Leeds Beckett University alumnus, Honorary Doctor and Sport Hall of Fame inductee Kevin Sinfield will receive a knighthood after being named in the Kings Birthday Honours. Kevin, one of the most respected figures in British sport, has been recognised in the honours list and will become Sir Kevin Sinfield following his formal investiture for services to Rugby League, Rugby Union and the MND Community A longstanding member of the Leeds Beckett community, Kevin graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Sport Exercise Science in 2008 before returning to complete an MA in Sport Business in 2015. In 2019, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Sports Science by the University in recognition of his outstanding contribution to sport. Kevin enjoyed an illustrious playing career with Leeds Rhinos, captaining the club to seven Super League titles, two Challenge Cup victories and three World Club Challenge successes. He represented both England and Great Britain and remains one of the most decorated players in rugby league history. Following his retirement from playing, Kevin moved into leadership and coaching roles across rugby league and rugby union, including positions with Leeds Rhinos, Leicester Tigers and England Rugby. In recent years, Kevin has become widely admired for his extraordinary fundraising efforts in support of the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) community. Inspired by his friendship with former Leeds Rhinos teammate and fellow Leeds Beckett alumnus Rob Burrow CBE, Kevin has undertaken a series of endurance challenges which have raised millions of pounds for MND charities, research and support services. Leeds Beckett has proudly supported a number of these initiatives, including hosting events at its Headingley Campus and working alongside Kevin, the Burrow family and Leeds Rhinos to raise awareness and support for the MND community. Kevin was also one of the inaugural inductees into the Leeds Beckett University Sport Hall of Fame in recognition of his exceptional achievements, leadership and impact both within and beyond sport. The Leeds Beckett community congratulates Kevin on this richly deserved honour.
Although being a fan can help people build friendships, feel part of a community, improve wellbeing and develop a sense of identity, very little research has looked at potential benefits for people with a learning disability. The team will review all existing studies on the topic to find out: What is already known about fandom and learning disability How fandom might improve wellbeing, social connections and quality of life Where there are gaps in the research What future studies should focus on Dr Kris Southby, Assistant Director for the Centre for Health Promotion Research at Leeds Beckett University, said: The project aims to help organisations and service providers better support leisure and social opportunities for people with a learning disability, who often face barriers to taking part in activities and can experience social isolation. Funded by the Bailey Thomas Charitable Fund, the 12-week project is a collaboration between Leeds Beckett University, the University Campus of Football Business and the University of Cologne. The findings will be shared with researchers, service providers, people with a learning disability and their families, and will help shape future research and support services.
Using Facebook Messengers chatbot technology, the innovative Leeds Beckett bot, allows prospective students to have an online conversation to assess their suitability for undergraduate courses that are available during university Clearing. The chatbot, available both on desktop and mobile, uses a series of menus or keywords to guide students through the Clearing process and is available 24 hours a day. The bot uses keywords that the prospective students type in the chat line to assess which courses they are interested in studying, then requests details of their qualifications and exam results, before making them a provisional offer. A chatbot is a computer programme that holds natural language conversations, mimics human conversation and reacts to spoken or written prompts. Speaking about the bot, Dougal Scaife, Head of Digital at Leeds Beckett, said: We know that our prospective students already use lots of messaging software for communicating with their friends such as Snapchat, WhatsApp as well as texting, so developing a chatbot was a natural evolution in order to engage with our prospective students in a medium thats ubiquitous, familiar, and comfortable for them. Chris Watts, Director of University Recruitment at Leeds