Nick Rowe MPhil (Edin) BA (Hons)

Nick took over in 2019 from Professor Davison as chair of the Research Advisory Group for the Observatory for Sport in Scotland, having supported the OSS with research and guidance since its inception. The former Head of Research Strategy at Sport England now provides consultancy services on sport and public policy across Europe, and is a Visiting Research Fellow at Leeds Beckett University. His book setting out a new paradigm for sports development, 'Sporting capital: Transforming sports development policy and practice' was published by Routledge in November 2017. He recently published his first major research for OSS, 'Sports participation in Scotland: trends and future prospects', and is leading on the development of new research projects.

Nick was educated at Oxford Polytechnic, the University of Edinburgh and the University of Texas and joined the then Great Britain Sports Council (to become Sport England) research team in 1983 where he remained until June 2012. Whilst at Sport England Nick held the post of Head of Strategy, Research and Planning and Strategic Lead for Research where he was influential in shaping and delivering a world leading national research programme. Nick led the design and delivery of the Active People Survey - the largest sport survey in Europe and was lead author on the Sport England Strategy document ‘The Framework for Sport in England’. He has been influential in international research initiating and for 5 years co-directing the European wide COMPASS project on comparative sport participation statistics. Nick has been the invited speaker at international conferences in China, Australia, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, Israel and Spain.

Nick has completed 5 London Marathons and recently 'enjoyed' a 3,600 bike ride around the coast of Britain. A keen golfer, Nick is the current President of Woodford Golf Club near his home in Essex.

With my experiences as a senior sport researcher, policy advisor, lecturer in sport policy and sport sociology, and former local sport manager and sport club advisor, I am looking forward to contribute to the development of OSS. Working for the Mulier Institute almost since its inception, gives me an understanding of the challenges and barriers the OSS faces in the process of becoming the leading policy relevant social science sport research institute. Where needed I will share these experiences, other relevant knowledge and good practices from the Netherlands to contribute to a strong sporting future for Scotland.

Dr Remco Hoekman is co-director of the Mulier Institute and affiliated to the Radboud University. Furthermore, Remco is president of the European Association for Sociology of Sport (EASS) and co-editor of the European Journal for Sport and Society. His research interests include sport policies, sport facilities, sport participation and financial aspects of sport. He has an extensive national and international publication list, including both policy-oriented and fundamental research, and is a frequently asked expert, advisor and speaker on the abovementioned topics. Remco is like no other capable of connecting science and practice and is a recognized expert in both fields. Consequently, he holds several advisory positions and is, amongst others, columnist for SportAccom (a journal on sport facilities), and member of the evaluation committee for the election of 'Sport municipality of the year’ and 'Best sport policy initiative’ in the Netherlands. Internationally, he is known as the founder of the expert group on sport facility databases and related research, and as one of the initiators of the ‘Measure’ network, a network with the aim to enhance knowledge on sport participation. In addition, he is an expert member of networks on sport organisations (SORN) and sport policy and politics (POLIS).

Remco breaths sports and is in his leisure time an active sport participant and sport volunteer. He enjoys to play tennis, visit the gym and cycle with his friends. In addition, he contributes as a volunteer to the sport activities of his children and he is the chairman of a tennis club.

Rhona MacLennan is currently Principal Solutions Architect at The Data Lab innovation centre, where she established and leads the TORCH Business Advisory Service to guide Scottish businesses towards becoming data driven. She helps to connect companies from all sectors with specialist data and data technology suppliers, having enjoyed a career with a host of leading companies across Europe, including BP, Shell, Cisco Systems, Nike, HBOS, CapGemini, Heineken and Edrington.
As well as her sharp insight to how we can be innovative and use data better to inform stakeholders from government to local levels, Rhona brings a wealth of experience from sport, having been an avid participant and fan throughout her life, particularly in hockey, golf and athletics. She continues to coach and play hockey, and loves to get out walking and cycling in the Scottish countryside.
Rhona is delighted to be joining OSS and having the opportunity to apply her expertise from across the data and technology domains to helping others experience some of the same enjoyment and value she has gained from participating in sport.

Dr Reid is a lecturer in Events, Sport and Tourism Management and her current research focuses on volunteers, volunteering and the voluntary sector in sports, events and tourism. She is a member of the Sport and Identities Research Cluster. Externally, Fiona is the Secretary of the UK Sports Volunteering Research Network. Fiona has worked in the sports industry for over 20 years in a number of different roles. She lectured in sports coaching and development at University of Abertay before undertaking a PhD in Sports Studies at University of Stirling. She taught on the Sport and Physical Activity degree at Strathclyde University before taking up her post at GCU in 2012. In her first semester at GCU she received the Students' Association Student-led Teaching award for "Fantastic Feedback".

Gayle McPherson

Professor Gayle McPherson holds a Chair in Events and Cultural Policy within the School of Business and Creative Industries at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS). She joined the University in 2010 from Glasgow Caledonian University where she was a Professor in Cultural Policy and Head of Department of Cultural Business. Her research interests revolve around the interventions of the local and national state and wider agencies in events and festivity of all types and the social and cultural impacts of large-scale events on communities. A key area of her work examines soft power, cultural diplomacy and the contribution of culture in fragile contexts.

She recently completed a research project for the British Council on the Contribution of Art and Culture in Global Security and Stability and is currently working on Inclusive Cultural Heritage for Skills Development in Kenya on behalf of the British Council. She is also working on a follow-up study on Major Sport Events and Parasport Participation: Investigating Post-Event Opportunities and Experiences on behalf of the SSHRC with colleagues in Canada and is part of an ESRC networking grant on sport and disability with Waseda University in Japan for the Toyko 2020 Olympics. She teaches in the broad area of cultural diplomacy and in particular the role of events and culture in cultural diplomacy as a soft power initiative between nations and states. She has a range of external roles and she acted as the Legacy and Evaluation advisor to Paisley 2021 UK City of Culture Bid team, is member of European Cultural Parliament and also teaches at the Institute of Cultural Diplomacy in Berlin and is an expert advisor to the OECD on their Recommendation on Global Events and Local Development. She is a REF sub-panel member of Unit 24 Sport, Exercise Science, Leisure and Tourism 2021, and is Co-Chief Editor of Frontiers in Sport and Active Living: Sport, Leisure and Tourism section. She has published widely in the events, culture sport and festivals area and is a reviewer for many journals and acts as a college panel member for the AHRC.
Professor Gayle McPherson https://research-portal.uws.ac.uk/en/persons/gayle-mcpherson

Christine's first qualification was in Physical Education, however, she emigrated to the United States shortly after graduation. Her MSc., which she undertook on a scholarship in the USA, concentrated more on sport coaching, and gave her the opportunity to apply the theory with the university swim team. She found the opportunity to integrate her educational background with sport coaching to be invaluable.

