SSTO lecturer discusses Suárez

The SSTO's Amy Whitehead has been interviewed by British GQ regarding the Luis Suárez biting incident during the recent Uruguay v Italy World Cup game.

Amy, a specialist in Sport and Exercise Psychology within SSTO, offers some strong views about the controversy, saying the striker's "inability to control his arousal level, coupled with his intrinsic and extrinsic desire to win at all costs" are the main factors behind Suárez biting opponents.

The full article can be viewed here.

Dr Guiver to attend showpiece event

SSTO Sustainability Lead Dr Jo Guiver is in Freiburg, Germany, next week for a prestigious Tourism and Transport Workshop.

Dr Guiver will be accompanied to the event by co-author Dr Davina Stanford from Leeds Met University to deliver their presentation about the difficulties of providing sustainable options in tourist destinations, using the Lake District as an example of where some barriers have been overcome.

Some of the top names in tourist travel will be attending including Professor Michael Hall, Stefan Gössling and Paul Peeters.

As a result of the previous workshop in 2012, Dr Guiver and Gunvor Larsen had a paper published in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism about tourists' perception of distance.

For full event details please click here.

SSTO welcomes Olympic champion

An Olympic gold medallist visited the SSTO to inspire sporting youngsters through his story of success.

Slalom canoeist Tim Baillie won gold in the London 2012 Olympic Games with his partner Etienne Stott in the C2 event, as well as winning two bronze medals at the 2009 and 2011 World Championships and gold at the 2009 European Championships.

Over 100 local college and sixth form pupils met Tim and heard his story as part of a sport enhancement day run by the School. Tim commented: "Winning gold at London 2012 was the culmination of a lot of hard work, blood, sweat and tears and it was of course the highlight of my career.

"Today I've shared my journey through elite sport and hopefully inspired the students by showing that hard work and dedication does pay off."

As part of the event the pupils also learned more about the psychology of performance, the mechanics of athlete power, rehabilitation, match analysis and event management. They also took part in a practical rock climbing session.

Dr Steve Atkins, principal lecturer in sport, exercise and nutritional sciences, said: "We're delighted to welcome Tim to the University to share his inspirational story with the next generation of sports men and women. They've also been given a taste of the wide range of careers available that support sports development from grassroots to elite level."

Lecturer tackles walk to help child's sight battle

The SSTO's Danielle Prescott is taking part in a sponsored walk to raise funds for a friend's child who has a serious eye condition.

Danielle will accompany around 50 people who are walking from Manchester to Darwen on Saturday 14th June to help support Natasha Scott and Philip Davies and their daughter, Elyssa Davies.

Natasha took Elyssa to her doctors during May as she was concerned about a reflection in one of her eyes.

She was immediately referred to see a specialist and a few days later everyone's worst fears were realised as Elyssa was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma in both eyes. This is a very rare cancer on the retina that affects young children.

The next day Elyssa went to Royal London Hospital to see another specialist who told Natasha and Phil that Elyssa needed to have one of her eyes removed. It has been a tough time for the family, who are making regular trips to London as Elyssa continues to receive treatment to ensure her remaining eye is working.

If anyone wishes to sponsor the walk please email Danielle. For more information on directly helping the family please click here.

SSTO Internationalisation update

Internationalisation Lead Jackie Day has been busy promoting SSTO across the world.

Along with Associate Dean Dr Adrian Ibbetson, Jackie recently visited UCLan Cyprus to work with colleagues delivering our Hospitality and Tourism course and to also oversee the unveiling of the newly validated Sport and Exercise programme.

They also visited the Cypriot Olympic Committee and Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) headquarters in Nicosia and met with Director General Olga Chrysaphi to discuss the EqUip internship programme.

This is an international scheme run by the CGF in association with universities around the world. UCLan is coordinating the European Region which includes the European Commonwealth countries, England and Cyprus. Students will have the opportunity to undertake 48-week internships with these federations.

In addition to the Cyprus trip, Jackie has been to Vietnam, Thailand, Burma, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia and Singapore, working with the British Council on their exhibitions as well as agent exhibitions and school visits.

During this period she also attended the UCLan SE Asia agent conference in Kuala Lumpur and three others in China held in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. These conferences gave Jackie an opportunity to meet around 120 agents who counsel students on why they should choose SSTO programmes to study.

Whilst in Thailand Jackie met Professor Aeerat Suputtitada from King Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, who is looking to collaborate with Professor Jim Richards on the area of gait analysis research.

On the China visit she met Dean Zheng of Xiamen University Overseas College to formalise an articulation agreement which will allow their students to study one year in Xiamen and two years at UCLan within the areas of tourism, hospitality and events.

Living with Diabetes Day

The SSTO teamed up with the Diabetes Research & Wellness Foundation and specialist teams from Lancashire NHS and Lancashire University Hospitals to host the first annual 'Living with Diabetes Day'.

This unique event brought together people living with diabetes, healthcare professionals, academics, students and diabetes organisations to provide a wealth of diabetes information under one roof.

Living with Diabetes Day gave people the chance to learn more about diabetes and provide them with the tools and increased understanding to support a pro-active approach to good self-management skills and subsequently improve quality of life.

For more information about Living with Diabetes Day please click here. A selection of images from the event can be viewed here.