Our Work

HLST Olympics Special Interest Group (SIG)

This SIG will provide a forum for sharing ideas, information, resources and good practice, enabling us to capitalise on the opportunities the 2012 Olympiad brings and to ensure that we gain a rich legacy from it. It will establish links with other organisations and agencies in the UK and overseas to ensure access to perspectives, experience and expertise which can benefit us all.

Olympic SIG member shares her insights on the Olympic and Paralympic Games

"On a very rainy Thursday, 25 February 2010, the Surrey Tourism and Events Society (STES) at the University of Surrey, welcomed Dr. Dikaia Chatziefstathiou, Senior Lecturer in Sociology of Sport and Leisure in the Department of Sport Science, Tourism and Leisure at Canterbury Christ Church University to speak to our staff and student members. In the spirit of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games and the approaching London 2012 Summer Games, Dr. Chatziefstathiou was invited to share her insights into the Olympic & Paralympic Games and tourism. The members of STES were treated to a fantastic presentation entitled, "The Olympic and Paralympic Games: Magic Dust or Turn to Dust", in which Dr. Chatziefstathiou discussed the notion of leveraging the London 2012 Games for communities throughout the UK. She engaged us with the ideas of the Demonstration Effect and the Festival Effect, emphasising the process involved in capitalising on these opportunities for regions both inside and outside the host community. Dr. Chatziefstatiou's presentation left an impact on our members and invited us to think more openly and critically with regards to the 'magic dust' phenomena commonly associated with the Olympic and Paralympic Games. We thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Chatziefstathiou's presentation and sincerely appreciate her effort in joining us for the evening."

Dr. Donna Chambers
Lecturer in Tourism
Programme Director MSc International Event Management University of Surrey

Amy Williams Gold Medal Hailed as Example of Funding Success
John Steele, chief executive of UK Sport, has hailed Amy Williams' Winter Olympic gold medal as an example of how funding can lead to success.

Steele points to the record £2.1m of lottery and exchequer funds made available to British Skeleton under the leadership of performance director Andi Schmid in the run up to the Vancouver games as an example of how targeted investment can deliver results.

Read the full story at the Leisure Management Magazine Website.

Green Party Expresses Concern at Olympics 'Food Vision'
London Assesmbly and Green Party member Jenny Jones has expressed concerns in a recent Food Magazine article over the proposed LOCOG 'Food Vision' for the London Olympics.

Jones argues that the the Olympics potential to encourage and inspire people to lead more active and healthy lifestyles is being undermined by the IOC's granting of exclusive marketing rights to fast food and drink manufacturers such as McDonald's and Coca-Cola, perpetuating what Jones describes as "the perverse link between fast food and drink and sporting achievement".

Jones argues that the Olympics food vision should ensure that food served at the Olympics will be mostly unprocessed, locally sourced, seasonal, organic, vegetarian, climate friendly, affordable to all income groups, and, if imported, to be fair trade.

The full story can be read online at the Food Magazine Website.
Click here for more information on the LOCOG's 'Food Vision'.

Amy Williams Wins Gold for Team GB

HLST congratulates University of Bath student Amy Williams on becoming Team GB’s first individual Olympic Winter Games gold medallist for 30 years and the first woman individual gold medallist for 58 years.

Williams won the gold in the bob skeleton by a convincing 0.56 second margin, completing her run in a track record breaking 53.68sec.

Williams trains at the University of Bath where she is currently studying for a Sports Performance degree. The universities' sports training village hosts the concrete bobsleigh push-start track on which many British bobsleigh, bob-skeleton and luge teams practice the crucial start to their runs.

Williams was helped in her run by the work of research engineers from the University of Southampton. The research of Engineering Doctorate students Rachel Blackburn and James Roche has helped improve understanding of bob skeleton performance in terms of athletes' physical conditioning and preperation as well as the kit and equipment used in competition.

For more information on Amy Williams Visit the Team Bath Website.

For more information on the University of Southampton's Sports Engineering work, visit the University of Southampton Website.

Podium Launch 'Road to the Games' Series of Regional Events
Podium is lauching a series of 10 regional events that aim to help institutions exlore the opportunities available to you as a result of the Games coming to the UK in 2012.

The events will be free of charge (registration required) , and are designed to spark ideas and introduce programmes such as Inspire, the London 2012 Volunteer Programme, Get Set, and the London 2012 Business Network including CompeteFor. Each event will have a regional focus, with relevant regional speakers presenting examples of games-related activity and best practice from their region.

For more information Visit the Podium Website.