Beckett, added: We know that prospective students are undertaking more research prior to results day and are far more clear about both their course and their prospective career path. Unsurprisingly the majority of this research takes place online, with social media forming a key part of the relationship prospective students are building with institutions prior to accepting a place. At Leeds Beckett we continue to be at the forefront of employing new technologies in meeting the needs of our prospective and current students and the launch of this chatbot to make offers to prospective students is a response to this. The bot hasnt replaced more traditional methods of communication, its merely an addition to the already excellent service we seek to provide to all prospective students. Ourphone lines will continue to be open throughout the clearing process. For more information about courses available at Leeds Beckett during Clearing please visit www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/clearing
Current students Calum Wilkinson and Gemma Bridge will be competing alongside Alumni Tom Bosworth and Laura Weightman. Olympian Laura Weightman will kick off her campaign this evening. A 1,500m runner, Laura has been training hard at Leeds Beckett University and in particular with the Universitys Head of Athletics, Andrew Henderson, for the past seven years. Ive been looking after Laura for as long as shes been in Leeds, Andrew said She has come a very long way and Im hoping she can push on after her experience from the last World Championships and perform well this year. I hope that she goes all the way in making it to the final! Rabat 💎 League 4th 4:03.07@Diamond_League #RabatDL Next 1500m .... @London2017 😄🏃🏻♀️ pic.twitter.com/ufDgWEg5RU Laura Weightman (@LauraWeightman) July 17, 2017 Meanwhile, Leeds Beckett will be heavily represented in the Race Walking events with three Race Walkers competing on the final day of the Championships, Sunday 14 August. 🚶♀️🚶The Festival of Race Walks take place in the most glorious setting in London.Enjoy this 🕊 over of the Mall #BeTheNext pic.twitter.com/l9XuRyfPlN IAAF World Champs (@IAAFWorldChamps) August 3, 2017 Olympian Tom Bosworth has had a brilliant qualifying campaign having beaten the World Mile Record last month in the Muller Anniversary Games. Toms record breaking walk comes off the back of a very successful 2016 Olympic Games, where he finished 6t h, and he will be looking to improve again in the World Championships. Tom will line-up alongside current Leeds Beckett students Callum Wilkinson and Gemma Bridge. Callum and Gemma will be competing in their first ever World Championships and have taken unique routes to reach the big stage. Callum will be looking to make a name for himself at the World Championships as the current Junior Race Walking World Champion. Meanwhile, Gemma switched from long distance running to race walking 12 months ago and has not looked back since, having qualified for the Championships in spectacular fashion. Good luck to @TomBosworth @CWilko97 @LauraWeightman @glbridge1 all are competing at the @IAAFWorldChamps starting this Friday #TeamBeckett pic.twitter.com/uamnYuVfBa Carnegie Sport (@carnegiesport) July 31, 2017 Gemma won the British and English Race Walking Titles at the British Trials last month, an achievement Andrew Henderson says shouldnt be taken lightly. Gemma has come from Running to Race Walking, this has been her first full year of competing in Race Walking and it just shows how far shes come, Andrew said Shes never competed at this level before so for her to go to the World Championships in her first year is absolutely massive. All three have benefited from the expertise and coaching of Andi Drake. Andi is currently with the athletes in London and is playing a crucial role in their final preparations. Andi deserves a lot of credit for the work that has been done, he has built the Race Walking programme from scratch along with the team into a World Class programme. Mick Hill, Senior Coach (High performance Enterprise) at Leeds Beckett said. All four athletes will be heading into the Championships with high hopes but for Head of Athletics Andrew Henderson, he hopes that all will be happy with their performances, regardless of the result. The dream would certainly be for one of our four athletes to get a medal in this World Championships. That would be fantastic, Andrew said But I just want them all to finish their events and be happy with what theyve achieved and hopefully go on and compete in more Championships in the future. Good luck to all four of our athletes for the World Championships!
