Dr Fernando Hartwig is an assistant professor in Epidemiology at Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil. He returned to the University of Bristol as a Benjamin Meaker Follow-on Fund Visiting Researcher in January 2024 to continue working with Professor George Davey Smith in the Bristol Medical School.
In January 2024 I had the pleasure to visit Bristol yet again, for the sixth time now since my first visit in 2013. Such frequent visits are not an accident: every new visit is an opportunity to get to know a bit more about this charming city, feel welcomed by its lovely people and see old friends and make new ones. It is also a great opportunity to further strengthen collaborations with the Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) team at the University of Bristol – which was the main motivation (and a very good one!) for all these visits.
The last visit was funded by the Bristol Benjamin Meaker Follow-on Fund, which greatly facilitated developing the relationships and projects established in my previous visit in 2022 (funded by the Bristol ‘Next Generation’ Visiting Researcher Programme). This time we worked on an important limitation of epidemiological studies to establish whether a given risk factor causally influences disease risk: the problem of unmeasured confounding. For those interested in learning more about this topic, the research paper and a seminar are available.
Instead of talking about my specific research activities, I would like to take this opportunity to describe my overall experience as a visitor under this programme. I do believe that the University of Bristol offer an excellent environment for anyone committed to improving society through scientific research. In my specific field, I had the chance to work with world-leading experts in the field at the IEU. Of course, developing our planned project and presenting seminars to a qualified and interested audience was great. Nevertheless, what marks and humbles me the most is to truly feel welcomed by such high-profile researchers, who are genuinely interested in hearing my ideas, discussing collaboration possibilities in a horizontal manner, ensuring my visit was productive and making an effort to socialize outside the workplace. This combination of academic excellence and friendliness is perhaps one of the elements responsible for the top-tier status of the IEU team – and the university as a whole – worldwide.
Another important ingredient for the success of the visit was the support received from the International Research Development team, starting at the application stage (when we received fair and useful reviews) going all the way until the end of visit. During all this time I received timely and efficient help from all my inquiries. All this gave me confidence that practicalities/logistics of my visit were well covered, so I could dedicate my attention to research activities.
I am grateful for this experience and already looking forward to being back in Bristol. If you ask me if I plan to do anything different for the next visit, I would only say that I would like to visit during the summer so I can bring my family along for them to also fall in love with this charming, vibrant city, its lovely people and excellent university.
Dr Fernando Hartwig
