Dr Anke Samulowitz is a physiotherapist and psychologist. She works as a quality improvement facilitator at the Centre for Equity in Health Care in Gothenburg, Sweden, combined with research at the University of Gothenburg. She defended her thesis on “Pain, gender norms and psychosocial resources” in 2023. Her research focuses on pain and gendernorms, stereotypical ideas about men and women; how they are and expected to behave. Gender norms can lead to gender biases, medically unmotivated differences made between men and women, hampering equity in health care. To combine research and quality improvement in health care is one of her central goals.

Themes:

• Anke's background combining physiotherapy, psychology and health equity research
• The shift from a biomedical to a biopsychosocial understanding of pain
• How gender norms shape the way pain is expressed, reported and assessed
• Women portrayed as emotional and exaggerating pain; men as stoic and pain-tolerant
• Media coverage of athlete injuries — heroism attributed to men, fragility to women
• Gender norms linking masculinity with sport/training and femininity with everyday exercise
• Women expected to self-manage pain; men expected to seek and receive treatment
• Gendered leisure patterns — women as "downsizers" in sport after family responsibilities
• Gender bias in pain and assessment questionnaires (including eating disorder screening in athletes)
• Social support and chronic pain — emotional support more critical for men, practical support more critical for women
• Future research directions: contextual mechanisms of gender bias, social support in sport, and questionnaire validity

Themes:

• How both researchers came to feminist sport sociology and began collaborating
• Women's recovery from depression — the link between movement, embodied experience and mental health
• Para-sportswomen's experiences of gendered ableism, body shaming and being unheard by coaches
• Medicinal cannabis in sport and questioning the "spirit of sport"
• The Brisbane 2032 Olympics legacy project — engaging people currently outside sport
• Barriers to sport participation: belonging, body image, cost, identity and feeling unwelcome
• Creative research methods — poetry and songwriting workshops with marginalised communities
• Hockey program for Yazidi refugees in Toowoomba as a model for sport and trauma recovery
• Gender-based violence in sport — prevalence, under-reporting and institutional responsibility

• Addressing the gender gap in disability sport (intersectionality of disability and gender)
• Queer fans and the Women's World Cup — invisible communities in legacy planning
• Strength and conditioning coaches' understanding of gender and its gaps
• Recommendations: intersectional approaches, diversifying leadership, questioning sport's normsand who they serve

Dr Simone Fullagar (she/they) is Professor and Chair of the Sport and Gender Equity research hub at Griffith University, Australia. She has published feminist, interdisciplinary sociological research using (post)qualitative approaches across sport, leisure and mental health fields. Simone collaborates with colleagues on a number of ARC projects that address gender equity and diverse forms of embodied movement. Her most recently book is Pavlidis, A., Fullagar, S., & O'Brien, W. (2025). Feminist futures for sport: Tracing the affective dynamics of gender equity in sport organizations, Palgrave. Simone lives on the unceded lands of the Yugambeh and Kombumerri peoples of the Gold Coast.

Dr Adele Pavlidis is an Associate Professor in Sociology with the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science, and previously a DECRA Fellow (2018 to 2021). She is author of three books, Sport, Gender and Power: The Rise of Roller Derby (2016, Routledge, with Simone Fullagar), Feminism and a Vital Politics of Depression and Recovery (Palgrave, with Simone Fullagar and Wendy O'Brien) and Feminist Futures in Sport: Exploring the Affective Dynamics of Change in Australian Rules Football and Roller Derby (2025, Palgrave, with Simone Fullagar and Wendy O'Brien).

She has published widely on a range of sociocultural issues in sport and leisure, with a focus on gender and power relations. Theoretically her work traverses contemporary scholarship on affect, power and organizations, and she is deeply interested in social, cultural and personal transformation and the entanglements between people, organizations, and wellbeing.

She is currently Director of the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Treasurer of the Australian Women's and Gender Studies Association, and Co-Chair of the Sportand Gender Equity (SAGE) research hub at Griffith University. 