Since then Christine has been heavily involved in sport coaching and as a result her career has not always followed a ‘traditional’ route in higher education. Much of her credibility and understanding of the coaching process has been developed during periods as a national coach and this immersion within the profession has informed her subsequent career and research interests.
Her research experience covers Sport Pedagogy, Coach Education, Development of Expertise and Player/Coach Development Pathways.

An academic, athlete, award-winner and activist, Dr Julie McElroy is a Scotswoman who has Cerebral Palsy, which has resulted in walking difficulties along with a speech and hearing impairment, and manual dexterity problems, and she epitomises drive, motivation and passion.
Termed "a rising star in the field of assistive technology", Julie’s goal is to ensure that society understands how assistive technologies can enable everyone to play a vital role in a prosperous society. She has contributed to numerous organisations in various capacities, and is known for her shaping of ideas and concepts that makes things happen. A 2021 Institute of Director, Director of the Year winner for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, and a Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award winner and ambassador, she has shown a high level of self-leadership, determination and fortitude to achieve key goals.
Julie has over 15 years' experience in the Media and PR worlds working with BBC Scotland, STV, Daily Record, the Glasgow Evening Times and Glasgow 2014. Ongoing media work continues with recent involvement with BBC The Social and across national newspaper titles.
Over the last 10 years, Julie has become a leading consultant, academic and disability rights activist through epitomising the values of diversity, inclusivity and accessibility in many areas of her work. As an emerging rising star in the field of Diversity, Inclusion and Equality with an ambition to contribute to a global presence of Diversity, Inclusion and Equality is about ensuring society understand that everyone to play a vital role to a prosperous society. The ethos of self-leadership and stakeholder engagements has enable her to demonstrate and share with others that people are our greatest asset. It is fair to say that best performances come from individuals who are user-led in the developments of assistive technologies. Through her own lived experience and her PhD in Assistive Technologies of understanding learning experiences of disabled students in technology-rich learning environments, she has developed a specialism in accessibility and usability design, which is particularly relevant in the development of software solutions. This requires an understanding and awareness of a range of technologies in order to derive innovative and practical solutions.
She has earned extensive academic credentials through her studies, most recently Masters in Knowledge Exchange and Laws, and is currently finishing her MBA to support work on governance and leadership in public and private sectors. During her time at University of the West of Scotland (UWS), she was awarded the UWS Court Medal 2010 for highest achieving student, won an Adult Learner of the Year Award 2012 from the Scottish Learning Partnership and was awarded the Glasgow Lord Provost Award in 2012.
She works across disciplines to uphold the values of creating and embedding diversity, inclusivity and accessibility in educating organisations to create pragmatic solutions such developing an accessibility impact assessment strategies which encompasses the physical, societal and digital infrastructures.
Julie is also committed to help change the social injustice faced by disadvantaged people in society. As well as having a personal understanding of disability and equality-related issues, she has developed a deep understanding in relation to the preconceptions of disability through a range of experiences and ventures over my life to date. Through these experiences, Julie came to believe that she has a lot to offer in the area of disability rights and its relationship to Law.
Passionate about sport and recreational pursuits, and how it can help health and wellbeing, and tackle social isolation for people with disabilities, Julie was appointed as Head of Recreation for Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association (CPISRA), to lead a strategic vision on recreational involvement, and has found frame-running a great route to enjoyment with the Victoria Park Athletics Club in Glasgow.

Professor Davison is the OSS Vice-Chair and honorary treasurer.
An internationally-recognised exercise physiologist with over 25 years experience, he has developed a global reputation in investigating the factors that influence cycling performance and the physiological responses to cycle ergometry. Other areas of research interest include the use of exercise and physical activity to improve health and quality of life in the general population and clinical groups. He is also an editor of the Journal of Sport Medicine and the Journal of Science and Cycling, former editor of the Journal of Sports Sciences and has published in excess of 50 scientific papers and book chapters and is currently an expert reviewer for the Journal of Sports Sciences, the International Journal of Sports Medicine, European Journal of Sport Sciences, International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise the Welcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. He is a Fellow and former Chair and Honorary Treasurer of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences and currently a professor of Exercise Physiology and President of ECSS 2021 Glasgow in the School of Science and Sport at the University of the West of Scotland.
Richard was also a successful competitive cyclists winning 11 medals (6 gold, 2 sliver, 3 bronze) at Scottish Championships. He is a Level 3 Coach and Coach Educator for British Cycling (18 years) and has coached at Commonwealth and Olympic Games level.

Specialities: Exercise physiology teaching and research, Higher Education management, change management, coach education, elite cycling coaching, Chromosome 18.

Director of the Danish Institute for Sports Studies (Idan) and 'Play the Game', from 2011 to 2019, and, since 2013, the Danish Institute for non-Formal Education (Videncenter for Folkeoplysning). Henrik was responsible for establishing and building a research institute, funded by the Danish Government, which is today an important knowledge and research centre in the field of Danish and international sports politics and non-formal education with a large network of media, researchers and stakeholders across the Danish and international sports sector.

An honorary member of Sheffield University, Geoff has researched a wide variety of aspects of community sport and volunteering, clubs, crime, leisure trusts and community asset transfers over the past 30 years.
Widely respected across Europe, Geoff has published over 40 refereed papers on the topic of volunteering in sport, as well as 16 book chapters and research reports from 13 projects. Most recently Geoff has been researching the response of community sports clubs to the Covid-19 restrictions, and the ‘community asset transfer’ of the management of leisure facilities to volunteers. Both of these are part of the broad question of how volunteers can best contribute to meeting society’s need for sport and recreation; and thus physical and mental health. Geoff has also researched the role of sport in programmes to reduce youth crime, which was the focus of his PhD and a subsequent book. Geoff has a sharp focus on making his research relevant to policy and practice, a key function of the OSS.
He was a founding member of the UK Sports Volunteering Research Network, which facilitates exchange between practitioners and academics, and is a member of the steering group of the Voluntary Sector Studies Network and the research advisory group of 'Power to Change'.
Also a keen mountaineer and climber, and committee member of his local mountaineering club, Geoff can often be found in the hills and mountains of Scotland. He was a professional outdoor instructor for eight years, working with the Outward Bound, and has led Scouts groups since the 1970s.
Geoff states: "While sport and physical exercise makes a vital contribution to individuals’ wellbeing participation is uneven and differences between the health of groups are growing. Thus, promoting sports participation is only part of improving the wellbeing of everybody in society."