Commercial Opportunities at the Olympic Games in London
Hotelympia has organised a conference which aims to give advice on how businesses can benefit from the the 2012 London Olympics.

The various presentation planned will explain to delegates how to go about identifying opportunities view the Compete For website and how to go about winning the bids.

The conference takes place on 3rd March 2010 at ExCel London.

More information can be found at the Conference Website.

New SIG Convenors
We are pleased to report that Elesa Argent and Dikaia Chatziefststathiou will be co-convenors of our Olympics SIG for 2010/11. Elesa is leading on the development of resources related to the 2012 Games to enhance learning opportunities and curriculum development, while Dikaia is leading on events, including the annual HLST conference in November 2010, which with take the Olympics as its theme, and SIG meetings. They will be working together on LINK 26 which will also have an Olympics theme.

Brandon Crimes was the SIG convenor in its inaugural year, 2009/10, and we are very grateful for his help and support. He continues as a member of the SIG. Brandon established links with our colleagues in Vancouver who are working to harness the learning opportunities available through the 2010 Winter Games and with whom we now have a Memorandum of Understanding which encourages collaboration in our related endeavours and the mutual benefits which can be achieved.

Catering and London 2010
Further to publication in December 2009 of the London 2012 "Food Vision", a briefing was held at the LOGOC offices for representatives of Further and Higher Education. Jan Matthews, Head of Catering, Cleaning and Waste, described the scale and diversity of food service which is now being planned. It 2012 Games will require the most complex catering operation in the world ever in peace time!

For more information Download our Catering and London 2012 Briefing (37kb .pdf)

LOCOG has also published their official 'Food Vision' for the 2012 Games. It can be Downloaded Here (4mb .pdf).

LinkBC Olympic e-Legacies Student Competition
LinkBC's competition is currently open to students enroled in British Columbia. It invites students to evaluate the current value of the games or to suggest what the lasting value will be in the form of a powerpoint presentation, written opinion piece or 2-minute video response. A gold, silver and bronze prize of $2000, $1000 and $500 will be presented to the top three entrants in each catagory.

For more details of the competition, Visit the e-Legacies Website.

Olympics Special Interest Group Workshop
The next Olympics SIG Workshop will take place at Canterbury Christ Church University on 27 January 2010.

Programme 
13.00 Welcome , Dr Chris Bull, Head of Department of Sport Science, Tourism and Leisure, Canterbury Christ Church University

13.10 ‘Olympic and Paralympic Research of SPEAR', Professor Mike Weed, Director of the Centre Centre for Sport, Physical Education and Activity Research (SPEAR), Canterbury Christ Church University

13.30 ‘A Review of the Evidence Base for Developing a Health and Physical Activity Participation Legacy from the 2012 Olympic Games', Dr Louise Mansfield, Senior Lecturer in Sociology of Sport, Canterbury Christ Church University

13.50 ‘Canterbury Christ Church University as an official London 2012 Training Camp: Opportunities and Challenges', Dr Andy Balsdon, Director of Sport, Canterbury Christ Church University

14.10 Refreshments

14.20 ‘How can Olympism inspire Education?', Dr Dikaia Chatziefstathiou, Senior Lecturer in Sociology of Sport and Leisure, Canterbury Christ Church University

14.40 ‘Creative Campus Initiative: South East Higher Education institutions working together to help realise the potential of the Cultural Olympiad', Tania Holland, Cultural Coordinator for Canterbury Christ Church University and University of Kent

15.00 ‘Olympic opportunities for the Medway Park', Professor Louis Passfield, Head of Centre for Sport Studies and Dr Athanasios Pappous, Senior Lecturer in Sport Management, University of Kent in Medway

15.20 Closing remarks

Download the Booking Form (345kb .doc)

Deloitte Business Competition
The Deloitte Business Competition gives university students in the UK the opportunity to make their impact on the London 2012 Games.
The Challenge is a vital component of the work that the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) is currently undertaking.
The competition asks entrants to select one of six identified customer groups (Athletes & Officials, Press & Broadcasters, Local Residents, Sponsors, Spectators and Workforce) and consider:

• What success would look like in terms of their Games experience
• How you would define a positive Games experience for this customer group
• What you would advise LOCOG to do now to ensure a positive experience for this group at the time of the Games
• What you would advise LOCOG to put in place in order to measure this 

For more information Download the Entry Form.

