I’m sure everyone on the world that lived through 2020, will remember what a delayed year 2020 was. It seems that we should restart next year as 2020, minus the coronavirus!

After 4 months of delay (May – September 2020), boarder restrictions in the EU have finally eased and I was allowed to enter The Netherlands to conduct my research!

Since the start of the project in May 2020, I’ve been working in Singapore on the project, conducting a literature review on the work in the area of motor learning in older adults. Its not as productive which I have thought simply because the world is grappling with a new virus and everyone is somehow affected by it in both big and small ways.

In May and June, my original plan was to already pilot a new paradigm in University of Twente, to map out the feasibility of the first part in my MSCA project. Of course I had initial discussions and planned for it, but physically I wasn’t there. So alot of the plannings didn’t manifest into physical and tangible outcomes.

However, whilst in Singapore – I also worked on other projects as well. Namely the meditation and art project which I am very proud of. It provided a new angle to my work and also to my interest. I will share more of it in further blog updates.

I did however progress on my literature review and had completed about 60% of it at this stage. It does require alot more work to refine the framework that I think will produce testable hypotheses. Oh well….

“ Better late than never!”
English

Now that I have arrived in the Netherlands, I feel closer to the academic group and that certainly helps. Being in the same timezone and area means that you have support and that physicality is important (even though we are still working from home!).

Its also important that I get my admin procedures completed too. Right now things like taxation, residency and housing here are all part of the MSCA experience as well. And they are important to get them sorted.

The goal for now is to get into a very realistic, structured and tangible writing rhythm. This will help me to little by little achieve my goals or shift them to a good spot. I still aim to submit 2 more papers before the end of the year. And to do so it is important for me to write…..one sentence at a time!