Women in Sport and Exercise Academic Network Podcast

Themes:How both researchers came to feminist sport sociology and began collaboratingWomen's recovery from depression — the link between movement, embodied experience and mental healthPara-sportswomen's experiences of gendered ableism, body shaming and being unheard by coachesMedicinal cannabis in sport and questioning the "spirit of sport"The Brisbane 2032 Olympics legacy project — engaging people currently outside sportBarriers to sport participation: belonging, body image, cost, identity and feeling unwelcomeCreative research methods — poetry and songwriting workshops with marginalised communitiesHockey program for Yazidi refugees in Toowoomba as a model for sport and trauma recoveryGender-based violence in sport — prevalence, under-reporting and institutional responsibilityAddressing the gender gap in disability sport (intersectionality of disability and gender)Queer fans and the Women's World Cup — invisible communities in legacy planningStrength and conditioning coaches' understanding of gender and its gapsRecommendations: intersectional approaches, diversifying leadership, questioning sport's normsand who they serveDr Simone Fullagar (she/they) is Professor and Chair of the Sport and Gender Equity research hub at Griffith University, Australia. She has published feminist, interdisciplinary sociological research using (post)qualitative approaches across sport, leisure and mental health fields. Simone collaborates with colleagues on a number of ARC projects that address gender equity and diverse forms of embodied movement. Her most recently book is Pavlidis, A., Fullagar, S., & O'Brien, W. (2025). Feminist futures for sport: Tracing the affective dynamics of gender equity in sport organizations, Palgrave. Simone lives on the unceded lands of the Yugambeh and Kombumerri peoples of the Gold Coast.Dr Adele Pavlidis is an Associate Professor in Sociology with the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science, and previously a DECRA Fellow (2018 to 2021). She is author of three books, Sport, Gender and Power: The Rise of Roller Derby (2016, Routledge, with Simone Fullagar), Feminism and a Vital Politics of Depression and Recovery (Palgrave, with Simone Fullagar and Wendy O'Brien) and Feminist Futures in Sport: Exploring the Affective Dynamics of Change in Australian Rules Football and Roller Derby (2025, Palgrave, with Simone Fullagar and Wendy O'Brien).She has published widely on a range of sociocultural issues in sport and leisure, with a focus on gender and power relations. Theoretically her work traverses contemporary scholarship on affect, power and organizations, and she is deeply interested in social, cultural and personal transformation and the entanglements between people, organizations, and wellbeing.She is currently Director of the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Treasurer of the Australian Women's and Gender Studies Association, and Co-Chair of the Sportand Gender Equity (SAGE) research hub at Griffith University.

Holly Thorpe (she/her) is a Professor in the Sociology of Sport and Gender at the University of Waikato (New Zealand). She has published over 140 articles and chapters, and five books and nine co-edited books, including the Palgrave Handbook of Menstruation Studies in Sport (2026), Feminist New Materialisms, Sport and Fitness (2020), and Women in Action Sport Cultures (2016). She is co-editor of the Palgrave New Femininities in Digital, Physical and Sporting Cultures series (with Kim Toffoletti, Aarti Ratna and Jessica Francombe-Webb). Driven to do research that has real world impact and concerned for issues of equity and inclusion, Holly works with an array of national and international sports organisations to build more inclusive sporting cultures. New Handbook of Menstruation in Sport coming out soon, The Palgrave Handbook of Menstruation Studies in Sport | Springer Nature Link Themes discussed in the podcast:Holly's background in action sports and how it shaped her academic pathFemale athlete health, menstruation, and REDS (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport)The biopsychosocial approach to understanding women in sportInterdisciplinary collaboration — working across sociology, physiology, endocrinologyThe new Palgrave Handbook of Menstruation Studies in Sport (2026)Cultural and ethnic diversity in female athlete health researchWorking with sports organisations (High Performance Sport NZ, Sport NZ, IOC, Snow Sports NZ)Action sports, the Olympics, and expanding opportunities for women and girlsThe IOC's controversial return to mandatory sex testingThe slow pace of change and strategies for sustaining feminist sports research

Dr Nicole M. LaVoi, Ph.D. is a Senior Lecturer of social and behavioural sciences in the School of Kinesiology at the University of Minnesota and the Director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport. Through action-orientated, collaborative research, she translates data and answers critical questions that can make a difference in the lives of girls and women. As a leading scholar on gender, leadership and women coaches, Dr LaVoi has published 100+ book chapters, research reports and peer-reviewed articles in top-rated journals. Her Outstanding Academic Title award-winning book ⁠Women in Sports Coaching⁠, the annual ⁠Women in College Coaching Report Card™⁠ and Emmy-nominated documentary ⁠GAME ON: Women Can Coach⁠ help inform countless stakeholders who change the system for women sport coaches. She is the founder of ⁠Coaching HER®,⁠ and co-creator of ⁠BodyConfident Sport⁠, free tools to upskill coaches to more effectively coach girls. As a public scholar, she hosts a podcast (Tucker Center Talks), consults with a variety ofstakeholder groups, works with industry partners, speaks around the world, fields media requests, provides thought leadership and serves on mission-driven advisory boards. She is a two-time NCAA Academic All-American and three-timeHall of Fame inductee. LaVoi is an award-winning athlete, coach, scholar and distinguished teacher, who won a regional Emmy for ⁠Best Sport Documentary⁠, and was named a 2023 USTA Champion of Equality her longstanding work in gender and sport. LaVoi played collegiate tennis at Gustavus Adolphus College winning a NCAA-III National Team Championship where she currently serves on the Board of Trustees. Prior to her career in higher education, she was a USPTA Teaching Pro and head tennis coach at Wellesley College. In her free time, she enjoys being outdoors, biking, hiking, golf, painting and soaking up the sun.TopicsTucker Center work: Description of the key messages, goals, activities. How people outside of the University can become involved. Competition with other research centres. Main activities within the center, e.g., coaching HER, Women in College Coaching Report Card. Whichmost proud of/which has had the greatest impactResearch: Research items and high citations – explanations. How the book, Women in Sports Coaching came about.Future directions, especially anything to change/left unturned, excited about.Insight into the content of the Spotlight Speaker session at the WiSEAN conference 2026.

