Sporting Future – the government’s comprehensive 10-year sport strategy – will be dissected and debated during a number of seminars organised by Sport Think Tank and the Sport and Recreation Alliance.
The two organisations have partnered with the UK Sport Development Research Network – the professional network of knowledge exchange – to host the series of thought leadership events titled
Conversations with a Purpose.
Income inequality, impact measuring, the workforce, partnerships and behaviour change are among the topics that will be covered during the seminars and companion roundtable events. Outdoor activity, pilot design and governance will also be discussed.
The first event is scheduled to take place in April, with others to follow over a two-year period. Universities including Sheffield Hallam, Leeds Beckett, Leeds Trinity, Manchester Metropolitan, St Mark and St John’s Plymouth, Brighton and Edinburgh will provide a stage for expert talks and networking opportunities.
Other universities and sports industry bodies are being invited to host the seminars.
Chris Cutforth, chair of the UK Sport Development Research Network, said the seminar series aimed to make a “significant contribution to the opportunities and challenges facing the sport and physical activity sector”.
“The government sport strategy calls for a renewed spirit of collaboration and new thinking in order to demonstrate the contribution of sport and physical activity to public policy,” he added.
Sport Think Tank founder Andy Reed said the desire was to make work “underpinned by academic rigour” relevant to the policy makers in Westminster, while Sport and Recreation Alliance director of policy James Allen added that the “crucial decisions” had to be based in the “most diverse research and evidence possible”.
