Welcome
A welcome from our Chief Operating Officer and Pro Vice-Chancellor for Sport.
Sport at Loughborough University is more than something we do - it is a defining part of our identity, woven into the very fabric of who we are.
In a banner year for Loughborough Sport, over 120 Loughborough-linked athletes secured 35 medals at the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games – placing us 16th on the medals table, if we were a country.
This is a remarkable achievement for a university, in part due to our passion for partnership working and collaboration. We also secured our 43rd consecutive British Universities and Colleges Championship title.
We offer the best integrated sports ecosystem in the world with incredible facilities, outstanding performances and world-leading research and education. Our sports-related research and teaching have been ranked the ‘Best in the World’ by the international QS subject tables every year since the rankings’ inception.
Our research and innovation has been at the cornerstone of some of the most significant technological sports developments of recent years e.g. eliminating serious and life-threatening facial injuries in cricket. Our ecosystem of partnerships with National Governing Bodies and leading global organisations places us at the heart of the international sporting infrastructure.
Uniquely, sport is embedded in our core university strategy and is strategically led by a dedicated Pro Vice-Chancellor for Sport – a role that exists at no other UK University. This strategic focus ensures that sport underpins everything we do, across our entire organisation - from academic excellence to elite performance.
Quite simply, sport is in our DNA.
Our distinctiveness rests in our combination of cutting-edge sports research, world-class facilities and an ever-evolving ecosystem that comes together in an interdisciplinary way to shape the experiences of our athletes and students.
Our flagship Loughborough Lightning franchise will see the Director of Sport strategically leading professional women’s teams competing at the highest level of sport in the country. We want to develop our outstanding franchise teams and grow the commercial and business opportunities that they present.
We present unrivalled opportunities for the advancement of sport at all levels, from our high-performance training centres, inclusive para and disability sport programmes, and recreational student and community offers – we embed a winning sports mindset.
If you’re ready to help lead the place Where History Begins, we want to hear from you.
Jo & Richard
Professor Jo Maher, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Sport)
Richard Taylor, Chief Operating Officer