sportH.E

We are ending season 1 with a bang! A huge privilege to welcome Jo Coates to SportH.E. For the past 6 months, Jo has been interim CEO at BUCS. Prior to this she has held roles at the very pinnacle of sport in the UK, including stints at England Netball and UK Athletics. Not having worked in HE/FE before I was intrigued to listen to her reflections and thoughts on the sector and the conversation do...

In this episode we get the opportunity to spend some time with Paul Tilley, Head of Sport and Recreation at the University of Portsmouth. We cover so much in this episode but in particular we take a deep dive into the development and subsequent impact and management of not only the largest single sports facility development in our sector of recent years but also the most sustainable in the UK. It...

In this week's epsiode I was delighted to be joined by our first guest from Ireland. Michelle Tanner is the Head of Sport and Recreation at Trinity College Dublin. We'll hear about the funding and structures in place at Trinity and how Michelle navigates these to drive the sport agenda. We'll also learn about the hugely successful 'Mind, Body, Boost' programme that is improving...

It was a real treat to spend some time in the company of Dave Parry from the University of Essex in this week's episode. Dave shares his winding story into HE sport, revealing some incredibly personal insights into his journey and the lessons he has learnt along the way that have shaped him into the leader he is today. We also get to peak behind the curtain, into the pioneering work Essex are...

In this episode I am joined by Sarah Humphreys, Director of Sport and Active Wellbeing at the University of Reading. Sarah has had an amazing career with stops at a number of UK University's and perhaps most notably a stint as Director of Sport at the University of Nottingham in China. In this fascinating conversation we take a deep dive into Sarah's multitude of experiences and explore wh...

In this episode, I welcome Paul Carney, Director of Sport and Active Health at Canterbury Christ Church University. We have a fascinating conversation that dives deep into the lived experience of someone leading change, managing partnerships and making the case for sport across a University. With a wealth of knowledge Paul tell's us how he ensures the core values of education are ingrained in...

In this episode, I had the opportunity to spend some time with Cathy Gallacher, Executive Director of Sport at the University of Stirling. In our chat we take a deep dive into the culture and environment at Stirling , where sport is part of the very DNA of the University. We will hear Cathy tells us how this manifests itself across all departments, whilst reminding us that the strategic positionin...

In this week's episode, we are delighted to welcome Ross Simpson, Assistant Director and Head of Sport at the University of Edinburgh. As an institution, Edinburgh can boast some big numbers, 50,000 students (36,000 at any one time in the City), 15,000 staff and 21 academic schools. Their sport programme is then equally large with 70 sport clubs, 1,000 volunteers and 21,000 gym members. This t...

In this episode, we are joined by Fiona Dick, Head of Sport at De Montfort University in Leicester. Fiona takes us on a passionate and intimate journey through her professional career in sport. With searing honesty, we'll hear about how she has persevered through knockbacks and pursued her passion for working in sport. We'll hear how Fiona has navigated change, building a sports department...

In this very first episode of sportH.E, I have the pleasure of being joined by Dan Tilley, Director of Sport at the University of Nottingham. Dan will tell us about his career from starting out as a sport sabbatical officer to running one of the largest student programmes in the country. We will hear how he approached the development of the £40m David Ross Sports Village through a mixture of lobby...

The very first podcast for H.E Sport is coming.... Join me, Ben O'Connell, Director of Sport at Cardiff Metropolitan University as I look to reveal and share insights from leaders and change-makers across the sector. To kick things off we have 5 episodes that will be released in the coming weeks. Each one will share the successes and challenges of University sport programmes that support Olymp...