Call for Participation
SPORT LEGACIES RESEARCH COLLABORATIVE
The newly formed Sport Legacies Research Collaborative (SLRC) is calling for participation in its first Pan American Games network meeting: a two-day workshop focused on the network’s emerging research and evaluation plans for the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto. The two-day event seeks to stimulate the formation of local, national and international research collaborations within three core substantive themes identified by the SLRC for study during the Pan American Games; namely, the relationship between major games and: I) Sport for Development; 2) Sustainable Sport, Physical Activity and Health; and, 3) Healthy High Performance Sport.
Background and Implications
SLRC was created by the Faculty of Physical Education and Health (FPEH) at the University of Toronto in 2010 with a mandate to empirically and critically analyze whether or not major events like the Pan American Games, Commonwealth Games, Olympic Games, World Cup (FIFA) and others, make an enduring impact in the communities in which they are staged. SLRC aims to, through joint local, national and international research, empirically document and evaluate the impacts, effects and legacies of major games and sports events on physical cultures, social life and the built environment in host regions.
As part of SLRC’s research activities, a series of workshops, symposia and conferences will be hosted at the University of Toronto leading up to, during and after the 2015 Pan American Games. The Pan American Games will provide a rich and diverse urban laboratory for sport, exercise, physical culture and health researchers to analyze and report on the potential of major events providing sustained improvements in physical activity, healthy living, community development and sport for all in host environments such as the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
FPEH and the SLRC are involved in various aspects of the Games and are partnering with numerous stakeholders who are facilitating community consultations in a broader arena focusing on the desired social impacts from the games, including accessible physical activity and healthy eating opportunities in communities, as well as the improvement of quality of life through community engagement in cultural and social development opportunities, with a particular interest in engaging our diverse population (i.e., income, race, gender, sexual orientation, ability, and age).
More specifically, the Games are recognized by SLRC as an important opportunity for interested academics, policy-makers and non-government organizations to collate and compare multi-disciplinary (e.g., pedagogy, anthropology, physiology, psychology, epidemiology and health studies, sociology, economics, medicine and bioethics, management, history, biomechanics, human geography, arts and science) knowledge and information on how major games may alter the social organization, cultural prominence, collective impact, and personal experience of sport, exercise, play and physical activity and education in the round.
The need to establish formative research and evaluation frameworks to assess various aspects of the Games and their impact is a fundamental necessity. To this end, this collaborative research network will also be a gathering place, a bulletin board, and a clearinghouse. It will also help to inform a plan and evaluation framework for social impact indicators of the Pan American Games, a process being led by a number of community partners, effectively linking research and practice objectives.
The first two-day workshop on Pan American Games research will be hosted by the Faculty of Physical Education and Health between May 30-31, 2011 on the University of Toronto’s St. George campus. Those interested in participating in the workshop are asked to submit a 500-word (maximum] abstract describing their research (or policy) interests and backgrounds, including a statement on how their activities fit into one of SLRC’s core research areas for the Pan American Games. Abstracts establishing participant interest must be submitted by March 31, 2011. The organizing committee will review all abstracts and participants will be notified via email regarding their participation status in the workshop by no later than April 14, 2011. Please submit abstracts as early as possible since participation in the workshop is limited. Registration for and participation in this event is free of charge.
Please submit abstracts by email to:
Dr. Michael Atkinson
Faculty of Physical Education and Health
University of Toronto
Email: michael.atkinson@utoronto.ca
Phone: 416-978-7205
For updates on SLRC initiatives and workshops, visit: www.sportlegacies.utoronto.ca
