My interests revolve around the public policy interventions of the local and national state in events and festivity of all types and leveraging events to  create social and cultural impact. I'm interested in evidence based public value of sports and cultural events and using these to create progressive opportunities. My work also covers the role of art, sport and culture in creating soft power change through cultural diplomacy, both through state and non-state actors. I am the Director of the Centre for Culture, Sport and Events at UWS and a member of the British Council, Scottish Advisory Group, The Edinburgh International Cultural Summit, a member of the European Cultural Parliament and an advisor to Commonwealth Games Scotland 2026. 

I am currently a co-investigator on an SSHRC international collaborative research project Major Sport Events and Disability Rights (2023-2027) and previously also funded by the SSHRC Leveraging Parasport Events: for sustainable community participation (2018-2022). This has produced a series of outputs in public policy, impact and media analysis of parasports representations.  I led as PI and completed a report on the social value of events for Spirit of London 2012 and that is accessible here https://spiritof2012.org.uk/insights/social-value-of-community-events/ I have also completed a British Council project, as Principal Investigator, examining Cultural Heritage for Inclusive Growth in Kenya. I'm also a co-I on Festspace HERA funded 3 year research project on the role of festivals and events in public and civic spaces. I completed in 2023 the largest research survey in sport participation with people with a disability in Scotland funded by the Peter Harrison Foundation and the Observatory for Sport in Scotland. I am currently researching EDI in Festivals and Events for Spirt of 2012 (2023-2024). 

Research areas: GV recreation Leisure - mega events, cultural policy, cultural diplomacy, sport, disability, public value

My future research will continue to focus of the social and cultural impact of mega events on communities and on their role in leveraging wider impact. I will develop further how mega events contribute to creating public value and how these can or are being used for progressive opportunity. I will continue my work in cultural diplomacy and sport diplomacy having taken on more PhD students in this area.

I have expertise and experience of monitoring, evaluation and impact of arts, culture and sport and have worked for a range of agencies.  These have included: Creative Scotland, British Council, Renfrewshire Council, UKRI, the OECD and recently for the FCDO and British Council on their International Development Strategy. I have expertise in events, sport and cultural diplomacy impact evaluation and transformational change.

I have given a wide range of media interviews recently around who would host the Commonwealth Games 2026 and the contribution that would make for the host nation and international relations