Background
The SWIFT Research Centre was launched early in 2020 and was established to respond to a recognition of growing awareness of the potential of sport, physical education and physical activity for holistic human health and social development. The stimulus for the development of SWIFT arose from a timely opportunity to adopt the John Paul II Foundation for Sport (JP2F4S) with its focus on sport for holistic youth development led by Monsignor Father Vladimir Feltzmann who is now a member of the SWIFT committee and a visiting professor at St Marys University.
SWIFT is staffed by ‘pracademics’ – i.e. academics with relevant practical experience and research expertise in diverse fields, including:
- Physical education teaching and learning
- Positive youth development and lifeskills
- Physical literacy and fundamental movement skills
- Inclusion and social justice in sport and physical education
- Sports coaching practices and science
- Professional development in sport, physical education and physical activity
- Spirituality, faith in sport and physical activity
- Community-engaged learning / Service Learning.
These specialisms and the breadth of our research expertise have enabled staff SWIFT to support a wide range of initiatives such as:
- Best practice and expert statements
- Evaluation and impact projects
- Professional observations and analyses
- Proof of concept reviews
- Designing and/or hosting events and conferences
- Professional development events (staff training)
- Mentoring
- Professional guidance
- Community learning initiatives.
The staff work with a wide range of organisations including schools, national governing bodies in sport, professional body organisations, faith groups as well as sports and other charities. We aim to make a difference to people and our community partners by supporting good practice and knowledge development in how we thoughtfully facilitate and evaluate sport, physical education and physical activities.