As part of a larger research project with Dr Stuart Whigham at Oxford Brookes University, we spent a week in Budapest at the end of May 2024 to gain insight into the everyday affairs of an organisation that uses sport, especially football, as a means for social inclusion. The organisation aims to improve quality of…

Dr Jessica Mee has been announced as one of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Future Leaders Fellows. This scheme is aimed at recruiting and retaining the rising stars of research and innovation, attracting the brightest and best from the UK and across the world. These prestigious awards offer four to seven years of funding…

On 7th Sept. 2023, the research team involved in the evaluation of the 2023 Invictus Games, lined up at Birmingham International Airport to begin ten days of fieldwork in Düsseldorf. Equipped with Dictaphones and questionnaires, after check-in and security we made our way to the gate of our flight. Upon turning the corner for our…

Writing Retreat with the Geographies of Children, Young People, and Families Research Group In July 2023, I attended a weeklong writing retreat in the Cotswolds with the Geographies of Children, Young People, and Families Research Group. Research shows that writing retreats can increase writing efficiency for PhD students and academic staff alike (Grant 2006; Murray…

The underrepresentation of women leaders in sport is stark with sport leadership and governance roles continuing to be male dominated.  In a research report for UK Sport about female representation and policy in international sport governance, it was revealed that just 7% of international sport organisations had female representation across the highest governance positions and…

While the international sporting significance of the Invictus Games has been exponentially growing, the actual event has a relatively short history in comparison to similar multinational and global sporting events such as the Olympics Games. The Invictus Games were first hosted in London in 2014 to support injured, wounded and sick veteran and active service…

Doing Disability Research Differently: Embracing Culture for More Inclusive Practice The University of Worcester has a meaningful partnership with the University of Tsukuba, Japan as both institutes are committed to promoting inclusive, empowering disability inclusion within the physical activity spectrum. Our first, and somewhat unexpected, (ad)venture on this journey together has resulted in the publication…

A significant upsurge in right-wing political populism is observable across the globe. Europe has been nursing tendencies that are frequently associated with identity politics, ethno-nationalism, racism, sexism, anti-elitism and a general sense of ‘them vs. us’ attitude. This is particularly true of Hungary where a right-wing political regime has been in place since 2010, the…

The 112th International Women’s Day (8th March 2023) was celebrated globally last week to mark women’s achievements in the social, economic, cultural, and political domains and to raise people’s awareness of gender (in)equity. In this blog, Rona Chunhong Zhou, a Doctoral student at the University of Worcester and a member of the Inclusive Sport and Physical…

Helen Black began her fulltime, funded PhD Studentship in January 2023 as part of the University of Worcester’s doctoral Programme. Helen is situated in the School of Sport and Exercise Science and a part of the Inclusive Sport and Physical Activity Research Group (ISPARG). The ISPARG works towards the development of meaningful, ethically responsible and…