Simon is a graduate in Physical Education, Sport Science and Recreation Management from Loughborough University. Since 2004 he has been the Director of the Sport Industry Research Centre (SIRC) at Sheffield Hallam University, where he is also Professor of Sport Management. In 2003 Simon was admitted to the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and is one of the few qualified accountants working in sport management in the UK. His specialist areas of interest are the finance and economics of the sport and leisure industries and main research interests are in the applied use of techniques from the fields of finance and economics to research questions in sport and leisure.
An author of and contributor to OSS reviews, Simon's recent research areas have included assessing the economic impact of major sport and cultural events, assisting National Governing Bodies with strategic planning, monitoring and evaluating the impact of sport initiatives and interventions, and measuring performance in elite sport. Simon and the SIRC team are committed to conducting high quality research that makes a positive difference for clients.
Simon prides himself with two key strengths. First, he uses technical management accounting rigour and common sense, in equal measure, to deliver credible and practical solutions for clients. Second, he is a clear communicator of complex information that is pitched appropriately for the intended audience. As a leader of his team and an academic, Simon's ethos is that managerial excellence and academic excellence are not mutually exclusive. He is in regular demand as a speaker at national and international conferences and is a widely published author of both textbooks and peer reviewed papers with a variety of collaborators from across the world of sport management.

Liz is a lecturer in Sport Coaching and Development at the University of the West of Scotland where she teaches across the suite of BA and BSc (hons) programmes. Liz also currently works as a coach educator with Sport Northern Ireland and Sport Ireland and a National Trainer for the UK Anti-Doping Agency.
She studied her BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise Sciences at Ulster University before studying her MSc Sport and Exercise Psychology at Leeds Beckett University. In 2018, Liz completed her PhD at Ulster University, conducting a cross-cultural analysis of the management and motives of Special Olympics volunteers. During this period, Liz also worked as a research assistant with Special Olympics Europe Eurasia on a project developing an assessment tool for coaches to evaluate promotion of social inclusion of their athletes with intellectual disabilities within teams and their wider community. Liz has previously worked at Loughborough University and the University of the West of Scotland on research projects working with people living with dementia and people with disabilities.

Andrew is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Design, Manufacture and Engineering Management at the University of Strathclyde. He is academic co-ordinator for the BEng/MEng undergraduate programme in Sports Design Engineering, and a Chartered Technological Product Designer. His research encompasses physical-digital interaction, manufacturing and creativity. He is currently Deputy Co-ordinator of a 14-partner European project, PRIME-VR2, on the use of virtual reality for rehabilitation, and has previously led a range of UK Research and Innovation (EPSRC, AHRC, InnovateUK) funded research projects. This has included collaboration with disciplines such as drama, bioengineering, history and business to deliver new methods and approaches for design. He has acted as Local and Programme Chair for the International Conference on Design Creativity, is a member of the editorial advisory board for the International Journal on Design Creativity and Innovation, and was guest editor for the Journal of Engineering Design special issue on Interaction and Experience Design.

Philippa is an ESRC-funded PhD researcher at Cardiff University based in the WISERD Research Centre. Her interest in sport started from an early age through competitive swimming as she went on to train as an athlete for 15 years, representing Great Britain in Open Water swimming. She is passionate about research which helps women and girls have positive experiences and benefits through sport.
Her research examines women sport leaders and policy makers, how they are represented, their experience in their roles and their effect on gender equality in sport policy in Wales. She recently presented her results at the UN Commission on the Status of Women NGO parallel panel as part of the Wales Assembly of Women presentation on women’s representation in Wales.

The OSS was founded with support from the Danish Institute of Sport Studies (IDAN), and other European institutes, and we have retained strong ties with Denmark. The country is one of the most active nations in the world with a strong commitment to community sport for all. It is also among world leaders in the development of esport and its connection of players to physical exercise as part of their growth and development.
Michael Dassa has joined the OSS to help us develop our understanding of and research development in this area. Michael is an accomplished consultant and researcher with expertise in pedagogy, didactics, esports, mindset and motivation across the private and the public sector in education. Michael is passionate about questioning the status quo, leveraging new solutions to known problems and transforming the most up-to-date knowledge and research into strategies for esport development in education. Michael is currently developing educational initiatives within gaming and esports in partnership with schools, colleges, universities and esport Denmark.

Debbie is currently a lecturer in research methods and injury epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh. She is an Olympian and dual international athlete, having competed as a short-track speed skater for Great Britain. Post her sporting career Debbie has worked in sports injury and illness epidemiology research for the last 15 years. Her research focuses on epidemiology, risk and prevention of sports injury and illness in elite, youth and recreational cohorts, longer-term consequences of sport-related injury, and retired athlete health. She has worked with Arthritis Research UK (Versus Arthritis), the English and Scottish Rugby Football Unions, Enduro World Series mountain biking and World Olympians Association. She is a member of the International Olympic Committee Medical and Scientific injury and illness surveillance Games Group.

A behavioural scientist based in UHI's Department of Nursing and Midwifery, Dr Gorely's main research interests are in the psychological and behavioural aspects of physical activity, sedentary behaviour and health across the lifespan. Her current work includes: prevalence and influences on active lifestyles; the development, implementation, and evaluation of physical activity and sedentary behaviour interventions in young people; and, the design and evaluation of self-management programmes for people living with long-term conditions. She is co-author of the book ‘Psychology of Physical Activity (2021).

Dawn Skelton is Professor of Ageing and Health in the Department of Physiotherapy and Paramedicine at Glasgow Caledonian University. She Co-Leads the Ageing Well Research Group and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.

