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At Boston College, Giulia Locatelli took her PhD research to new heights

The recipient of a Boston College-funded Visiting Doctoral Research Fellowship, Giulia travelled to Boston College in the US to connect with one of her academic idols.

What motivated you to apply for the Boston College SACRU Fellowship?

I've always been interested in travelling, getting to know new places, cultures, and people and collaborating with different researchers and research groups within and across countries. I was very lucky that one of my awesome, supportive, and forward-thinking ACU supervisors, Dr Barbara Riegel, supported me in applying for the fellowship. She also introduced me to Dr Christopher Lee, who is one of the most exceptional nursing scientists in the world, especially in my field of research. The fact that Dr Lee was working at Boston College was a huge opportunity for me.

Your research is about symptom science in people with chronic conditions. Can you summarise the focus of your PhD and what you worked on at Boston College?

I'm interested in understanding how adults with a chronic condition experience their symptoms - for instance, exploring the variables that impact how they perceive bodily signals like pain, as well as how their level of accuracy in detecting bodily signals influences the way they perceive and manage their symptoms. Dr Lee and I worked together on various research studies, and we recently published a scientific paper together. We're still collaborating on several projects now.

You also got to know the other PhD students in the Fellowship. Why was that a valuable experience for you?

The fellowship fostered a unique environment where fellows from diverse backgrounds could collaborate and connect with professors across discipline areas. I had the opportunity to connect with fellow PhD students coming from different countries with different cultural backgrounds who were conducting research studies in completely different areas. We spent two months together; we shared many precious moments and we learnt so much from each other. It opened my eyes to human and social aspects that I have never thought about, or at least not in such a deep and practical way. The cross-disciplinary structure of the program significantly enriched our learning and development.

What advice would you give to other doctoral students considering applying for similar fellowship opportunities?

I would suggest trying to clearly outline what you want to gain and create a plan to do it. I think it's important to define in advance what you want to do in order to show yourself and others how you're going to achieve your goals. I think that international experiences, especially if they're organised as well as this one, are truly one of the biggest sources of enrichment in life!

The Boston College SACRU Visiting Doctoral Research Fellowship scheme is offered to students from member universities of the Strategic Alliance of Catholic Research Universities (SACRU) network. Australian Catholic University is a member of the SACRU network.