{"id":3468,"date":"2026-11-09T11:59:27","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T11:59:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/?p=3468"},"modified":"2026-11-09T11:59:27","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T11:59:27","slug":"changing-the-game-womens-experiences-in-sport-weis-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/?p=3468","title":{"rendered":"Changing the Game: Women\u2019s Experiences in Sport (WEIS) Event"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Thursday 15 October 2026, the Women\u2019s Experiences in Sport (WEIS) Research Hub held the first online event to showcase the research being produced by members and networks involved at the Open University. In 2016, the first sport conference at The Open University was held, \u201cGender and Inequalities in Sport\u201d to strengthen the research culture in sport and exercise. We have made huge progress since 2016 and the event, this year, celebrated a fantastic milestone to celebrate the research being produced over the past decade.<\/p>\n<p>The event was a great success and also an opportunity for UG and PG students to attend and recognise the research-informed teaching that has been embedded into our teaching materials across our modules. We had interest from over 140 people, including academics, practitioners, students, with some very lively and engaging discussions. We heard from members of our newly launched WEIS Research Hub, welcomed back two professors who spoke at our 2016 conference as well as others with whom we\u2019ve maintained and developed valuable research connections over the years. <\/p>\n<p>For those who missed the event lived you can catch up by watching the recording via the link:<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Changing the Game: Women\u2019s Experiences in Sport 2026\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/308fSkCFku8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>We received some incredible feedback about the event and had some fantastic speakers with the day consisting of the following:<\/p>\n<p>Welcome note: Dr Helen Owton<br \/>\nSenior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology, Open University<\/p>\n<p>Session1:<br \/>\nProfessor Kath Woodward<br \/>\nProfessor Emeritus, Open University<br \/>\n\u201cReflections on Change in Women\u2019s Sport\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tanya Martin<br \/>\nWomen in Sport, Head of Insight and Innovation<br \/>\nAssociate Lecturer, Open University<br \/>\n\u201cReimagining Sport Coaching: Designing a System that Works for Women\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dr Jess Pinchbeck<br \/>\nSenior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise, Open University<br \/>\nDr Caroline Heaney<br \/>\nSenior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology Open University<br \/>\n\u201cBalancing the Scales in Women\u2019s Sports Kit Design\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Session 2: Professor Kitrina Douglas<br \/>\nProfessor of Narrative and Performative Research, University of West London<br \/>\n\u201cWhat might change mean in Women\u2019s Sport?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dr Helen Owton<br \/>\nSenior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology, Open University<br \/>\n\u201cWomen\u2019s intense embodiment in motorcycling\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dr Steph Doehler<br \/>\nSenior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise, Open University<br \/>\n\u201cWomen\u2019s self-authored storytelling in digital sports media\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Session 3:<br \/>\nDr Ali Bowes<br \/>\nAssociate Professor in the Sociology of Sport, Nottingham Trent University<br \/>\n\u201cContemplating motherhood in high-performance women\u2019s rugby\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dr Candice Lingam-Willgoss<br \/>\nSenior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise, Head of School ECYS, Open University<br \/>\n\u201cNegotiating Identity: How elite athlete mothers navigate their journey through sport\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dr Michele Zanini<br \/>\nLecturer in Applied Sport and Exercise Science, Open University<br \/>\n\u201cExamples of female-specific considerations in endurance running physiology\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dr Anika Leslie-Walker<br \/>\nSenior Lecturer in Sport Sociology, Nottingham Trent University<br \/>\n\u201cExploring \u2018race\u2019 and female fandom in women\u2019s football\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With the launch of the new Research Hub, it is an exciting time to see how our Women\u2019s experiences in sport (WEIS) research develops and what the next event might hold.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"H2kjX5mVhO\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/sport-research-group\/?page_id=674\" >Women\u2019s Experiences In Sport Research Hub<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cWomen\u2019s Experiences In Sport Research Hub\u201d \u2014 The Open University Sport &amp; Exercise Research Group\" src=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/sport-research-group\/?page_id=674&amp;embed=true#?secret=P7lCSQP1AV#?secret=H2kjX5mVhO\" data-secret=\"H2kjX5mVhO\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe> <\/p>\n<p>Please feel free to share with anyone who might be interested and please do not hesitate to get in touch with any queries.<\/p>\n<p>Contact: helen.owton@open.ac.uk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Thursday 15 October 2026, the Women\u2019s Experiences in Sport (WEIS) Research Hub held the first online event to showcase the research being produced by members and networks involved at the Open University. In 2016, the first sport conference at The Open University was held, \u201cGender and Inequalities in Sport\u201d to strengthen the research culture [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3468"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3470,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3468\/revisions\/3470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/OU-Sport\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}