As an Exercise Physiologist, she has a keen interest in exercise rehabilitation within a falls prevention scope, from the hospital based physiotherapy delivery to the community based specialist exercise instructor provision. Her current research ranges from motivation and patient preference to engaging the very frail, increasing adherence to long term exercise and working with the pre-frail to prevent poor outcomes later. Implementation, fidelity and quality of evidence-based interventions when delivered in different settings is also her passion. Whilst specialising in randomised controlled trials, she often leads mixed methods studies (including the MRC funded Seniors USP: Understanding Sedentary Patterns) and is a lead and co-author on multiple Cochrane Systematic Reviews.

She Chaired the Royal Osteoporosis Society’s Statement on Exercise and Osteoporosis (2018) and the Older People panel for the UK’s update of the Physical Activity for Health Guidelines (2019). She is currently Chair of the British Geriatrics Society Rehabilitation Group and is part of the Community Rehabilitation Alliance and the National Falls Prevention Co-ordination Group within Public Health England. She is a Member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Older People and Frailty Policy Research Unit (OPFPRU) funded by the NIHR. In her spare time she is a Director of the not for profit training company, Later Life Training, based in Killin, Perthshire.

Marianna has 10 years of experience in grant writing, sports project planning, management, monitoring and evaluation, drafting projects on a range of subjects from forced migrants’ social inclusion through football and human rights education through physical education, to integrity in sport and sport organisational good governance.
She has worked with a range of organisations, including the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Lega Pro (the Italian third division football association), Society Empowerment Projects (SEP) and the EU Commission – EACEA Agency, and founded the consultancy Human Rights at Play.
Marianna has been involved in teaching at the Università degli Studi di Padova (IT), the University of Edinburgh (UK) and the Université Général Lansana Conté de Sonfonia (GNQ). Her research areas include questions on social change and sport for social inclusion, and addresses the promotion and protection of human rights through sport.
She has delivered numerous presentations at international conferences on sport, discussing areas of Sport for Development, Mega Sporting Events, and Human Rights, and published academic papers on the role of sport as a platform for social inclusion.
She was the principal investigator of a recently concluded EU funded project – Sport Opens School (SOS) – which developed a Physical Education teaching module for high schools, where fair play, anti-discrimination, human rights and soft skills are part of the curriculum. Her PhD study focuses on the role of football in the development of belonging in forced migrants living in Scotland and Italy.
Marianna, who is fluent in English, Italian, French and Spanish, holds an MSc in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and Political Science (UK) and BA in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Padua (IT). She is currently completing a PhD in Sport for Development at the University of Edinburgh (UK).
Website: humanrightsatplay.com.

Fred Coalter is visiting Professor of Sports Policy at the Free University of Brussels (VUB) and Leeds Beckett University, and was previously Professor of Sports Policy at Stirling University. Well known across Scotland and Europe for his work on sport’s contribution to society over several decades, Fred is a leading contributor to government and NDO thinking and policy development. His published work includes A Wider Social Role for Sport: Who’s keeping the score? (Routledge, 2007), Sport, Conflict and Youth Development (Comic Relief, 2011) and Sport For Development: what game are we playing? (Routledge, 2013).
Fred has worked on monitoring and evaluation (M&E) with sport for development organisations in the UK, seven sub-Saharan African countries, India and Brazil, and was a member of the board of the Nairobi-based Mathare Youth Sport Association’s Leadership Academy, working on M&E with Magic Bus (India) and Sportstec (South Africa). He was a member of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s Neighbourhood Renewal Unit’s Working Group on Sport, the UK Centre for Social Justice’s Working Group on Sport and Social Regeneration and the UNICEF Working Group on Monitoring and Evaluation of Child-focused Sport for Development.
Currently, Fred is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Swiss Academy of Development and the UNICEF Working Group on Monitoring and Evaluation of Child-focused Sport for Development. He recently completed (with staff from VUB) two EU-funded projects: i) developing a programme theory for sport and employability; and ii) to develop a Monitoring and Evaluation Manual for sport and employability. Current research includes developing a manual for the development of community programmes for the promotion of physical activity (Football Foundation and Sport England) and a curriculum for combining youth work with sport for employability (European Union).

Dr Larissa Davies is a Reader in Sport Management at Sheffield Hallam University. She is an interdisciplinary researcher whose work draws upon knowledge and methods from sport management, economics and geography. Larissa’s research focuses on the economic and social impact of sport and physical activity. She specialises in measuring and valuing the ‘non-market’ impacts of sport and physical activity on society, such as health, subjective wellbeing, social capital, education and crime. Larissa’s research is positioned at the interface between academia and practice. Her work contributes to methodological debates around the measurement of sport, and her evidence-based research on Social Return on Investment (SROI) informs policy and practice in the sector. Larissa has worked extensively with a range of sport and leisure organisations in the UK, including central and local government, non-departmental public bodies, charities, National Governing Bodies and commercial sports organisations. She is also part of an international collaboration investigating the social benefits of outdoor sport to society.

Dr Kirk is currently Professor of Education and former Head of the School of Education (2014-17) at the University of Strathclyde. An educational researcher with teaching and research interests in educational innovation, curriculum history, and physical education and sport pedagogy, David is founding editor of the peer reviewed journal 'Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy' (Routledge) and editor of 'Routledge Studies in Physical Education and Youth Sport'. He has held academic appointments in universities in England, Australia, Ireland and Belgium and is currently Honorary Professor of Human Movement Studies at the University of Queensland. His most recent book 'Precarity, Critical Pedagogy and Physical Education' was published by Routledge in 2020, and his most recent co-authored book with Dr Kimberly Oliver, 'Girls, Gender and Physical Education: An Activist Perspective', was published by Routledge in August 2015. A book co-edited with Professor Patricia Vertinsky (University of British Columbia) 'Female Traditions in Physical Education: 'Women First' Revisited' was published by Routledge in 2016.

