19/08/2024
Women's Health in Sport and Exercise - SPARC 2024 conference (UCB, Birmingham on Weds 31st October 2024)
www.ucbsparc.com
Our annual Sports Performance and Rehabilitation Conference (SPARC) held by University College Birmingham, UK on Wednesday 30th October 2024 is themed 'Women's Health in Sport and Exercise'. Our fantastic speaker line-up features leading academics and practitioners working specialising in both elite and general population health, including therapy and coaching practitioners.
Our keynote speaker is Dr Izzy Moore (Reader in Human Movement and Sports Medicine - Cardiff Metropolitan University, Wales UK), whose specialism is in female athlete health, sports injury epidemiology and lower limb rehabilitation. She has received national and international research awards and is an Associate Editor for the British Journal of Sports Medicine and Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. She has secured over £1.5 million in funding and co-led the development of the first return to play postpartum guidelines in a contact sport for World Rugby. Alongside international projects on developing female-specific guidelines and, recommendations and prevention strategies within sport and exercise medicine, she co-leads Wales’ Women’s Reproductive Health Public and Patient Involvement group to help place the voices of experts by experience at the heart of sport and exercise medicine research.
Dr Jenny Burbage (Researcher in Breast Health, Senior Lecturer in Biomechanics, University of Portsmouth) who is a leading expert in biomechanics, health and education related to the female breast, will also be delivering a session on this topic. We will also host a panel discussion with medical team staff from the Home Nations women's rugby teams, including lead physiotherapists Jo Perkins (Wales), Emily Moss (England) Roisin Murphy (former Ireland lead), as well as medic Dr Victoria Campbell (Scottish Rugby Union) on the subject of supporting international athletes through injury recovery and prevention.
Other sessions will focus on research and application in a range of settings. Among others, Leila Benyahia (PhD Student and Associate Lecturer at Northumbria University, UK) sharing her research into development in girls’ football and her experiences working as a Strength and Conditioning Coach at Newcastle United Football Academy, Basketball England, Great Britain Basketball, Newcastle Eagles and i2i International Football Academy. Robert Rowland (Senior Teaching Fellow, University of Portsmouth, UK) will present his participatory action research on gender diversity of Strength and Conditioning Coaches focusing on current demographic makeup of coaches and the influence of key stakeholders.
TICKETS
Tickets are now available via the website booking page (Earlybird/Student £35 until 1st Sept 2024, Full Ticket £45): www.ucbsparc.com Lunch, as well as tea and coffee will be provided on the day. A limited number of free gym passes are available for a pre-conference workout in the University Commercial Gym. There is also the option to participate in a Hyrox style training session sponsored by Matrix Fitness UK in our state of the art Human Performance Centre Strength and Conditioning Suite in Moss House in the afternoon parallel session.
POSTER ABSTRACTS
If you would like to present your work on the day abstract submissions for poster presentations are now open (deadline: midnight on 31st August 2024). Up to four submissions will be nominated by our peer-review panel to be delivered as oral presentations in a 3x3 format (three slides in three minutes) to all our delegates in the opening session.
If you have any questions please email me as conference Chair at my university email address: f.higgs@ucb.ac.uk
The Uinversity College Birmingham Sports Performance and Rehabilitation Conference will take place on the 30th of October 2024. The conference this year is themed around Women's Health. Abstract submissions are opening soon.