Verity Postlethwaite is a Lecturer in Strategic Event Management at Loughborough University and Co‑Chair of the WiSEAN 2026 Conference Organising Committee. Her work focuses on the social and community impacts of sport and major events. Verity currently plays a leading role in two major research projects as Loughborough University is a Spirit of 2012 Legacy Learning Partner and a UK Sport Social Impact Partner, both of these projects are helping to strengthen how major events deliver positive, long‑term outcomes for people and places across the United Kingdom. We covered these topics WiSEAN 2026 Conference Host and Organiser – anything you’re looking forward to, in particular? What can delegates expect?Own area of research and UG/PG study. Why sportfrom politics?PhD on 2012 Olympic: Legacy/change for women?Other sporting events and social change. Specific examples women? Good practice in academia/as an early career researcher?Future research plans

Melissa Lodge, MSMelissa Lodge is an Interdisciplinary Health Sciences PhD candidate and graduate assistant at the University of Rhode Island. Her research focusses on female athlete physiology, particularly under conditions of low energy availability (LEA), such as Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs) and its associated impact on health and performance across thelifespan. She has presented her work at several regional, national and international conferences featuring work in female athletes on LEA outcomes. Melissa is interested in exploring intervention-based models, such as education, to improve outcomes for female athletes and girls in sports in the future. She is passionate about translating research to the athletic population and also runs the social media account @FED_collaborative on female athlete physiology, LEA/REDs, and eating disorders/disordered eating.What we talked about: FED collaborative – purpose, successes.Work forWiSEAN overview; personal usefulness.Publication,“Where are the girls, women, and female athletes in relative energy deficiencyin sport research?” Explanation of content.Publication(Risk of Low Energy Availability, Disordered Eating, Eating Disorders, and BoneStress Injuries in United States Female Track and Field: Original Research) keyfindings.Currentintervention programmes – knowledge and physiology.Dreamjob/goals following PhD success.

Dr Emma Cowley is a postdoctoral researcher at the SHE Research Centre in TUS Athlone. She is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie alumna and earned her PhD from Liverpool John Moore’s University; her research focused on increasing adolescent girls' participation in physical activity. Emma leads the Invisible Sportswomen international research group which aims to address the gender data gap in sport and exercise science. Previously, she held a postdoc position at the Cardiometabolic laboratory at UNC Chapel Hill before moving to the UK where she was the lead for the DTA3/COFUND PhD Fellowship Programme.In this episode, we talk about the following: Emma's identity/positionalityWomen’s experiences in academia: Findings, recommendations. Invisible Sportswomen paper and other related papers. What more can be done.Use of social media as a PhD student/as a postdoc student and other advice and opinionpieces – advice. Specific latest research on resistance training.Future research plans/goals.

Harry Meadley is an artist, researcher and skateboarder based in Leeds, UK, who initiates projects that, through inclusion, participation and co-production, seek to reclaim and reappropriate civic space. From municipal art galleries, universities and city centres to remote locations, Meadley’s socially engaged artistic practice aims to question not just the structures of power within society but of artistic production itself. Recent projects include the Civic kateboarding festival for marginalised gender skateboarders as part of Leeds 2023 Year of Culture and Free-for-All at Touchstones, Rochdale, which saw the entire gallery given over to the people of Rochdale to use however they wanted.Things we talked about in this podcast:Background as an artist, researcher, skateboarderOverview of keynote at WiSEAN conferenceChange in skateboarding subculture and traditional male domain; how came up with idea of spaces alsobeing occupied by women/girls/gender minority? Safety issues for women/girls.Key messages from research –interviews, focus groups. PhD.Activities and link with artFunding: Advice for sports-typical individual approaching e.g., Arts Council, arts-based funding.Next projects

Dr Alex Culvin is the Director of Global Policy and StrategicRelations, Women’s Football at FIFPro, theglobal player union. Alex is also an academic at Leeds Beckett University at the Centre for Social Justice in Sport andSociety. She is a former professionalfootballer, who played in both Englandand Europe.Items discussedFormer footballer experience and own transition experience out of football. Barriers/opportunities as a former player.Research on work practices/professionalisation. Best practices in this area, globally.PhD work and interviews with; the current situation.Impact/how have policies been informed by research.FIFPro work. Research agendas in professional women’s football. Advice for others. Future studies.