Themes:

• How both researchers came to feminist sport sociology and began collaborating
• Women's recovery from depression — the link between movement, embodied experience and mental health
• Para-sportswomen's experiences of gendered ableism, body shaming and being unheard by coaches
• Medicinal cannabis in sport and questioning the "spirit of sport"
• The Brisbane 2032 Olympics legacy project — engaging people currently outside sport
• Barriers to sport participation: belonging, body image, cost, identity and feeling unwelcome
• Creative research methods — poetry and songwriting workshops with marginalised communities
• Hockey program for Yazidi refugees in Toowoomba as a model for sport and trauma recovery
• Gender-based violence in sport — prevalence, under-reporting and institutional responsibility

• Addressing the gender gap in disability sport (intersectionality of disability and gender)
• Queer fans and the Women's World Cup — invisible communities in legacy planning
• Strength and conditioning coaches' understanding of gender and its gaps
• Recommendations: intersectional approaches, diversifying leadership, questioning sport's normsand who they serve

Dr Simone Fullagar (she/they) is Professor and Chair of the Sport and Gender Equity research hub at Griffith University, Australia. She has published feminist, interdisciplinary sociological research using (post)qualitative approaches across sport, leisure and mental health fields. Simone collaborates with colleagues on a number of ARC projects that address gender equity and diverse forms of embodied movement. Her most recently book is Pavlidis, A., Fullagar, S., & O'Brien, W. (2025). Feminist futures for sport: Tracing the affective dynamics of gender equity in sport organizations, Palgrave. Simone lives on the unceded lands of the Yugambeh and Kombumerri peoples of the Gold Coast.

Dr Adele Pavlidis is an Associate Professor in Sociology with the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science, and previously a DECRA Fellow (2018 to 2021). She is author of three books, Sport, Gender and Power: The Rise of Roller Derby (2016, Routledge, with Simone Fullagar), Feminism and a Vital Politics of Depression and Recovery (Palgrave, with Simone Fullagar and Wendy O'Brien) and Feminist Futures in Sport: Exploring the Affective Dynamics of Change in Australian Rules Football and Roller Derby (2025, Palgrave, with Simone Fullagar and Wendy O'Brien).

She has published widely on a range of sociocultural issues in sport and leisure, with a focus on gender and power relations. Theoretically her work traverses contemporary scholarship on affect, power and organizations, and she is deeply interested in social, cultural and personal transformation and the entanglements between people, organizations, and wellbeing.

She is currently Director of the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Treasurer of the Australian Women's and Gender Studies Association, and Co-Chair of the Sportand Gender Equity (SAGE) research hub at Griffith University. 

Holly Thorpe (she/her) is a Professor in the Sociology of Sport and Gender at the University of Waikato (New Zealand). She has published over 140 articles and chapters, and five books and nine co-edited books, including the Palgrave Handbook of Menstruation Studies in Sport (2026), Feminist New Materialisms, Sport and Fitness (2020), and Women in Action Sport Cultures (2016). She is co-editor of the Palgrave New Femininities in Digital, Physical and Sporting Cultures series (with Kim Toffoletti, Aarti Ratna and Jessica Francombe-Webb). Driven to do research that has real world impact and concerned for issues of equity and inclusion, Holly works with an array of national and international sports organisations to build more inclusive sporting cultures.

New Handbook of Menstruation in Sport coming out soon,  The Palgrave Handbook of Menstruation Studies in Sport | Springer Nature Link

Themes discussed in the podcast:

• Holly's background in action sports and how it shaped her academic path

• Female athlete health, menstruation, and REDS (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport)
• The biopsychosocial approach to understanding women in sport
• Interdisciplinary collaboration — working across sociology, physiology, endocrinology
• The new Palgrave Handbook of Menstruation Studies in Sport (2026)
• Cultural and ethnic diversity in female athlete health research
• Working with sports organisations (High Performance Sport NZ, Sport NZ, IOC, Snow Sports NZ)
• Action sports, the Olympics, and expanding opportunities for women and girls
• The IOC's controversial return to mandatory sex testing
• The slow pace of change and strategies for sustaining feminist sports research

