ProfessorEleni Theodoraki

There is evidence to suggest that planners see events as tools for destination marketing, catalysts for urban change, drivers of regeneration and a means towards healthy lifestyle adoption and targeted social and environmental change. There is now an impetus on focusing on strategic paths towards achieving lasting outcomes for host communities – a phenomenon described as event leveraging. Qatar, which suffers from a high per capita carbon footprint and high levels of diabetes and obesity has the opportunity to leverage the 2022 Qatar World Football Cup to address two strategic imperatives: 1) the improvement of the communication and adoption of physically active lifestyles 2) the use of events to implement best environmental sustainability practice. The proposed action research will take the form of a network development project to facilitate the constructive dialogue and knowledge transfer between professionals (event managers, public health experts, physical educators, social marketing experts, city planners and environmental agencies) in Qatar and with experts in the UK and overseas. A questionnaire survey, focus group meetings and interviews are proposed to identify 1) current event leveraging 2) opportunities that the event will generate for green and active living promotion 3) perceived barriers and challenges that exist in harnessing opportunities 4) strategic options available to mitigate against barriers to green and active living and achieve targets.

Scottish Enterprise funded literature review project on economic impacts stemming from pre-games training related activities of national teams attending the London 2012 Olympic and the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Travel and subsistence allowance for role of Core-commissioner in Commission for a Sustainable London 2012