January TCAID: In Focus - Ms Laura Garcia Dominguez - University of Salamanca Research Internship

International collaboration enables researchers to access additional, often specific, expertise, gain new perspectives on research and build relationships with others in the field, which for early stage researchers can be key to career development. TCAID was honoured to welcome Ms Laura Garcia Dominguez to Ireland form University of Salamanca to undertake a research internship under the supervision of Professor Mary McCarron.

Laura Garcia Dominguez

Psychology PhD Student, University of Salamanca

Visiting Research Assistant, TCAID (September to December 2021)

I started studying Psychology in 2007 and earned a Master’s degree in Neuropsychology in 2014. I met my supervisor, Miguel Ángel Verdugo, during a collaboration grant and he gave me the opportunity to apply for a contract with the University of Salamanca to carry out my doctoral studies in 2016. I am currently in the last year of my PhD studies.

PhD Overview

I am doing my PhD in Psychology, specifically in the area of Disability Research.

My doctoral thesis is related to the characteristics, health status and access to health care services of older people with intellectual disabilities. The Principal Investigator of the health project informing my thesis is Patricia Navas, who is also the co-supervisor of my doctoral thesis. The main aim of my PhD is to collect and study data from different aspects of the health of people ageing with an intellectual disability in Spain.

Why did you choose TCAID for your research internship?

In my PhD program, I had the opportunity to do a research stay of at least 3 months abroad. That was a really interesting opportunity for me to learn from experienced people in the field and to live the experience of living abroad. When I was given the opportunity to choose my host institution, I was very clear that I wanted to do my research stay with Prof. Mary McCarron and her team. I have always read several papers from the IDS-TILDA group as part of my research and felt that our research projects were kind of similar, so I always thought it would be interesting to work with them in the future. At one of the IASSID conferences, in 2019, my supervisors and I talked there with Prof. McCarron to let her know our willingness to do my research stay with her at TCAID. She was very kind and supportive from the beginning, so after that moment, we started to plan the stay.

What research did you undertake at TCAID?

I started my research stay learning about one of the main research projects they have on TCAID, the IDS-TILDA longitudinal study. I was already familiar with the study because their publications are very helpful for my PhD, and I have read and cited many of the papers that the team has published over the past few years. At the beginning of the stay, I needed to understand exactly how it works, how it is structured, and a lot of details needed to know the study thoroughly. I also made a presentation of my doctoral thesis and, afterwards, I was given the opportunity to do joint research comparing data from both countries. Since that moment, I am working on a paper aimed to compare certain chronic health conditions in the population ageing with an ID in Ireland and Spain.

During my stay, I have also worked on a scoping review of the supports that older people with intellectual disabilities receive following a diagnosis of dementia. Working on this project has really helped me to understand the process behind a scoping review. It has also been very rewarding to work on a project on dementia as it is a topic that I am very interested in and would like to work on in the future.

What did you learn from your stay and how you will use your experience going forward?

The research project informing my thesis is cross sectional, so I had no experience on how to develop and manage a longitudinal study. I was invited to the Wave 5 Planning Day, and thanks to it I was able to learn how the IDS-TILDA team discussed about each question in each section of the questionnaires they use. After that, I feel prepared to develop a longitudinal study in the future following the guidelines I have learned during my stay.

Another important learning from my stay is due to the experience of several online meetings. Each of them has taught me something useful. From improving my English to learning how to organize an event. It was very interesting for me to learn how the TCAID team organizes their work, how they distribute the tasks, and how each of them knows exactly what they have to do at any moment. I feel that people working here are a great family, and I am delighted to feel part of it during my time with them.

Although it is true that the pandemic situation was not the best for doing a research stay, I was more than happy to work with this lovely IDS-TILDA family. I have had the opportunity to meet a lot of new people and learn from each one of them. I felt particularly comfortable with this team. They welcomed me kindly from my first day there and were always willing to share their work with me and teach me new things every day.

Non research related – what did you enjoy about Ireland?

Living in Dublin has been an important part of my research stay experience. It was the first time I had lived abroad for a long period of time, so at first it was a bit strange living there as many things were quite different from Spain. After a few weeks, I felt more and more comfortable living in the city. It is a very comfy and I enjoyed all the places I visited in Dublin. I did not do a lot of traveling around the country. I only went to the Giant’s Causeway and to Belfast. I really enjoyed that trip. It was near the end of the experience, and I regret not having done it sooner, but now I have the excuse to go back to Ireland and visit more places in this beautiful country!

Another aspect I have enjoyed about Ireland is Irish people. In general, the Irish are very kind and lovely people. And of course, I loved the Irish tea! I thoroughly enjoyed sharing my first cup of Irish.

It was also very important for me to share other informal moments outside work with my colleagues. I felt very comfortable with them at all times and was able to talk about many different aspects, not only about work. That was another important learning during my stay: the importance of separating work from leisure.

For all the above, I would like to thank Prof. McCarron for making this experience possible. I am deeply grateful with her and the whole team for their warm welcome at TCAID. I will never forget this experience and I am sure it will be very useful for my future career.