Collaboratory Researcher Profiles
Project Title: Game Changers: Exploring the power and potential of the Mowmacre Sports and Education Campus to address local health inequalities.
What were you doing before starting this PhD?
I graduated from my masters in psychology of rehabilitation of sport from Loughborough university in December 2025. I spent a large proportion of this masters researching with individuals at the Matt Hampson Foundations- “Get Busy Living Centre”, which is a rehabilitation centre for individuals who have been through traumatic events leading to spinal cord or brain injuries. I researched how community unity, access to sport and social connection in centres like these one’s improve quality of life, mental and physical health. Additionally, alongside my masters and post graduating, I work and live on a farm. This allows me to spend the majority of time outdoors, with animals, moving my body, which for me are my three favorite things. We are just coming to the end of a successful lambing, calving and kidding season, so I’m looking forward to getting some sleep again!
What motivated you to apply for this specific PhD project?
This project combines my love of sport, the importance of mental health and community unity in one PhD.
I think after my master’s research exploring how community centres affects individual’s mental and physical health, I got to see how important sites like these are within our communities. Additionally, I saw the importance of letting the individual voice be heard. I think this is especially important when working with underserved populations, as their voices have often been invisible, ignored or not properly represented.
What difference do you hope to make in Loughborough through this research?
Through this research I hope to support more inclusive and accessible opportunities for people in the east midlands to engage with movement and community in ways that fit their lives. At a local level it can help strengthen places like Mowmacre as a trusted hub for sport, wellbeing, connection, and support. More widely, I hope the research contributes to evidence showing how community-led, place-based approaches can be successfully embedded.
What do you hope to be doing in 5 years’ time?
I hope to have completed this PhD, producing some meaningful and exciting work. However, this type of work will take much longer than five years to develop so I see this PhD as a starting point of changing the way research can be done. I will hopefully still be working on the farm, living in the countryside, healthy and happy, surrounded by people I love and animals.