Professor Mike Weed, Professor of Sport in Society, Director of the Centre for Sport, Physical Education & Activity Research (SPEAR), and Faculty Research Director for the Faculty of Social & Applied Sciences at Canterbury Christ Church University.

 

He is interested in all areas of the relationship between sport and tourism, but particularly in the motivations and behaviours of active sports tourists and travelling sports spectators, and in the implications of hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games.  Professor Weed is author (with Chris Bull) of Sports Tourism: Participants, Policy and Providers (2nd Ed., Elsevier, 2009) and Olympic Tourism (Elsevier, 2008), and Editor of Sport & Tourism: A Reader (Routledge, 2008).  He is Editor of the Journal of Sport & Tourism (Taylor & Francis), has Guest Edited issues of European Sport Management Quarterly, European Journal of Sport Science and Psychology of Sport & Exercise, and sits on the Editorial Boards of Qualitative Research in Sport & Exercise and The Qualitative Report.  Professor Weed’s research has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, the Department of Health, UK Sport, and Sport England, and he has advised regional agencies across the UK on sports tourism development.

 

 

____________________________________

 

 

Kathryn Beardmore, Director of Park Services, Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.

​

Throughout her 25 year career in countryside management Kathryn has had extensive involvement in managing and promoting recreation and tourism in England’s National Parks.  Kathryn has worked for the Peak District, Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Park Authorities; but has also worked for a district council and several other organisations including the Environment Agency.  Over the last 10 years her work in the Yorkshire Dales has involved policy development and implementation at both a local and national level.  Kathryn has been instrumental in: developing the Pennine Bridleway long distance trail with Natural England, the recreational management of green lanes with the English National Park Authorities Association, the GoDales project –introducing young people to the National Park through outdoor activities through Sport England funding, and recently determining the future direction for tourism in the Yorkshire Dales by forming the Dales Tourism partnership and guiding its development of the Yorkshire Dales Sustainable Tourism Strategy.  Kathryn’s first hand experience of exploring wild places, both here and overseas through climbing, cycling or Nordic skiing ensures she always brings a passionate, but pragmatic approach to her work.