{"id":221,"date":"2026-08-21T14:06:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T14:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/v-ward\/?p=221"},"modified":"2026-08-21T14:28:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T14:28:06","slug":"three-months-in-how-on-earth-did-i-get-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/v-ward\/2026\/08\/21\/three-months-in-how-on-earth-did-i-get-here\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Months In: How on Earth Did I Get Here?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Hilary M. Garrett (Author)<\/p><\/div>\n

Three months ago, I started a new role contracted as an Associate Researcher with Lancaster University. Even writing that sentence feels slightly surreal. I’m in my seventies and had assumed that the days of starting a new work chapter were behind me. Yet, somehow, here I am.<\/p>\n

Over the last five years I’ve been involved in a range of research projects and activities as a public contributor, bringing lived experience into research discussions. That journey has led to this role. The past three months have been a mixture of excitement, anxiety, surprise and delight.<\/p>\n

The imposter syndrome has been off the scale. Although I often find myself wondering: can it really be imposter syndrome if you genuinely are the least qualified person in the room? I don’t have formal research training. I’m still learning about research methodologies, and the science behind decarbonisation. Most days I have more questions than answers.<\/p>\n

What I do bring is a lifetime of experience, years of caring responsibilities for a large family, and a strong commitment to ensuring equity in healthcare. The people I work with make all the difference. Our advisory group of public contributors brings an incredible depth of experience, talent and insight. The academic team are outstanding professionals who are generous with their support and expertise.<\/p>\n

It’s challenging, occasionally daunting, often humbling and always rewarding. Three months in, I’m still not entirely sure how I got here, but I’m very grateful that I did.<\/p>\n

#PublicInvolvement #Research #LivedExperience #HealthResearch #LancasterUniversity #PatientAndPublicInvolvement<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three months ago, I started a new role contracted as an Associate Researcher with Lancaster University. Even writing that sentence feels slightly surreal. I’m in my seventies and had assumed that the days of starting a new work chapter were behind me. Yet, somehow, here I am. Over the last five years I’ve been involved…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/v-ward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/v-ward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/v-ward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/v-ward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/v-ward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/v-ward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/v-ward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions\/228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/v-ward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/v-ward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/v-ward\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}