Sarah teaches on the undergraduate and graduate sport studies and management programmes at the University of Stirling, having taught at universities in the USA, Netherlands, Singapore and Japan, which bring a global perspective to her teaching and research. Her research on gender and sport has been published in academic journals, books and news articles in the UK and around the world.
As a researcher, Sarah examines gender in sport, focusing on the experience of adolescent girls. Her ground-breaking work on menstruation and sport helped her earn the Early Career Scholar Award from the Journal of Sport for Development and she hosted the UK’s first workshop on sport and menstrual health in 2020, through a Wellcome Trust Foundation grant.
She has conducted research in the UK, USA, Africa, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean. Working with global partners such as the International Working Group for Women in Sport (IWG), the Women Win Foundation, the UK Government, the Gender Equality for Generation Z (GETZ) EU project, the Sheerose Foundation (India) and the University of Tsukuba (Japan), her work has helped inform policy and practice in sport.
Sarah earned her PhD in Development Studies at Erasmus University (Netherlands) and a master’s degree in Sport Management from Virginia Commonwealth University (USA). An immigrant from the USA, Sarah is a mum of two adolescent girls and has lived in Scotland and the Netherlands - and has developed a great interest particularly in Scotland's Highland Games - as her action pic demonstrates!
Dr Zipp's research is available at: https://www.stir.ac.uk/people/256560#outputs.

Dr Ian C. Elliott is Director of Education (PGT) in the Department of Leadership and HRM. His research includes work on public leadership, organisational change in the public sector and community empowerment. He has extensive consultancy and research experience and has successfully supervised and examined up to doctoral level.
Ian holds a number of academic leadership positions nationally and internationally, is the current Honorary Chair and trustee of the Joint University Council (JUC) - the UK learned society for public administration, public policy and social work - and in this capacity represents UK universities who teach and research in these subjects. He is subject expert in Public Sector and Healthcare on the CABS Academic Journal Guide Committee, and a member of the International Commission on the Accreditation of Public Administration and Training Programs (ICAPA) Accreditation Committee. He co-convenes the International Institute of Administrative Sciences EGPA Permanent Study Group IX Teaching Public Administration, and is a member of the Editorial Board of Teaching Public Administration, Policy Policy and Administration and Public Administration: An International Quarterly.
Ian has over 15 years' experience of teaching and learning across five UK universities, leading the development of postgraduate and doctoral programmes in public administration and management, and has also held strategic leadership roles within and across faculties including at Graduate School and Senate.
Much of his prior academic experience has included engaging with employers such as City of Edinburgh Council, Dundee City Council, Orkney Islands Council and Association of Chief Officers of Scottish Voluntary Organisations, and he also runs training courses and is a popular speaker at academic and professional events, including for the Higher Education Academy, MacKay Hannah and Holyrood Events.
Ian is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA), a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (FCMI) and a Chartered Management & Business Educator (CMBE).

Jan started her career by completing a psychology degree and then a PhD examining quality of life for people with intellectual disabilities. She trained as a Clinical Psychologist and spent the early part of her career practicing in the NHS. She continued my research as a practitioner, but subsequently moved into a full-time academic role at Canterbury Christ Church University, where, in 2009, her research focus turned to sport in the lives of people with intellectual disabilities and she joined the IPC/Virtus group working on developing the eligibility and classification system to re-include athletes into the Paralympic programme. Jan subsequently became Head of Eligibility for Virtus, and their programme of research led to the successful re-inclusion of athletes into the Paralympics in 2012. She has continued to focus her main research around sport and ID athletes, from grassroots to elite competition.
In 2015 she was awarded an MBE for her contribution to people with intellectual disabilities. Currently Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology, she is still engaged in a wide range of research projects around sport, physical activity and disability, sits on the Board of GB Special Olympics and provide swhatever expertise she can to promote this organisation and others with similar aims.

Dr Emmanuelle Tulle is Professor of Sociology at Glasgow Caledonian University. She leads the Sport and Physical Activity Research Group in the Glasgow School for Business and Society and is Vice-President and a trustee of the International Sociology of Sport Association. She started her academic career as a sociologist of ageing and, after a few years, moved to sport and physical activity to develop greater insights into aged embodiment, as lived experience but also culturally.
Emmanuelle contributed to the emergence of the discipline of cultural gerontology, developing a new language to rescue aged experiences from the narrative of inevitable decline. This has positioned her well for examining critically the turn to physical activity as the new norm of ageing. She, therefore, chose to focus her attention on the structural conditions in which the aged body is able to be put into movement – what factors facilitate and hinder the development and maintenance of what she terms a physical activity career - whilst reframing physical movement as a practice of freedom, rather than as an exclusively health or anti-ageing practice.
In empirical terms she has conducted research with, inter alia, Master athletes, parkrunners, women mountaineers, perimenopausal women and older gym users.

Cricket and golf have been James' keen passions throughout his life, and his daughters have followed suit, going on to represent Scotland on the cricket field as he passed on to them his love of community sport in all shapes and forms. A keen cricketer at school and vice-captain of the Edinburgh Academy 1st XI, James played for St Andrews University and became a playing member of the MCC. More recently, he has completed coaching courses and helped with the coaching of girls cricket at George Watson's College.
James remains an enthusiastic golfer who has mostly played off a single figure handicap for the last 50 years, playing for St Andrews University in the Scottish University Golf Championships and remaining a member of the Scottish Universities Golfing Society. As a volunteer in sport, he has helped marshall at a number of British and Scottish Open Championships held at Muirfield and Gullane, and was also Chief Recorder looking after the teams that recorded the scores of the players at the Open at Muirfield in 2002.
This passion for sport combined with his academic background stoked his enthusiasm to help the OSS to shape its research and evidence base to help Scottish sport more widely. James graduated from St Andrews University with a Botany degree in 1978 and after a year at the University of California in Riverside, he did a PhD at Cambridge, where was was a golf Blue. His career took him to Heriot-Watt University where he developed an interest in the science and technology of malting, and into roles as Director of the Brewing and Distilling degrees at Heriot-Watt University and Fellow of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling. He also held positions with the University of Edinburgh and University of Adelaide, in Australia.
James has conducted widespread research in recent years and been an external examiner across a range of British universities, and is looking forward to supporting the OSS to maintain high standards of academic rigour in its research programmes.

Dr Beggan is programme leader for the BSc (Hons) Sport Development at the University of the West of Scotland where she lectures in Physical Activity and Health. Angela entered academia from a career in clinical/commercial health and fitness that spanned the US and UK. Her academic contributions combine practice-based experience with research skills in co-production, human-centred design, and narrative inquiry. She has employed these skills in collaboration with a range of stakeholders including NHS Lanarkshire, the Scottish Early Years Collaborative, and South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture Trust to develop the practice and function of physical activity intervention, particularly for older adults and families.
Angela’s doctoral research explored the narrative dynamics of physical activity intervention and spawned her interest in new materialism and post-qualitative inquiry. Her current work aims to address UN Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 5 with the funded studentship project, Transforming the Transition to Retirement. This research seeks to extend the healthy life years of older women by investigating the relationship between retirement transitions and physical-activity-related social prescription.

