My June 2026 residency at Loughborough University’s Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) was the circuit breaker I didn’t fully realise I needed until I got there. My role at Bond University in the city of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia had been incredibly busy leading up to leaving. So, although I arrived at the IAS with fairly depleted batteries, I was excited and eternally grateful for the opportunity to finally just focus my energies purely on research. I was very soon re-energised!

To that end, as a sport management scholar, with Loughborough University ranked Number 1 globally for sport-based programs, I literally could not have come to a better place for research collaboration. Primarily, I got to reconnect with Dr. Mathew Dowling from the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, having numerous productive meetings in which we laid the groundwork for future research collaboration around emerging governance issues in the Oceania region of the Olympic Movement. My timing was also perfect in that Mat and his colleague, Dr. Alex Thurston, had just returned from data collection at the inaugural and highly controversial Enhanced Games in the United States. It was a highlight listening to some of their early findings and I look forward to reading future publications from this research. I also enjoyed opportunities to compare notes on program management and other sport management issues with Dr. Pete Dickenson over many a coffee in the Martin Hall Café! It was dumb luck that my residency happened to coincide with the FIFA World Cup, so it was a real cultural experience to be in a football-mad nation and being taken to a local pub by Mat and Pete to watch an England game (albeit a 0-0 draw with Ghana!).  

Coming from a comparatively small sport management program, the IAS Fellowship was also a valuable opportunity to develop new research relationships. I valued the opportunity to meet Dr. Susana Monserrat-Revillo and learn about her research in sport and gender relations, and PhD candidate, Vladyslava Kravchenko, and her important work in disability sport. Dr. Verity Postlethwaite and I also share a mutual research interest in event leverage, and the guided tour of Loughborough University’s world-leading sport facilities that Verity gave me was an absolute eye opener! Another highlight was meeting world-renowned sport management scholars like Professors Paul Downward, Simon Shibli and Borja Garcia Garcia – it was a real privilege to connect with these scholars.

While I was in residence at the IAS, I made two presentations. The first was on June 10 to the university’s postgraduate researchers titled, “How to Bite Your Tongue and Smile at the Same Time: Ideas on Responding to Reviewers & Examiners.” This presentation was designed to help postgraduate researchers in their efforts to navigate the manuscript review process and to increase their success in getting published. I was unsure how this would be received but as it turned out, the presentation was fully attended with an enthusiastic and engaged in-person and live-streamed audience.

My second presentation on June 24 was one of my works-in-progress titled “Surfing as a lever for positive social change: A bricolage approach in Papua New Guinea.” This research explores an initiative being implemented by a resource-deprived national sport organisation in Papua New Guinea that leverages resources related to surfing and surf tourism to address endemic social issues like gender equity and gender-based violence, access to education, healthy living behaviours and social justice. Again, I left the presentation feeling energised upon receiving very useful feedback from an engaged audience.

What really stands out for me from this IAS Fellowship was just how nice and welcoming the people were. In the months leading up to my residency, Connor and Kieran seriously could not have been more helpful, and this level of individualised consideration continued throughout my visit. The thoughtfully appointed accommodation provided to me right close to campus was a real oasis but also facilitated a truly productive work environment. And of course, the other people who make it all happen there at the IAS like Laura, Yajie, Jenny and Lynda are all absolute superstars – I just felt so warmly welcome at every turn. None of this happens without excellent leadership, and for that I must thank Professor Ksenia Chmutina – what a superb team you have put together, and what an excellent program you manage! I thank you all from the bottom of my heart!

Professor Danny O’Brien