Prof. Sandra Jones introduces Olympics SIG to Virtual Situated Learning Environments
Prof. Sandra Jones from the University of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia visited the Higher Education Academy Subject Networks for Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism and Business, Management, Accounting and Finance, to discuss the potential contribution that the ‘Virtual Situated Learning Environments' (VSLEs) she creates can make to the Higher Education Academy Subject Networks. The VSLEs are designed to advance student learning by engaging students in authentic learning activities.

Sandra Jones is the recipient of an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Teaching Citation for her tailored creation of innovative, authentic, virtual situated learning environments that enhance learning in diverse business student cohorts through direct participation in experiential learning opportunities, and the winner of the RMIT 2009 Vice Chancellors Distinguished Teaching Award for her sustained commitment to learning and teaching, university wide leadership, scholarship, and success in teaching related grants and citations.

Her experience in designing, developing and using these environments has led to her extending her teaching beyond a single disciplinary focus through which she has developed an international reputation for her excellence in practice, her educational leadership and her scholarly publications that use an action research approach to reflect on and analyse her practice.

Sandra Jones spoke to representatives of our 2012 Olympics Special Interest Group that was established at Oxford Brookes University in 2008. The Olympics SIG is designed to explore opportunities to engage students in networked learning activities across geographical distances and across disciplines and thus to harness the digital dimensions of students lives. The Olympics SIG is linked to a similar group established in Canada to engage students in learning activities associated with the Canadian 2010 Winter Olympics. Sandra Jones shared with the participants accessible online material she has developed to assist in the design, development and use of these VSLEs.

As an outcome of the discussion with Sandra Jones, the SIG will discuss opportunities to develop case studies that actively engage students in role-play and simulation, face to face and on-line, in professional practice activities that develop the attributes required by industry. It will also give consideration to the idea of focussing the annual student competition to an activity related to this concept.

For more information on Work-integrated Learning Click Here.

For more information on VSLEs Click Here.

For more information on VSLE-WIL Click Here.

First Meeting of the Olympics SIG Steering Group
The first meeting of the HLST Olympic SIG steering group took place on 10th September at Oxford Brookes University. During the highly productive meeting the steering group discussed way to maximising the potential of the 2012 Olympics to engage both tutors and students, to enhance student learning opportunities and experiences, and to raise the profile of the HLST subjects.

During the meeting the following aims for the Olympic SIG were agreed:

1. To promote the Olympics as a vehicle for learning and development for students in higher education;
2. To promote Olympic themes across the HLST subjects and in other subject areas;
3. To encourage effective links between research into the Olympics and teaching and learning;
4. To encourage the production and dissemination of resources, including learning objects, to support study of the Olympics and curriculum development more generally;
5. To foster interactivity between staff and students through engagement with issues and challenges raised by hosting the 2012 Olympics.

The planned work of the Olympics SIG includes publications, student competitions and events, liaison with Olympic subject centres both in the uk and overseas, compilation of case studies, discussion starters and other resources, and the creation of a website to disseminate the SIGs work.

For more information Download the Meeting Minute (16kb .docx).

e-Legacies: Learning Resource for the 2010 Games Website Launch
September sees the launch of the e-Legacies website. Developed by Canada-based LinkBC: The Tourism and Hospitality Education Network, the website aims to leave a legacy of learning for inquiry and discussion leading up to, during, and after the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic games. The website features Discussion Starters, lists of Games-realated activities and over 100 resource items specifically related to the 2010 and 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Visit the e-Legacies Website.

For more information Download the Press Release (41kb .docx).

Second Olympics SIG Workshop, 23 June 2009
The second meeting of the Olympics SIG was hosted by the University of Hertfordshire. The event provided an opportunity for delegates to not only hear about the potential benefits and legacy of the 2012 games in the East of England, but also share experiences with other academics who are delivering Olympics related topics in the curriculum within Hospitality, Sport, Leisure and Tourism. Click on the link above to read the full report.

Presentations from this event are availabe here.

The first meeting for the Olympics SIG Steering Group will take place on 10 September, 2009. Further members of the steering group are welcome. If you are interested in contributing to the work of the Olympics SIG in this way, please contact Brandon Crimes at B.crimes@herts.ac.uk /01707 285451, or Clive Robertson at clive.robertson@brookes.ac.uk.

Inaugural Meeting, 12 March 2009
The first meeting of the HLST Network Olympics Special Interest Group (SIG) was held on 12 March 2009 at Oxford Brookes. The group welcomed academics from
around the country as well as guests from Link BC, Canada, preparing for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

To find out more, see the Briefing document of 12 March Meeting of Olympics SIG. You can also view presentations from the meeting.