Dr Hayley McEwan is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology of Sport and Coaching in the School of Health and Life Sciences, University of the West of Scotland (UWS). Hayley’s research focuses on developing coaches, sport psychologists, physiotherapists and performance analysts who support athletes and teams at all levels. This line of research and support work concerns development of individual’s thought processes such as decision-making skills, regulation of thoughts and emotions, and optimising mental health. Hayley also provides continuing professional development via training tools and online resources to professional bodies (e.g., British Association of Sport & Exercise Sciences).
Since 2009, Hayley has worked as a sport psychology consultant to athletes and coaches across a variety of sports (e.g., football, triathlon, golf, athletics). Applied sport psychology work has led to a particular interest in the duty of care to athletes and athlete support personnel (e.g., coaches). Hayley has an interest in mental health literacy (MHL) and has developed a programme to support MHL in many contexts (e.g., third sector settings, football youth academies).
Hayley is actively involved in endurance sport where she competes for Great Britain in her age group in triathlon and duathlon.
Email: hayley.mcewan@uws.ac.uk.
UWS research portal: https://research-portal.uws.ac.uk/en/persons/hayley-mcewan.

John Taylor is a graduate of Heriot-Watt University (BA Hons Recreation) and the University of Edinburgh (MSc Social and Educational Research). With over 20 years experience as a researcher and research manager from the Centre for Leisure Research (CLR) to Research and Evaluation Manager at sportscotland and the University of Stirling, John has experience of monitoring and evaluating a wide range of sports initiatives. These include evaluations of the 'Girls on the Move' Programme, the SFA's Football Academy and Community Club Officers Project and research for Scottish Golf exploring the career pathways of Scottish Professional golfers. John has also supported evaluations of International Development through Sport (IDS) and International Inspirations sport-for-development projects in India and Africa. John has been a Director (Strategy and Governance) on the Board at triathlon scotland and is currently working on his PhD exploring the evaluation of sport for development programmes in Scotland and assessing the efficacy of logic models as an evaluation tool.

Dr Murray recently returned to her native Scotland after a spell leading the Sports Coaching BSc course at Loughborough College, taking on a role in sports development and coaching at Abertay University.
Paula completed a PhD exploring the gendered perspectives of female sports coaches, reporting on athletes’ perceptions of gender in the coach-athlete relationship and coaches’ experiences, with findings applied to practical settings in sports development and coaching.
Prior to studying for her higher degree, she completed a BSc (Hons) in Physical Activity and Health and was previously a Club Development Co-ordinator for Scottish Swimming in the North East of Scotland, where she successfully increased participation in swimming, and contributed to improving coaching quality and the club structure.
Paula is a Level 2 swimming coach and a CIMSPA Coach Practitioner, and prior to her return north was involved in coaching the Loughborough University swim team. Previously, she was the Lead Coach for the Edge Hill University swimming team. Her experiences in swimming have allowed her to develop an understanding of the realities of coaching and sports development in recreational, club and performance environments.
Paula has a keen interest in sport having participated in athletics and swimming, representing Scotland in athletics at the Loughborough International and Celtic International tournaments.
She recently worked with OSS Research Officer Ryan Brown on the OSS Women in Leadership in Scottish Sport research conducted on behalf of Scottish Women in Sport.

A Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Mark is a lecturer in Sport Coaching at Liverpool John Moores University, having previously taught at the University of Stirling, where he is also in the final stages of completing his PhD in Sports Studies. Mark’s thesis looks, in part, at factors that influence the motivational behaviours of youth community football coaches in Scotland. Such work is a continuation of previous research he has carried out in this area. Mark has also written around emotional intelligence in coaching and player welfare issues in academy football, on account of the broad interest he has in coach development and sport psychology.
He holds both MSc and BSc (Hons) degrees in Sport Coaching from the University of Stirling and University of the West of Scotland, respectively. Mark currently coaches academy players at Ayr United football club, and previously held community coaching positions at Celtic FC – where he worked in Scotland and abroad – and United Sports. Mark also volunteered as a coach for East Renfrewshire Culture and Leisure, helping to run football programmes in partnership with the Scottish Football Association.
Before coaching, Mark played both academy and boys club level football, and competed in Karate at regional and national levels. Outside of sport, Mark has worked as a fitness instructor for South Lanarkshire Culture and Leisure and Lifeguard for Nuffield Health and Camp Seneca Lake Pennsylvania. He is also a keen recreational runner and the large part that sport and physical activity has played in Mark’s life drives his desire to improve participation rates and experiences within these domains across Scotland.

Before becoming a lecturer in physical education, Dr Gray was a secondary school teacher of physical education and then a teaching fellow at the University of Edinburgh. In general, Shirley's research attempts to explore how teachers understand and enact curriculum policy, and how they might be supported in their learning to provide their students with positive learning experiences in physical education. More specifically, she is currently involved in research projects that explore gender issues in physical education, social and emotional learning in physical education, teaching for personal and social responsibility, pupil motivation and the professional learning of teachers.

Carina is a PhD student at Falmouth University, Games Academy (Doctoral Studentship recipient). Her research focuses on gender diversity practices in esports communities in both the UK and in Portugal, with the aim to uncover how cultural differences impact these spaces and the goal to develop best practices for grassroots esports communities.
She studied Psychology and Games Design at Glasgow Caledonian University (First Class, and winner of Best Performing Student Award) and Science and Technology Studies at the University of Edinburgh (Distinction, and recipient of the Highly Skilled Workforce Scholarship).
Carina lectured and tutored Games User Research and User Psychology at GCU between 2018 and 2020; presented her work at multiple conferences, gave guest talks at Stirling University; and organised a workshop about Gamification at the EduDays conference by the European Trade Union Institute. She's published in peer-reviewed journals, and is frequently asked to review papers in games studies.