Audio: Dr Nicole M. LaVoi, Ph.D. is a Senior Lecturer of social and behavioural sciences in the School of Kinesiology at the University of Minnesota and the Director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport. Through action-orientated, collaborative research, she translates data and answers critical questions that can make a difference in the lives of girls and women. As a leading scholar on gender, leadership and women coaches, Dr LaVoi has published 100+ book chapters, research reports and peer-reviewed articles in top-rated journals. Her Outstanding Academic Title award-winning book ⁠⁠Women in Sports Coaching⁠⁠, the annual ⁠⁠Women in College Coaching Report Card™⁠⁠ and Emmy-nominated documentary ⁠⁠GAME ON: Women Can Coach⁠⁠ help inform countless stakeholders who change the system for women sport coaches. She is the founder of ⁠⁠Coaching HER®,⁠⁠ and co-creator of ⁠⁠BodyConfident Sport⁠⁠, free tools to upskill coaches to more effectively coach girls. As a public scholar, she hosts a podcast (Tucker Center Talks), consults with a variety ofstakeholder groups, works with industry partners, speaks around the world, fields media requests, provides thought leadership and serves on mission-driven advisory boards. She is a two-time NCAA Academic All-American and three-timeHall of Fame inductee. LaVoi is an award-winning athlete, coach, scholar and distinguished teacher, who won a regional Emmy for ⁠⁠Best Sport Documentary⁠⁠, and was named a 2023 USTA Champion of Equality her longstanding work in gender and sport. LaVoi played collegiate tennis at Gustavus Adolphus College winning a NCAA-III National Team Championship where she currently serves on the Board of Trustees. Prior to her career in higher education, she was a USPTA Teaching Pro and head tennis coach at Wellesley College. In her free time, she enjoys being outdoors, biking, hiking, golf, painting and soaking up the sun.

Topics

• Tucker Center work: Description of the key messages, goals, activities. How people outside of the University can become involved. Competition with other research centres. Main activities within the center, e.g., coaching HER, Women in College Coaching Report Card. Whichmost proud of/which has had the greatest impact
• Research: Research items and high citations – explanations. How the book, Women in Sports Coaching came about.
• Future directions, especially anything to change/left unturned, excited about.
• Insight into the content of the Spotlight Speaker session at the WiSEAN conference 2026.

Dr Nicole M. LaVoi, Ph.D. is a Senior Lecturer of social and behavioural sciences in the School of Kinesiology at the University of Minnesota and the Director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport. Through action-orientated, collaborative research, she translates data and answers critical questions that can make a difference in the lives of girls and women. As a leading scholar on gender, leadership and women coaches, Dr LaVoi has published 100+ book chapters, research reports and peer-reviewed articles in top-rated journals. Her Outstanding Academic Title award-winning book ⁠Women in Sports Coaching⁠, the annual ⁠Women in College Coaching Report Card™⁠ and Emmy-nominated documentary ⁠GAME ON: Women Can Coach⁠ help inform countless stakeholders who change the system for women sport coaches. She is the founder of ⁠Coaching HER®,⁠ and co-creator of ⁠BodyConfident Sport⁠, free tools to upskill coaches to more effectively coach girls. As a public scholar, she hosts a podcast (Tucker Center Talks), consults with a variety ofstakeholder groups, works with industry partners, speaks around the world, fields media requests, provides thought leadership and serves on mission-driven advisory boards. She is a two-time NCAA Academic All-American and three-timeHall of Fame inductee. LaVoi is an award-winning athlete, coach, scholar and distinguished teacher, who won a regional Emmy for ⁠Best Sport Documentary⁠, and was named a 2023 USTA Champion of Equality her longstanding work in gender and sport. LaVoi played collegiate tennis at Gustavus Adolphus College winning a NCAA-III National Team Championship where she currently serves on the Board of Trustees. Prior to her career in higher education, she was a USPTA Teaching Pro and head tennis coach at Wellesley College. In her free time, she enjoys being outdoors, biking, hiking, golf, painting and soaking up the sun.

