By Dr Laurie Batchelder, Research officer at PSSRU Kent
The EXCELC team met in Vienna last week (8 – 10 February) to catch up and share our ideas and progress to date with the EXCELC policy and scientific advisory group.
On Thursday, the EXCELC team discussed the great progress we’ve made since we last met in September. Juliette Malley, Laurie Batchelder and Eirini Saloniki updated us on progress with the preference study and presented some preliminary results, including basic preference models for Austria, England and Finland for both the ASCOT service user measure and the ASCOT carer measure, as well as mode and temporal comparisons with the ASCOT service user measure. Birgit Trukeschitz, Assma Hajji, Judith Kieninger and Judith Litschauer updated us on progress with the Austrian fieldwork. They also presented some preliminary descriptive results. Ismo Linnosmaa, Lien Nguyen and Hanna Jokimaki similarly updated us on progress with the Finnish fieldwork and presented some 
preliminary descriptive results. We all discussed the challenges conducting fieldwork and strategies we can use to improve recruitment of carers. Following the meeting, the team got the chance to marvel at the beautiful sites of Vienna and try some traditional Viennese food.
On Friday, the EXCELC team shared their work with the EXCELC advisory group. Birgit Trukeschitz and Juliette Malley kicked off the meeting with an introduction to the EXCELC project and its various workpackages. Ismo Linnosmaa and Birgit Trukeschitz then presented reflections on the process of translating ASCOT into Finnish and German. Laurie Batchelder and Eirini Saloniki also presented preliminary findings from the preference study from the ASCOT service user measure and the ASCOT carer measure. Birgit Trukeschitz and Assma Hajji then presented their progress with the Austrian fieldwork, 
and Hanna Jokimaki presented progress with the Finnish fieldwork. We discussed the similar challenges both Austria and Finland have faced during the fieldwork stage. We had good discussions following each presentation with lots of ideas about how to present and build on the work we are doing. The meeting closed with tea and coffee, more engaging discussions, and Krapfen!