Rhodri Thomas, Professor of Tourism and Events Policy at Leeds Beckett and Dean of the School of Events, Tourism Hospitality Management, will speak at the Contemporary Trends in Tourism and Hospitality conference (CTTH 2017), held in Novi Sad in Serbia on 1 and 2 September. Rhodris keynote presentation is entitled New spaces in cultural tourism: a role for universities in innovation? and will explore aspects of the conference theme from the prospective contribution of universities to innovation in local or regional cultural tourism. Rhodri will begin by reviewing what is understood about the dynamics of innovation and the role external knowledge plays in commercial, non-commercial and policy innovation processes in tourism. He will then consider knowledge production undertaken by universities and examine the contribution institutions might make to innovation in cultural tourism, events and festivals. In the presentation he will also consider how the challenges to collaboration might be overcome. CTTH 2017 is an international conference exploring research in tourism, leisure, hotel management, hunting tourism, gastronomy and multidisciplinary studies such are events and meeting industry, entrepreneurship in hospitality and the creative industries. The main aim of the conference is to put emphasis on the importance of cultural and event tourism as important factors for improvement of tourism and general economic image of certain country or region. This year the working title of the conference is New Spaces in Cultural Tourism and the conference is merged with one of the most exciting festival in Novi Sad The Street Musicians Festival. Rhodri Thomas is Professor of Tourism and Events Policy and Dean of the School of Events, Tourism Hospitality Management. Originally trained as an economist, Rhodri now engages in multidisciplinary research in the context of tourism and the events sector. His particular research interests are: (a) public policy studies, especially in relation to small firms, and (b) innovation and knowledge exchange. Rhodri has acted as a 'specialist expert' on policy issues for the OECD, the European Commission and for government departments and other agencies in the UK and elsewhere. He has completed several Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) grant and non-grant funded projects and is a member of their Peer Review College. His Chair was, uniquely, supported by the Institute of Travel and Tourism (ITT) for five years.
Leeds Beckett University alumnus, Honorary Doctor and Sport Hall of Fame inductee Kevin Sinfield will receive a knighthood after being named in the Kings Birthday Honours. Kevin, one of the most respected figures in British sport, has been recognised in the honours list and will become Sir Kevin Sinfield following his formal investiture for services to Rugby League, Rugby Union and the MND Community A longstanding member of the Leeds Beckett community, Kevin graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Sport Exercise Science in 2008 before returning to complete an MA in Sport Business in 2015. In 2019, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Sports Science by the University in recognition of his outstanding contribution to sport. Kevin enjoyed an illustrious playing career with Leeds Rhinos, captaining the club to seven Super League titles, two Challenge Cup victories and three World Club Challenge successes. He represented both England and Great Britain and remains one of the most decorated players in rugby league history. Following his retirement from playing, Kevin moved into leadership and coaching roles across rugby league and rugby union, including positions with Leeds Rhinos, Leicester Tigers and England Rugby. In recent years, Kevin has become widely admired for his extraordinary fundraising efforts in support of the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) community. Inspired by his friendship with former Leeds Rhinos teammate and fellow Leeds Beckett alumnus Rob Burrow CBE, Kevin has undertaken a series of endurance challenges which have raised millions of pounds for MND charities, research and support services. Leeds Beckett has proudly supported a number of these initiatives, including hosting events at its Headingley Campus and working alongside Kevin, the Burrow family and Leeds Rhinos to raise awareness and support for the MND community. Kevin was also one of the inaugural inductees into the Leeds Beckett University Sport Hall of Fame in recognition of his exceptional achievements, leadership and impact both within and beyond sport. The Leeds Beckett community congratulates Kevin on this richly deserved honour.
Although being a fan can help people build friendships, feel part of a community, improve wellbeing and develop a sense of identity, very little research has looked at potential benefits for people with a learning disability. The team will review all existing studies on the topic to find out: What is already known about fandom and learning disability How fandom might improve wellbeing, social connections and quality of life Where there are gaps in the research What future studies should focus on Dr Kris Southby, Assistant Director for the Centre for Health Promotion Research at Leeds Beckett University, said: The project aims to help organisations and service providers better support leisure and social opportunities for people with a learning disability, who often face barriers to taking part in activities and can experience social isolation. Funded by the Bailey Thomas Charitable Fund, the 12-week project is a collaboration between Leeds Beckett University, the University Campus of Football Business and the University of Cologne. The findings will be shared with researchers, service providers, people with a learning disability and their families, and will help shape future research and support services.