I recently completed my PhD at the University of Exeter under the supervision of Dr Miriam Koschate-Reis and Professor Mark Levine on the perceptions, experiences and measurement of everyday intergroup contact in public and private settings.

The EASP travel grant gave me the opportunity to attend the 40th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP) in Edinburgh. During my visit, I presented part my research about intergenerational contact in everyday settings, which included the comparison of near-time and retrospective methodologies, as part of the “New Methods in the Study of Political Psychology” session. This grant gave me the chance to present some of the more the practical aspects of my research to a broader audience, which would otherwise not have been possible.

Apart from giving my presentation, I attended many other exciting and inspiring symposia, thematic and poster sessions, and keynote speeches. Several of these were explicitly focused on intergroup contact theory and were thus highly relevant to my research domain.

I was also able attended the ISPP’s mentoring luncheon. This gave me a chance to meet with and get advice from experienced researchers. My meeting with Dr Clifford Stevenson was very inspiring and helped me prepare for the write up of my thesis as well as my viva voce.

Moreover, being able to meet with existing collaborators and colleagues, attending this conference allowed me to expand my existing network and develop future avenues of new research with fellow early career researchers.

Without a doubt, the travel grant gave me the means to further develop my career and set in place a number of future opportunities for collaboration. I would like to thank the Executive Committee of the EASP as well as Sibylle Classen for their outstanding efforts and support.