Topics

• Tucker Center work: Description of the key messages, goals, activities. How people outside of the University can become involved. Competition with other research centres. Main activities within the center, e.g., coaching HER, Women in College Coaching Report Card. Whichmost proud of/which has had the greatest impact
• Research: Research items and high citations – explanations. How the book, Women in Sports Coaching came about.
• Future directions, especially anything to change/left unturned, excited about.
• Insight into the content of the Spotlight Speaker session at the WiSEAN conference 2026.

Verity Postlethwaite⁠ is a Lecturer in Strategic Event Management at Loughborough University and Co‑Chair of the ⁠WiSEAN 2026 Conference⁠ Organising Committee. ⁠Her work⁠ focuses on the social and community impacts of sport and major events. Verity currently plays a leading role in two major research projects as Loughborough University is a ⁠Spirit of 2012 Legacy Learning⁠ Partner and a ⁠UK Sport Social Impact Partner⁠, both of these projects are helping to strengthen how major events deliver positive, long‑term outcomes for people and places across the United Kingdom.

We covered these topics

•  WiSEAN 2026 Conference Host and Organiser – anything you’re looking forward to, in particular? What can delegates expect?
• Own area of research and UG/PG study. Why sportfrom politics?
• PhD on 2012 Olympic: Legacy/change for women?
• Other sporting events and social change. Specific examples women?
• Good practice in academia/as an early career researcher?
• Future research plans

Verity Postlethwaite is a Lecturer in Strategic Event Management at Loughborough University and Co‑Chair of the WiSEAN 2026 Conference Organising Committee. Her work focuses on the social and community impacts of sport and major events. Verity currently plays a leading role in two major research projects as Loughborough University is a Spirit of 2012 Legacy Learning Partner and a UK Sport Social Impact Partner, both of these projects are helping to strengthen how major events deliver positive, long‑term outcomes for people and places across the United Kingdom.

We covered these topics

•  WiSEAN 2026 Conference Host and Organiser – anything you’re looking forward to, in particular? What can delegates expect?
• Own area of research and UG/PG study. Why sportfrom politics?
• PhD on 2012 Olympic: Legacy/change for women?
• Other sporting events and social change. Specific examples women?
• Good practice in academia/as an early career researcher?
• Future research plans

⁠Dr Britta Sorensen⁠⁠ is a researcher specialising in female athletes’ pain experiences through holistic, biopsychosocial approaches. Her PhD examined how female ultra-endurance athletes perceive and manage pain, combining retrospective, longitudinal, and real-time methodologies. With 19 years in sport science teaching and management, an MPhil in Sport Performance Psychology, and soft tissue therapist experience supporting athletes from club to Olympic and Paralympic level, Britta brings diverse expertise to WiSEAN. Her research advocates for interdisciplinary support networks and personalised pain-coping strategies that balance physical performance with psychological wellbeing, contributing both academic rigour and practical experience to advancing women's representation in sport.

Topics covered:

• New role as podcast host, supplementing current podcasts. Plans for guests, considering personal interests and background.
• PhD work and publications from this.
• Work as applied practitioner, e.g., therapist, applied work with endurance athletes, and how research has informed this.
• Involvement, to date, at WiSEAN, e.g., conference presentations.
• Future research/work plans.

Dr Britta Sorensen is a researcher specialising in female athletes’ pain experiences through holistic, biopsychosocial approaches. Her PhD examined how female ultra-endurance athletes perceive and manage pain, combining retrospective, longitudinal, and real-time methodologies. With 19 years in sport science teaching and management, an MPhil in Sport Performance Psychology, and soft tissue therapist experience supporting athletes from club to Olympic and Paralympic level, Britta brings diverse expertise to WiSEAN. Her research advocates for interdisciplinary support networks and personalised pain-coping strategies that balance physical performance with psychological wellbeing, contributing both academic rigour and practical experience to advancing women's representation in sport.

Topics covered:

• New role as podcast host, supplementing current podcasts. Plans for guests, considering personal interests and background.
• PhD work and publications from this.
• Work as applied practitioner, e.g., therapist, applied work with endurance athletes, and how research has informed this.
• Involvement, to date, at WiSEAN, e.g., conference presentations.
• Future research/workplans.