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In 2005 London secured the right to host the 2012 Olympic Games following a promise the Games would "inspire a new generation to choose sport". This promise was made without any knowledge of the evidence about whether or how this could be achieved.
Research since 2006 in the Centre for Sport, Physical Education & Activity Research (SPEAR) has provided evidence for the processes that might be harnessed to use the London 2012 Games to encourage physical activity and sport participation, and identified the groups among whom such processes can be effective. Chronologically, the impact of this evidence has been to: (a) introduce new evidence-based concepts to policy-makers and the public (2007-2009); (b) inform national government policies and programmes (2009-2011); (c) inform regional and local plans, programmes and activities (2010-2012); (d) hold government policy to account and inform international debate (2010-2013). In addition, for end users (b) and (c) have impacted upon sport and physical activity behaviours, whilst (a) and (d) have stimulated debate, in the UK and internationally, about the possibility of using major events to generate physical activity and sport participation outcomes.
With its origins in work commencing in 2004, research within the Centre for Sport, Physical Education & Activity Research (SPEAR) since 2010 has helped guide and inform national interventions and policy to increase physical activity and sport participation among less active young people by identifying the processes most successful in increasing such participation. Specifically, the work has: (a) provided a rationale for government (Department of Health) and commercial (LloydsTSB) investment in school sport initiatives targeting the least active; (b) contributed to the wider evidence-base used by policy makers; (c) contributed to programme improvements in Change4Life School Sport Clubs and National School Sport Weeks (NSSW); (d) impacted on young people's engagement and physical activity levels.
Over the past 20 years, racism in sport, particularly football, has been recognised as a significant problem, on the pitch, in the stands and within clubs. The issue is being proactively addressed at multiple levels, from national initiatives by sports governing bodies to policies implemented by individual clubs and fans, all designed to challenge discrimination, encourage inclusive practices, and work for positive change.
The University of Leicester pioneered research into sports spectator statistics and analysis and later specialised in assessing the effectiveness of anti-racism and social inclusion strategies. Its research has been used by sports organisations to identify the scale of the problem and to guide and inform work to combat it.
The first of the two studies described here helped to persuade the coalition government that sufficient loans and grants needed to be available from autumn 2012 to ensure that higher tuition fees did not deter students from disadvantaged backgrounds from pursuing a university degree. The second study influenced the national debate on widening participation in higher education and encouraged policy-makers to recognise the importance of providing school students with improved information, advice and guidance on how to reach university. It triggered the launch of a successful website that has enabled teenagers to make more informed choices about HE.
University of Manchester (UoM) sociologists have responded to escalating policy interest in the cultural and creative industries as generators of social and economic value; developing a more complex analysis of the significance of these sectors for understanding social inequality. Through a distinctive form of `cultural class analysis' (CCA), three key impacts are generated. Firstly, co-producing the BBC `Great British Class Survey' (GBCS) as a major public sociology intervention on understandings of `class'. Secondly, influencing new market research frameworks. Thirdly, applying CCA within the cultural sector, challenging policy understandings of how class inequalities are bound up with cultural participation. In a period of austerity and sharply increasing social, cultural and economic inequality, these impacts have successfully provoked renewed media and public engagement with issues of class division.
This case study focuses on the impact of our research on the Welsh Government's policy and delivery of national flagship programmes for sport and physical activity. The evaluation of a pilot study of the Active Young People secondary school sport intervention informed the implementation and `roll-out' of the pan-Wales 5x60 physical activity programme to 218 schools by 2009. The evaluation of the pan-Wales Free Swimming Initiative resulted in revised policy objectives for sustainable sports development in Wales, and influenced the type of public swimming opportunities that exist, improved their availability, and increased the extent of engagement with them.
Research by Dr Sakis Pappous on the legacy of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games in Greece has challenged conventional wisdom that sporting mega-events automatically lead to health benefits for the host population via a supposed increase in grassroots participation in sports and physical activity. These findings were reviewed by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) and mainstream British media (e.g., BBC and The Guardian) to stimulate and inform public debate on the health legacy of London 2012. Pappous's research has also informed the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the House of Commons and the House of Lords about the difficulty in achieving sustained sports participation after the Olympic Games.
Internationally, Pappous's research has informed debate in the US media (USA Today) and among sport managers and policy makers in Africa, South America and Europe. International policy makers informed and influenced by Pappous's findings include the Nigerian Minister of Sports and the Vice Director of the Colombian Department for Sport, Physical Activity and Leisure (COLDEPORTES). As a direct consequence of Pappous's findings, they now acknowledge that a broader strategy promoting an active lifestyle must be implemented if any sporting excitement caused by a mega-event is to sustain sports participation.
Research related to the economic and social impact of major events and festivals conducted by the Sport Industry Research Centre (SIRC) has provided a catalyst for the logical evaluation of hosting events. SIRC staff have provided national level research leadership culminating in the launch of an event evaluation framework (www.eventIMPACTS.com) in 2010, which is widely viewed as representing the `gold standard' by which the impacts of events and festivals are evaluated. The website has helped public and private organisations to assess and forecast the value of events, thus justifying public investment in events as well as benefiting their planning of events.
The impact of our research is on promoting racial equality through sport and leisure spanning almost twenty years from our early work with the Rugby Football League (RFL). The nature of the impact has been three-fold: the incorporation of key findings into professional equality standards, guidelines and continuing professional development (CPD); enhanced public understandings of race and the multiple forms of racism; and the stimulation of debate to shape policy and improve opportunities for sport and leisure. Impact has reached a wide range of beneficiaries, including sports governing bodies; sports councils; professional sport; equality/ diversity organisations and teacher education.
We improve Public Health and facilitate personal growth through promoting active lifestyles. We have provided an evidence-base of effective intervention approaches across settings, in `hard-to-engage' populations and through distinctive planning and delivery approaches. Our support for practitioners and commissioners has developed (i) ways to show the effectiveness of interventions to increase activity and (ii) programmes that achieve wider developmental aims. These effects are achieved by deploying innovative, often bespoke, realistic impact measures that improve programme effectiveness in locations, venues and groups where other groups do not go.