Loughborough Institute of Advanced Studies Podcast

Dr Tara-Leigh McHugh - The Experiences of Pregnancy and Parenting in High Performance Sport

IAS Guest Speaker Dr Tara-Leigh McHugh [https://profiles.ucalgary.ca/tara-leigh-mchugh] delivers a seminar on their research - Dr McHugh will share an overview of her recent stream of research, which has focused on high-performance athletes’ unique experiences of pregnancy and parenting. Co-leading a transdisciplinary research team, this research served as the foundation for an extensive Canada-wide research engagement and consultation process that resulted in the development of evidence- informed national-level policy and best practice recommendations, which have been adopted by Sport Canada. Dr McHugh will also share her leadership in the development of international policy and best practice recommendations for pregnant and parenting high-performance athletes, including her recent role on the Steering Committee for the 2026 IOC Consensus Statement on Sport Participation for Pregnant, Postpartum, and Parenting Athletes. She will end by sharing some of her team’s recent work with pregnant and postpartum high-performance coaches and officials, and her efforts to support the equitable participation of women in all roles, particularly in high-performance sport. Dr. Tara-Leigh McHugh Dr. Tara-Leigh McHugh is a Professor and Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Gender Equity in Sport and Physical Activity in the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of Calgary, Canada.  The overall aim of her program of research is to support the equitable participation of women and girls in all roles and across all levels of sport. Her research is broadly focused on advancing research on the psychosocial factors related to women’s and girls’ experiences of their bodies in sport. Such research has contributed to the development of local, national, and international evidence-informed policy and best practice recommendations for the equitable participation of women and girls in sport. As a former athlete and coach, Dr. McHugh is committed to using qualitative, collaborative, and community-based participatory research approaches to advance sport science research and practice. For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqa0xIQjFFLWtvVXZLZ3pBYllNQnRSYzRxTFQzd3xBQ3Jtc0trcy15RDYtWUtnR3BLQWhVLWtkMWxtT1dwV0F2U2RMM2U3SFpmY1dpeHlEZ1JZV3ZuRGFnTVl6M3VaZ1d1cGVqT2QtRFhmeDh0bXp1SFJfclVSU0VZZWN4M2hpQTk1REt1MXhuR0pnNDMwSGpJYnZfdw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lboro.ac.uk%2Fresearch%2Fias&v=KfVihMiJxL4]

Professor Danny O’Brien - Using sport to combat gender-based violence in Papua New Guinea

IAS Residential Fellow Professor Danny O’Brien [https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias/fellows/2025-26/o-brien-danny/] delivers a seminar on their research - The Surfing Association of Papua New Guinea (SAPNG) initiated an innovative program called “The Pink Nose Revolution” that uses surfing to raise community awareness about gender-based violence (GBV), which while a scourge worldwide, is particularly rampant in PNG. This research uses qualitative methods to analyse this program and current efforts to expand its scope and broaden the program’s positive societal impacts. The overarching research question is: What are the challenges and opportunities in growing a community-level sport-for-development program in a deeply resource-deprived context? While the data from this research are still being analysed, emerging results suggest some interesting outcomes. Innovative strategic thinking has resulted in the repurposing of scarce resources to create more equitable access to surfing equipment for women and girls, higher participation rates for women and girls, the attraction of high-profile international stakeholders such as the US State Department to support the cause, and the simultaneous initiation of community dialogue and increased awareness about GBV. For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias [https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias]

Dr Alison Barnes - Hiding in Plain Sight: Graphic Heritage, Toponymy and Settler Colonialism in Paddington, Sydney

IAS Alumni Fellow (from the 2023-24 academic year) Dr Alison Barnes [https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias/fellows/2023-24/barnesalison/] delivers a seminar on their research - Street and house name signs in Paddington, Sydney, function as material articulations of the settler colonial project. Both hide in plain sight, yet in diametrically opposed ways. Drawing on a survey of 315 house names and 128 distinct street names, the research develops a taxonomy of naming strategies which are analysed in relation to their design, materiality, and role within colonisation. Street signs foreground legibility and functionality through a 'rhetoric of neutrality', while house names announce their presence through an overt use of materials, colour, and craft. For the house names, it is precisely this aesthetic dimension that obscures their role in the overwriting and taking of place. In contemporary Paddington, where the real estate narrative foregrounds original heritage features and houses sell for millions of dollars, a doubling of dispossession is at play in which graphic heritage, property ownership, and an ongoing ‘white possession’ are inextricably entangled. For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias [https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias]

Dr Everardt Burger - Rethinking Urban Mobility Through the Lens of Human Experience

IAS Guest Speaker Dr Everardt Burger [https://www.linkedin.com/in/everardt-burger-830927/?originalSubdomain=za] delivers a seminar on their research - Urban transport infrastructure is typically planned and evaluated through technical performance measures such as efficiency, capacity, and operational reliability. Yet the real-world success of mobility systems depends fundamentally on how people experience, interpret, and use them in everyday life. This talk introduces a human-centred perspective on urban infrastructure that places user behaviour and spatial accessibility at the core of transport planning. Drawing on empirical research across South African cities—including studies of mode choice, commuter satisfaction, pedestrian accessibility, and infrastructure utilisation—the presentation shows how mobility environments operate as socio-technical systems shaped by perception, decision-making, and spatial connectivity. Rather than viewing infrastructure as static provision, the talk explores how design, accessibility, and behavioural response interact to produce system performance. The session proposes an integrative framework for understanding mobility infrastructure through user experience and spatial function, and reflects on the implications for planning more responsive, inclusive, and effective urban transport systems. For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias [https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias]

Dr Yolandi Burger - Nelson Mandela’s Narrative Spaces

Joint Loughborough-Leicester IAS Fellow Dr Yolandi Burger [https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias/fellows/2025-26/burgeryolandi/] delivers a seminar on their research - How do places named after Nelson Mandela operate as narrative infrastructures through which memory, identity, and civic meaning are negotiated? Building on the Named after Nelson (NaN) project, this IAS–LIAS fellowship complements the Gauteng City-Region Observatory's project on urban places as narrative spaces. The presentation explores how toponymy, graphic heritage, and storytelling intersect to shape public understanding of Mandela’s legacy across diverse urban contexts. Drawing on case studies from Gauteng in South Africa, and extending the dialogue to Leicester in the United Kingdom, this talk positions narrative mapping and interpretive design as methodological instruments, while drawing on urban observatory thinking as a conceptual framework for analysing how symbolic association translates into lived spatial experience. The presentation advances interdisciplinary dialogue across urban heritage, design, and digital mapping by demonstrating how narrative methodologies can structure the interpretation of symbolic urban landscapes within SDG-oriented heritage discourse. It proposes narrative space as both an analytical lens and a collaborative platform for advancing transnational heritage engagement. For more information about the IAS, please visit - https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias [https://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/ias]