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| *Photos by Dustin Cook |
Sport Canada set out goals for its annual research conference several years back: to showcase the sport policy research being done by Canadian academics; to ensure policy makers, practitioners and researchers spoke candidly to one another to maximize the uptake of sport research into programs and policy; and to encourage established researchers and graduate students to remain in the field of sport research.
Our 2009 conference gave us all reason to be proud. Our partnership with SIRC allowed us to bring the conference to a higher standard of quality and professionalism. SIRC led the development of on-line tools, increased the conference’s visibility, provided logistical expertise and continues to manage conference-related content and activity.
The quality and diversity of plenary and poster presentations was outstanding, and the results represented true contributions to an increasing body of knowledge feeding sport participation policy in Canada. The 2009 conference binder – filled with abstracts and knowledge transfer papers by a growing base of researchers – demonstrates how far this Initiative has come.
The keynote address sparked reaction and reflection. Dr. Fred Coalter cautioned against the dangers of sport rhetoric, reminding his audience that it is the process of participation in sport – how sport is provided and experienced – that determines its level of success.
The conference workshop, expertly facilitated by Ian Bird, generated solutions for ongoing sport policy-research exchange. The systemic, institutional, and individual solutions are now serving as the basis for an agenda for action.
The success of the 2009 conference was due to participants’ genuine engagement in this Initiative and efforts to share knowledge and expertise, to think critically, and to dialogue in good faith. We look forward to building on this success in 2010
Sincerely,
Joanne Kay,
Sport Canada
* Photos courtesy of Dustin Cook, national team athlete and winner of SIRC photo contest |
