Kirstie started her career in local authority sports development in the North West; her work focussed on excluded communities and their access to becoming and staying active. She has kept up to date with the industry both national and internationally through extensive external contact with a variety of organisations. She is currently the Secretary General for the European Observatoire for Sport and Employment.
About Kirstie Simpson
In terms of notable practitioner experience, Kirstie led the Volunteer Management Team for the World Swimming Championships held in Manchester in 2008 and has subsequently led numerous European Commission-funded projects on learning mobility. For example, working with European colleagues, Kirstie has designed and delivered a European Commission-funded Level 5 sports administration training programme for the Maltese Government sport agency, Kunsill Malti Ghall-Isport (Sport Malta). Kirstie has also led the development and delivery of a sport management and leadership programme for middle managers from 25 European countries at the Institute of Sport, at Viermaki in Finland.
In 2019, Kirstie moderated the Inaugural European Sports Skills Summit at the Finnish Ministry of Education in Helsinki and is currently the Programme Director in a European Commission-funded learning mobility project with four National Olympic Committees in the Western Balkans; Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia.
Teaching
Kirstie teaches mainly on the Masters programmes and she is passionate about strategy, behaviour change and evaluating impact.
Research
Interests
- Sport Development strategy/ strategic management of Sport Development
- Partnerships in Sport Development and Community Engagement
- Evaluation of Sport Development Interventions
Published Work
Books
Kirstie uses practitioner experience to inform her teaching as well as the co-editing of the textbook ‘Strategic Sport Development’ published by Routledge in 2013. She is currently working with her co-editors on a Second Edition due to be published in July 2021.
Robson, S., Tucker, L. and Simpson, K. (2013) (Eds.). Strategic Sport Development. London: Routledge.
Other Papers
Simpson.K. (2005). Curriculum Developments in Sport Development. Link 12, Higher Education Academy, Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Network, 28-29.
Qualifications
BSc, (Glouc), MA (Glouc), EdD (Chester – in progress), SFHEA