Conferences and Events
The 2025 WiSEAN conference will take place at Leeds Beckett University on Tuesday 24th & Wednesday 25th June 2025
The 2024 WiSEAN conference took place at
University of Portsmouth on 26-27 June 2024
Click on the image below for further details
Our 2021 annual WiSEAN conference, 'Redressing the Balance' was held online at the University of Worcester between 19th and 22nd April 2021.
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This FREE multidisciplinary four-day virtual event welcomed over 700 delegates and speakers from across the world, and drew some of the biggest names in women’s sport, including Clare Balding OBE, former England rugby star Maggie Alphonsi, and ex-England Lioness, and current Head of Women’s Football at Southampton, Marieanne Spacey-Cale MBE.
In addition to the usual array of keynotes (listed below), workshops and presentations, fast-paced five by five presentations were included in the Conference programme, alongside a novel ‘images of research’ competition which attracted many creative entries. Other highlights included a round table discussion with leaders in their field of sport, chaired by Dr Claire-Marie Roberts. Key themes explored included challenges of structural and leadership inequalities and negotiating identities to fit the environment, with contributions from Jo Yapp, Josei-Janz-Dawson, Marieanne Spacey-Cale, Dr Don Vinson, and Di Lewis.
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2021 Keynotes:
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Dr Kim Toffoletti
Associate Professor, Deakin University, Australia
Digital platforms and women’s sport: implications for gender equity
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Maggie Alphonsi MBE
England Rugby World Cup Winner
A winning mindset
Mark Bullingham
Chief Executive Officer, The FA
An interview with Mark Bullingham
Professor Leanne Norman
Leeds Beckett University, UK
How can we redress the gender (im)balance in sports coaching?
Håvard B. Øvregård
Senior Adviser in The Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports, Norway
You Cannot be Neutral  – addressing issues of gender equity in sport for future generations
2020
In 2020 we hosted our first virtual conference 'Getting back on their feet'.
The WiSEAN conference 2020 was a global virtual event to discuss the impact of situations like COVID-19 on the exercising female. The aim of the event was to help grow, strengthen and promote research on women in sport and exercise, especially when restrictions impose changes to how we work, exercise, and to how we view and compete in sport.​
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Guest Speakers
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Professor Laura Burton
Professor of sport management, University of Connecticut.
Dr Nicky Keay
BA, MA, MB, BChir (Cantab), MRCP, Honorary Fellow, Durham University.
Professor Zoe Knowles
Professor of Engagement and Learning, Liverpool John Moores University.
Professor Holly Thorpe
Professor, University of Waikato, New Zealand.
Kate Nicholson
Head of Insight and Innovation at Women in Sport (formerly)
Associate Professor Mette Henson
Associate Professor, Aarhus University, Denmark.
Dr Bryna Chrismas
Assistant Professor, Qatar University.
Hanna Gildam-Clark
Rugby player, Doha Rugby Club.
Victoria Evans
Sports lawyer, Guinness World record holder, Fastest Female to Solo Row the Atlantic.
Dr Marie-Stephanie Abouna
Associate Professor, CY-Ileps (Cergy Paris Université).
Dr Emma Ross
Founder, Thrive Revolution and Co-Founder the Well HQ.
Sophie Power
GB ultra runner; Trustee of Women in Sport; Founder She Races.
Xanne Janse De Jong
Xanne Janse De Jong, University of Newcastle Australia.
2019
The Pushing boundaries: Women in Sport and Exercise Conference 2019 took place at St Mary's University, Twickenham and attracted over 100 international delegates from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines, all united in their common interest in women in sport and exercise.
There were two days of exciting presentations that promoted discussion and debate around the issues that females face in sport and exercise at all levels. We also examined how the industry could innovate, challenge attitudes and push the boundaries that still exist for women in sport.
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Speakers:
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The opening keynote was delivered by Professor Greg Whyte OBE PhD DSc FBASES FACSM and four times GB Winter Olympian GB Chemmy Alcott on the topic “Exercise and Pregnancy: From Theory to Practice”.
The second keynote was delivered by Kate Richardson-Walsh, GB and England Women's Hockey Captain and Olympic Gold Medalist
Professor Mark De Ste Croix delivered a talk titled “Be careful she’s a girl: Developing robustness and readiness in the female youth athlete”.
Nicole Sapstead, Chief Executive Officer of UK Anti-Doping shared her experiences of working in a male-dominated sporting world.
Dr Richard Burden discussed the latest developments of the English Institute of Sports ‘SmartHER’ programme, developing the health and performance support of GB's Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
Tanya Martin shared Women in Sport's latest work on transition to adulthood – ‘re-imagining sport for teenage girls’.
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The women in sport and exercise conference 'Blood, Sweat and Fears' was held on 13 and 14 June 2018 at Staffordshire University.
The Conference discussed the issues around women's participation in sport and exercise.
The themes of the conference included:
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Female-specific health and medical issues arising from participation in sport and exercise
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Issues and opportunities for women's participation in sport and exercise
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Contributors from a diverse range of disciplines such as physiology, biomechanics, psychology, nutrition, endocrinology, sociology, and sport policy sought to present their work from an academic, a professional practice, and a policy perspective. The commonality amongst all contributions was the consideration of females as a unique population both in research and in practice.
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