Coral is a senior research fellow in the School of Health and Social Care at Edinburgh Napier University. Prior to this, she worked for 20 years in the public leisure sector environment developing and implementing health-based physical activity interventions. Her research has mainly focused on factors influencing participation in physical activity referral schemes (PARS) for those with non-communicable diseases and resultant changes in physical activity behaviour. Current research includes the development and implementation of a taxonomy for the reporting and evaluation of PARS, and the development and evaluation of a physical activity mobile health app to support participants in a PARS. She is also involved in two atrial fibrillation studies: a feasibility randomized controlled trial aimed at increasing medication adherence among adults with atrial fibrillation using mobile health technology, and a realist evaluation of atrial fibrillation screening.

Andrew is Chief Medical and Scientific Officer for major golf organisations, the DP World Tour, Ladies European Tour and the European Tour Health and Performance Institutes, responsible for their global medical and scientific strategy, research and development, and operations. A former Physical Activity Champion for the Scottish Government, Andrew has provided technical and strategic input to a variety of national governments, health authorities, and sport and major event organisations, including The R&A global golf governing body, IMG/ WME, Scottish Rugby and Sportscotland Institute of Sport. He was awarded a UK Prime Minister Point of Light award for promoting physical activity and sport having served as the Scottish Government's first physical activity champion. Andrew has >100 peer reviewed publications, >100 international/national presentations and, as a runner, once ran 4300km to the Sahara desert and won 14 international marathon/ultra-marathons before his three children arrived.

As an international athlete Jen suffered from moments of anxiety and self-doubt and can pinpoint times during her school and sporting careers that fear, worry and anxiety hindered her progress, including refusing to compete at the Commonwealth Games in 2002 after qualifying for the javelin competition. This fuelled her passion to better understand what drives sport competition and participation, and what barriers emerge to prevent people of all ages from participating in sport activity.
Jen went on to become a PE teacher and has spent the last 15 years working in education in the UK, Spain and Romania. Jen is an experienced teacher, presenter, facilitator and coach who has developed a deep knowledge of personal development, and, now a director at S.T.I.L.L Scotland and anxiety coach, Jen works with young people, teachers and support staff delivering the S.T.I.L.L (Stop, Talk, Imagine, Listen and Learn) Method one to one and in small groups.
She encourages people to make meaningful goals, switch up energy, and generate a toolkit to respond to changing situations with intention and purpose, and her goal at S.T.I.L.L Scotland is to create greater connections and therefore stronger more robust relationships. Using the programme’s simple, accessible and easy-to-remember techniques Jen initiates healthy well-being conversations and encourages people to create sustainable habits through a motivating, supportive and accountable partnership.

Hiroshi Komatsu is a Japanese International Development worker who has been working in the area of education development, specifically in relation to sports and physical education. His specialisms range from inclusive sports education to facilitating team building, and child care for neglected children. He has more than 10 years’ experience working in Japan, India, Nepal and Zimbabwe.
Currently, he is doing an MSc in Sports Policy, Management and International Development at the University of Edinburgh, to enhance his working experience and skill sets in International Development. He is pursuing a career in development and peace-building through sports, for example, to use sports to raise awareness about the importance of education in marginalised communities. His aim is to bring sports to every development programme to help solve social issues.

A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Heather is a multidisciplinary social scientist whose formal training spans law, French language, forensic medicine, philosophy, gender studies, social research, sociology, criminology and health services research. She was appointed as a Lecturer within the University of Aberdeen’s Postgraduate Education Group, Institute of Applied Health Sciences in 2017, having previously worked at the Chief Scientist Office-funded Health Services Research Unit at the University of Aberdeen since 2012.
Heather has substantive research interests in digital health, methodological expertise in designing, leading and delivering qualitative and mixed methods studies in applied health sciences and a pedagogical research focus on postgraduate training and employment, within and beyond universities. She is a member of several national and international research groups and works closely with a range of community, government and industry partners to undertake and apply her research, and facilitate student work placements.
Heather currently lectures on Exercise and Health Sciences and Biomedical and Sports Sciences, is lead author or co-author of more than 20 peer-reviewed papers and two edited collections, reviews for a number of high impact journals/publishers and is co-creator of Aberdeen’s original, free-to-play, location-based, augmented reality game for iOS devices: [m]apping. She has also been nominated 'Funniest Lecturer' in the 2020 Aberdeen University Student's Association and University of Aberdeen Awards for Excellence in Teaching.

Dr Andrew Brinkley is a Research Associate in the National Centre of Sport and Exercise Medicine, Loughborough University, and Lecturer in Exercise Psychology at Loughborough College. Andrew holds a BSc in Sport Psychology and Physical Activity and Health from the University of Derby, a MRes in Sports Science-Psychology from Nottingham Trent University, and PhD in Psychology from Loughborough University. Andrew leads a variety of projects across sports-based health interventions, exercise and health psychology and mental health and wellbeing. His work with young people, employees and older adults is disseminated through international journals, through international conferences and through translation to the population he seeks to serve.

Dr Ryde completed her undergraduate honours degree in Biology with Sport and Exercise Science from Heriot-Watt University in 2005. During this time she worked in the leisure industry as a fitness instructor and personal trainer and, after her degree, worked on community physical activity initiatives including positions for 'Paths For All' which involved delivering walking in low socio-economic status areas in Edinburgh.
In 2009 Gemma was awarded a prestigious international PhD scholarship at The University of Queensland, Australia, to explore workplace sedentary behaviour in office employees and completed her PhD in 2013. She then started at the University of Stirling where she worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow for several years on projects which included investigating physical activity in older women from low socio-economic status areas and workplaces perceptions of physical activity in paid work time. Dr Ryde won a highly competitive Impact Fellowship at the University of Stirling to progress her work in physical activity and sedentary behaviour in the workplace, and is now a Lecturer in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport, before moving to a similar role at the University of Glasgow in November, 2021.
Her research interests are still focused on physical activity and sedentary behaviour with a specific interest in the workplace setting. Recent work includes the measurement, prevalence and influences (correlates) of physical activity and sedentary lifestyles, and the development and delivery of interventions to modify these behaviours.

Professor of Applied Sports Science at Edinburgh Napier University, Geraint is a driving force behind the development of both Edinburgh Napier's and Scotland's mountain biking pedigree as Lead Academic at the Mountain Biking Centre of Scotland, blending a strong focus on research around cycling and the environment with the development of mountain bike venues in the Scottish Borders. He is a member of the Sports, Exercise and Health Science Research Group, The Mountain Bike Centre of Scotland, and Biomedical Science Research Group.
He was a member of the Expert Panel at EuroBike and the World Commission of Sports - Cycling Science Steering Group.
An Associate editor for the Journal of Science and Cycling, he was an invited lead guest editor for Special Issue for Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, “Exercise, Free Radical Metabolism, and Ageing: Cellular and Molecular Processes".

