A silver lining around the COVID-19 pandemic cloud was a rare opportunity for a round-the-world face-to-face meeting of five academics.
We are all engaged in a Lancet Psychiatry Commission on Intimate Partner Violence, and our paper on Developmental Aspects of IPV is led by Helen Minnis, child and adolescent psychiatrist and member of the Black Female Professors’ Forum. There have been two face-to-face meetings in London that not all of us had been able to attend, and lots of email correspondence has been needed to bring our piece together. Because of the lockdown, on Tuesday 12th May 2020, we all met face-to-face for the first time using zoom, to finalise our paper before submission. Despite crossing time zones, we had a wonderfully productive and enjoyable round-the world meeting. Starting with the person closest to their breakfast, Marta Rondon was in Lima at 9am, Helen Minnis and Marion Henderson were in Glasgow at 3pm, Prabha Chandra was in Bangalore at 7.30pm and Sajar Othman was in Kuala Lumpur at 10pm. Everyone’s comments on our draft came in by midnight, UK time, on Thursday 14th and at 11am on the 15th, Helen pressed “send”.
Look out for the completed Lancet Psychiatry Commission on Intimate Partner Violence later this year.