The event was hosted by Dr Steven Bradbury, Senior Lecturer in Sport, Equality and Diversity (SSEHS) in collaboration with Sporting Equals: a national non-governmental organisation and partner of Sport England who work to establish racial equity in sports.
The event was attended by representatives from Sporting Equals, Sport England and EDI Leads at 11 sports bodies who hold tenancy at Loughborough University SportPark or the main campus. These bodies included; Active Together, British Swimming, British Triathlon, Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA), England Netball, Loughborough Sport, Volleyball England, Youth Sports Trust, UK Anti-Doping, England and Wales Cricket Board, and the UK Sports Institute.
The event consisted of presentations and discussion forums to ascertain existing approaches to the recruitment and retention of ethnically diverse groups in senior leadership teams and at board level at sports bodies. Also, to identify and share emerging models of good ‘race equity’ practice, and support sports bodies towards establishing an ethnically diverse and inclusive senior leadership workforce.
The event also forms one element of an ongoing research project examining racial diversity and inclusion in sports leadership being undertaken at Loughborough University and led by Dr Steven Bradbury (SSEHS). The research is supported directly by the Loughborough University Vice Chancellors office, as part of the University’s ongoing commitment to establish and promote inclusive policies and practices across all aspects of its operations, including with its key sports stakeholder bodies.
The research sits within the Sport, Business, and Society research theme within the SSEHS, and is supported by a wider cross departmental research team consisting of Dr Steven Bradbury (SSEHS), Mr Martin Foster (SSEHS), Professor Dominic Malcolm (SSEHS), Dr Comille Bandura (SSEHS), and Dr James Esson (SSSH).
The research is expected to be completed by the end of 2023. The key findings from the research will be presented at a series of Loughborough based and national events in February and March 2024, to a range of national sports and equity stakeholder audiences.
Dr Steven Bradbury comments ‘The knowledge exchange event forms one part of a broader research project designed to identify and address racialised inequities in sports leadership, and reflects the efforts of the Loughborough University research teams to work ‘with’, not ‘on’, sports bodies to help them achieve these aims. The event proved to be a successful information sharing exercise in this respect, and the willingness and commitment of those in attendance to engage in difficult dialogues and to consider how racial diversity and inclusion might be enacted in sports leadership was evident. We hope and expect that our research findings will prove to be insightful and impactful and help to further enable sports bodies to progress on their ‘race’ equity journey moving forwards’.