR VIP group in the second semester. I wanted to wrap up my VIP experience during my trip to Bath in June/July 2025, but I was held back by multiple deadlines. Finally, I have found the time to reflect and write this blog post. It’s always good to sit back, relax, and relive the lovely moments I had, as I don’t want to rush things.
Recalling my time in Bath in November 2024, I met a group of passionate students. They were super organised, open to ideas, and committed to the weekly meetings. Following the last blog post, which highlighted our discussion on how we planned to proceed with our data collection, we had a very fun VR testing session during our group meeting on 18 November. Ivan brought the VR headset and let us take turns trying it on. By doing so, each of us could have a taste of the scenarios that the VR tech team had been working on. We were all very curious about the development and listened carefully to what Ivan said.
Ivan was explaining how the VR headset worked and the scenarios we were going to explore.
All members were both excited and attentive at the same time.
And I waited, and now it was my turn!
This was our group meeting photo.
We had another weekly meeting scheduled for 27 November 2024. This was also my last in-person VIP meeting, as I was heading back to Hong Kong two days later. During the meeting, we devised our sampling strategies, the incentives, and more importantly, the timeline for data collection, as we learnt that the VR tech team had found a problem that needed to be resolved. However, we were hopeful and planned to recruit some participants through our personal networks to pilot the study.
Sitting next to Tracy, I remembered our small talk. We both said that we were starving, and I shared a piece of KitKat with her. The reason I hadn’t had lunch was ... Ta-da! I was painting my masquerade mask at the Edge. I only had 45 minutes before the meeting, but I wanted to have it all. “Nobody’s gon’ tell me I can’t, nah!” ♫⋆｡♪ ₊˚♬ When I arrived at the meeting, the paints were all over my fingers, as I didn’t want to be late.
Me and my masquerade mask
This was another group meeting photo.
On a Wednesday evening in early December, Ivan called me via Teams. I asked, “How can I help?” He sounded a bit surprised and said we were having a VIP meeting and that he thought I would like to join. I was like ... I literally forgot about this meeting as I was adjusting to jetlag and about to sleep! I stayed on for an hour-long audio call, listening to their updates, and adding my comments while lying on my bed and looking out at the moon. We said goodbye to each other and wished them a Merry Christmas!
Our team was expecting to reconvene in the second semester, as all members agreed to carry on. However, we didn’t have any meetings until March or April 2025, as we were waiting for updates about the tech issue. At one point, Ivan informed us that he had been away in China for personal matters. Jin also came in to discuss some potential next steps with us. Since we still had some time left until the formal closing time of the VIP programme, I asked in the group chat if anyone might want to meet.
In the end, Tracy and Shayla joined the meeting. We had a quick chat to see what we could do, even without showcasing the VR development. While they both expressed interest in presenting our work as a public engagement session at the Bath Medical Museum (BMM), they needed to focus on revising for exams. I fully understood that the exams were coming up in just two weeks. We decided to leave things there and reconvene in the next semester.
This was our online meeting in April (It was close to midnight, and I edited my picture! Shhhh!).
Despite not being able to start our data collection for the VR VIP, there is some fantastic news that can be shared to demonstrate the impact of our work and the overall VIP scheme!
- An invited talk on our Age-friendly VIP
This invitation came from Megan Robb, a lecturer in the Department of Social and Policy Sciences. Do you remember who Megan is? Last year, we reached out to her to explore the possibility of working together on a programme where we could organise some sessions for the Age-friendly VIP. Although we didn’t create the programme as we had hoped (and you can revisit our process here), Megan remembers me and us! She wrote to me last month and asked if I would be happy to present our work on how we engaged people with lived experience in her Teaching Community of Practice sessions. She will also invite Fiona, our academic lead for the Age-friendly VIP, to join this session. I look forward to it and will provide more updates!
- The ongoing community partnership with the Bath Medical Museum
My first blog post of this academic year discussed how we worked towards a sustainable community network. The community partnership with the BMM is still going strong! If you want to know how it got started, please feel free to check out more here. Recently, I secured a Student Change Project Fund as a Principal Investigator and am leading a project on “Catalysts for Change - Empowering Qualitative Doctoral Research through Public Engagement” with three co-leads and academic staff from the Qualitative Research Community of Practice at the Centre for Qualitative Research. We have launched our first series, featuring the work of six doctoral researchers between May and June 2025, and we plan to return in Fall 2025. Building on this connection, my proposal for another public engagement session has also been accepted into the Being Human Festival 2025, led by the School of Advanced study at the University of London. I have been discussing this collaboration with Paul and Irene, Trustees of the BMM. This session is scheduled to take place in mid-November, either at the BMM or the Bath Central Library (if available). More details about our collaborations can be found at https://bathmedicalmuseum.org/highlights/.
Our series included both remote and in-person presentations.
Lastly, I’m very grateful to have been selected as the winner of the Above & Beyond Team Member Award 2025. I will continue offering support and contributing in ways that make a positive difference to the team, as well as to the wider academic and local communities.
Respond