Fotini is currently carrying out an ESRC-funded doctoral research project at the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development and Centre for Educational Neuroscience at Birkbeck, University of London. Her research focus is on qualitative aspects of physical activity and their impact on cognition and social and emotional learning in primary school children, with a view to improve how physical education is taught in schools. Her motivation for this topic began during her time teaching yoga and dance in inner city London primary schools as a way to improve outcomes for disadvantaged children. She aims to develop a sustainable way to apply her findings through primary school teacher CPD.
To complement her teaching experience with a more rigorous psychology foundation and practices in an education context, Fotini previously completed a master’s programme with The Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. There her work highlighted how physical activity may help disadvantaged children's academic achievement by improving their self-regulation. Her findings suggest that early and sustained physical activity is an important element in children’s development and schooling. Her thesis on this topic was published in a peer review journal with significant news coverage. She has been exploring the body and mind connection in her personal and teaching practice for the past 20 years as a yoga teacher and dancer.

Ross currently works as Lecturer in Sports Coaching at City of Glasgow College. Aside from this role within education, he has a wide and varied set of experiences from industry. Previous work in sports development includes active schools coordinator responsibilities and community sport hub officer duties within South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture.
Ross is particularly passionate about basketball and has played both within the US collegiate system and in Italy. Beyond playing, he has worked in a number of coaching roles including Youth head coaching positions with Leicester Riders and Glasgow Rocks basketball teams and has also coached within the Scottish National Junior Team squads.
At present, along with developing the competitive basketball offering at City of Glasgow College, he sits on the colleges’ internal sports development group which focuses on improving opportunities for students to engage with sport. He is also a member of the Scottish Student Sport Basketball working group with a remit to develop engagement with colleges across Scotland.
Ross holds a BA (Hons) in Social Science from Glasgow Caledonian University with Psychology and Sociology being the key areas of interest during the course. Ross has completed his MSc in Sports Coaching at the University of Stirling, with the main focus of his research investigating the role of mentoring at different stages of the coaching journey. More recently, he has completed his TQFE in Further Education developing his knowledge of teaching in the FE sector, which has progressed into studying towards his Doctorate in Education at Strathclyde University.

A Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA), Steven is a member of the European Association of Sports Management (EASM), part of the broader network of world sports management academic associations, and chair of its first specialist working group in employability and entrepreneurship.
Steven has worked and volunteered in sport industry settings for over 25 years and has experience in management and strategic leadership functions within higher education, public and social enterprises for the past 17 years. He has previously managed frontline services, events and strategic change programmes, and continues to oversee the work of top executive officers and senior academics. Steven has led the development and delivery of national and local authority sports and physical activity strategies, and local, regional and national working groups on strategy development, performance management systems and service development/ improvement in large public sector departments, national governing bodies of sport and social enterprises. This work has included developing, delivering, and monitoring large-scale strategic plans and partnership funding agreements. These experiences have provided opportunities to work with, consult and advise company directors, strategic managers and political stakeholders. Steven currently contributes to the sector as a member of the UK professional development board (UKPDB).
Steven has worked in higher education since 2010 and is currently leading two large-scale workforce planning and development research projects focused on the sport and physical activity sector. As Employability Co-ordinator (Principal Lecturer) at Cardiff Metropolitan University, he has led student employability plans across all university undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes in sport and health. His remit has included developing student enterprise and entrepreneurship activities and learning in partnership with the centre for student entrepreneurship. He is currently a trustee of the Work-Based Learning and Placement Learning Association (ASET) board, which includes distributing best practice briefings and hosting national conferences and research, and Steven is also a full member of the Association of Graduates Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS), Enterprise Educators UK (EEUK), British Education Research Council (BERA), and the Institute of Small Business Entrepreneurship (ISBE).

David is an award-winning writer, academic and journalist, who has explored many facets in the development of global sport, its links to wider society and culture, and barriers to progress.
In 2006, he published 'The Ball is Round: A Global History of Football' - the definitive history of the game - and in 2019 brought it up to date with a successor, 'The Age of Football: The Global Game in The Twenty First Century'. In between he published books on Brazilian football, the history of the Olympics, and, in 2015, won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award for 'The Game of Our Lives: The Making and Meaning of English Football'. He has been described by Professor Dominic Sandbrook of Oxford University, in the Sunday Times, as “not merely the best football historian writing today; he is possibly the best there has ever been.”
He currently teaches for the Football Business Academy in Geneva, is a regular visiting Professor at Pitzer College, Los Angeles, and is an Honorary Fellow of the International Centre for the Culture and History of Sport at De Monfort University, Leicester.
His journalism has appeared in the Guardian, the Observer, the Financial Times, the New York Times, Prospect, New Statesman, the Times Literary Supplement and many other publications. He has won the sports story of the year at the Foreign Press Association Media Awards in London three times: in 2009, for the BBC World Service documentary 'Mathare United', which showcased the power of football for social development in the slums of urban Kenya; in 2015 for 'The Prison Where Murderers who Play for Manchester United', published in The Guardian, which reported on the role of a DIY English Premier League and prison football association in turning Luzira, Uganda’s notorious high security jail, into one of Africa’s most humane and progressive prisons; and in 2018 for 'Viktor Orban’s Reckless Football Obsession', published in The Guardian, which featured the first interview with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban with a foreign newspaper for more than a decade. It was shortlisted for the European Media Awards in 2019.
David stays sane by doing a lot of yoga, swimming and tending his allotment.
More information on David's work is available at: davidstephengoldblatt.com.

Dr Tom Johnston is a lecturer in Sport, Exercise and Coaching Science at Edinburgh Napier University. His research current research focuses on injury epidemiology, coach observation and biomechanical analysis of neuromuscular training for injury reduction. Since completing his Master’s in Coaching Studies from the University of Edinburgh, Tom has also worked as a sports science technician, lecturer in Further Education and roles to increase participation in physical activity and sport, facilities, opportunities for young people, clubs and coach education before embarking on a PhD.