So after all these months of planning, the Outdoors and Health Network members finally met for the first time on Tuesday. The day started with an introduction from the Principle Investigator, Professor Stephen Tinsley over coffee and pastries. Then the fun started…

Participants had already begun to question the significance of the badges on the table with numbers and letters on. Several of them asked me if picking a certain letter would have bad consequences for them later in the day. Sarah-Anne put them all out of their misery by explaining the reason for the badges and what would be happening next. Each person had two minutes with each of the other participants in which to introduce themselves and discuss their research area and their interest in the OHN project. I was manning the stop-watch. Every two minutes the bell would ring signalling to participants that time was up and it was time to move on. This is where the difficulties started with some people having more to say than could fit into a two minute slot. After a bit of gentle cajoling everybody did get round the room successfully (and on schedule I am proud to say!). Each person was given a booklet with pictures and contact details of the other members. They also had room to write a few notes about each person after each speed dating round as a bit of an aide memoire.

The feedback from this session was positive. With 20 people in the room all from different backgrounds it really gave the network members an insight of who they would be working with over the next year and introduced people with similar interests.

The rest of the day focused on getting organised for the rest of the activities and discussion of the upcoming VC Roundtable sessions and the pilot project work. Lunchtime also providede an opportunity for a quick whizz round the Zoo. All in all a good day.