- What’s your name and where are you from?
My name is Henrik de Renouard Eckmann, and I am from Denmark.
2. Where are you based and who are your supervisors?
I’m currently studying at the University of Leicester (UoL), in the UK, and living in Leicester. My supervisors at the UoL are Dr. Alex Rowlands and Dr. Cameron Razieh, and my external supervisors are Prof. Lauren Sherar from Loughborough University, Prof. Bjørge Herman Hansen from the University in Agder, and Prof. Sebastien Chastin from Glasgow Caledonian University.
3. What’s your educational background?
I have a bachelor’s degree in Physiotherapy and a master’s degree in Sports Science and Health.
4. What was the last professional or educational activity you carried out before joining LABDA and how/why did you decide to join LABDA?
I finished my master’s in 2023 while working part time as a physiotherapist. I was fortunate that this opportunity lined up well, so that I was able to go straight from my master’s to my PhD. I got my master’s at the University of Southern Denmark, which also happens to be one of the partner institutions in LABDA, so my supervisor was aware of LABDA and advised me to look into it. My particular project fits very well with my previous work and my research interests, so there really wasn’t much to think about – I immediately applied.
5. What’s your PhD topic?
My PhD focuses on advancing methods for estimating physical activity volume and intensity from wearable accelerometry. Since access to raw accelerometry became possible, an array of methods has been developed that tackle similar questions in a variety of ways. Because of this, multiple different protocols are commonly used across studies and datasets. This lack of consensus negatively impacts our ability to compare and harmonise data, limiting it’s use. I will be working to determine the impacts of specific choices within the accelerometry processing pipeline, within the context of estimating daily physical activity volume and intensity, to contribute to the groundwork needed to build consensus.
6. What would you like to achieve with your research work?/What impact would you like to have?
If, sometime in the future, my work has played a role in building consensus on a few key aspects of objectively estimating physical activity volume and intensity, I would be quite satisfied.
7. What’s your role within LABDA?
I am one of the Fellows’ representatives to the LABDA supervisory board, and a member of the Dissemination, Exploitation and Communication committee.
8. Can you tell us one personal thing about you that is weird or funny?
My go to karaoke song is Proud Mary by Ike and Tina Turner.