Professor Fahlén, who is based at Umeå University in Sweden and holds a Visiting Professorship at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences in Oslo, Norway, joined the University as a Visiting Fellow on the IAS Open Programme.

As part of his fellowship, Professor Fahlén delivered a thought-provoking seminar titled “Integration of newly arrived migrants through organised sport – from European policy to sport club practice.”.

The seminar was a joint collaboration between the IAS and the University’s UNESCO Chair of Sport, Physical Activity and Education for Development, led by Professor Richard Giulianotti.

In the session, Professor Fahlén explored the growing role of voluntary club sport in supporting the integration of newly arrived migrants into their new communities.

In the aftermath of the 2015 European refugee crisis, governments across Europe turned to voluntary club sport as a way of facilitating the integration of newly arrived migrants into new communities.

Many of these initiatives ongoing as a result of new crises driving people to seek refuge from war, famine, and environmental disasters, and sport clubs in many countries continue to receive additional funding from the public sector to take part in them.

In 2019, the European Union decided to fund a consortium of eight research teams to investigate the effectiveness and broader implications of these initiatives. In his talk - which can be viewed on the IAS’s YouTube channel - Professor Fahlén outlined the main findings of this project.

Speaking about his time at Loughborough, Professor Fahlén said: "Being invited to Loughborough and the IAS was a true honour, and a great inspiration to continue my work on the role and function of voluntary sport clubs in delivering welfare-oriented services.

My visit to the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences was very rewarding, with many interesting meetings, workshops, and seminars. I am so grateful for the generous hosting of my stay, all the welcoming colleagues, and for the opportunity to meet and collaborate with Loughborough's world-leading expertise. My stay has initiated several collaborations that I hope will give me opportunities to visit again."

Professor Marsha Meskimmon, Director of the Institute of Advanced Studies said “We were delighted to welcome Professor Fahlén to Loughborough as an IAS Fellow.

Hosted in collaboration with the University's UNESCO Chair of Sport, Physical Activity, and Education for Development, his visit provided a fantastic platform to build partnerships and advance research in an area of great interest and strength across the University.”

Professor Fahlén has led numerous research projects on sport policy making and implementation in Swedish, Scandinavian, and European contexts. His IAS Fellowship was hosted by Professor Alan Bairner from the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences.

The IAS aims to promote an outstanding, interdisciplinary research environment at Loughborough by supporting collaborations with leading international scholars from other institutions.

For more information about upcoming collaborations, please visit their website.