TRIF Fellowship Bethany Simmonds

  • Simmonds, Bethany (Recipient)

Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively

Description

Health, wellbeing and ageing, are themes central to my doctoral and post-doctoral work of eleven years. My PhD explored the barriers and benefits to being physically active in rural areas of West Sussex. This found that social capital acted as a powerful component when accessing physical activity resources, especially in rural areas. What motivated older people to be physically active was socially-centred pursuits that were tailored to their inclinations. My subsequent postdoctoral work, in the Faculty of Health at the University of Bristol, built on these findings and where I worked on a number of health projects from a sociological perspective, including exploring the role of physical activity in later life and related health service usage, the acceptability of using high impact physical activity to strengthen bones and ways in which the risk of falling and fracturing bones can be identified early using a FRAX risk assessment tool. Since being appointed at the University of Portsmouth in 2016, I have been developing links with the University of Portsmouth Ageing Network (UPAN) and the charity, ‘Homeshare’ (an intergenerational housing and companionship network), I am also writing a book examining health and social care in later life.

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