CONFERENCE - HIGHLIGHTED SPEAKERS

Juana Willumsen is a technical officer of the World Health Organization in the Department for Health Promotion. Her current work focusses on policies to promote physical activity and sport and developing the technical tools to support country implementation of the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity. She coordinated the development of the first WHO guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for children under 5 years of age, that were launched in April 2019 and the update of the guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour for children, adults and older adults in 2020.

Dr Karen Milton is an Associate Professor in Public Health at the University of East Anglia and President of the International Society for Physical Activity and Health (ISPAH). She was involved in the development of the World Health Organization’s Global Action Plan on Physical Activity 2018–2030 and the International Society for Physical Activity and Health’s 8 Investments that work for Physical Activity, both of which emphasise the importance of adopting a systems approach to physical activity promotion.

Charlie Crane is a Senior Manager in the Children and Young People Policy Team at Sport England, specialising in physical literacy, Active Lives Children and Young People research and School Games. Prior to joining Sport England, Charlie enjoyed a varied career in positions spanning the charity, commercial, government and education sectors; the Active Partnerships National Team, the British Heart Foundation National Centre for Physical Activity and Health, Charnwood Borough Council, Serco Leisure and teaching at Loughborough College and Middlexsex University. Charlie has held national positions since 2010, focused on supporting the health and wellbeing of children and young people at both a policy and programme level.

Dr Andy Daly-Smith is a Reader in Childrens’ Physical Activity and Health at the University of Bradford (UK). Within Bradford he co-leads the Centre for Applied Education Research and research on the JUMP project; the UK’s first whole-systems approach to physical activity for children and young people. Andy’s personal research focusses on the implementation and effectiveness of whole-school approaches to physical activity, specifically Creating Active Schools.

Caterina is a Professor at the University of Rome “Foro Italico”. She graduated with a BSc in Physical Education and Movement and Sport Sciences, MSc in Psychology (Rome) and PhD in Philosophy (Berlin). Her main research focuses on physical activity and cognition, motor competence and enriched physical education. Caterina has published 100+ international articles and 14 books, with over 4600 citations. She is an Associate Editor for MENPA, editorial board member of JSEP and JMLD. High national and international reach through the Whole School, Whole Child, Whole Community “Joy of Moving” approach to holistic child development promotion through quality physical activity.

Jan Burkhardt is the Programme Director for JU:MP, an Active Bradford initiative and one of 12 Local Delivery Pilots funded by Sport England to better understand what helps people to be active in their communities taking a whole system approach. Jan has a Masters in Public Health and spent 15 years working as a Health Improvement Specialist on children’s healthy weight and physical activity at Leeds City Council Public Health. She has a background in community dance and was the Strategic Lead for Dance in Health and Wellbeing with One Dance UK, the Arts Council funded national body for dance.

Dr Geir Kare is a professor and vice-chancellor for regional development at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. Between 2018 to 2021, Resaland was the initiator and leader of the Center for Physically Active Learning (SEFAL), which offers workplace-based skills development in physically active learning (PAL). In the same period, he was also the initiator and leader of ACTivate, an Erasmus+ collaboration project including six countries. Resaland has researched physical activity and PAL in school for 20 years, publishing 78 international peer-reviewed articles. He has been a visiting researcher at University College Dublin, and the University of Texas.

Mathias Brekke Mandelid is located at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences and the University of Southeastern Norway. He has previously led the Center for Physically Active Learning, been part of the ERASMUS+ project ACTivate and is currently doing his PhD in Physically Active Learning. Mathias’ research interests are pedagogy and didactics, particularly in national and global policy. From 2019-2023, Mathias has worked on developing SEFAL's continuous professional development programme on physically active learning.

Alfred Deakin Professor Jo Salmon is Director of the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin University and holds a NHMRC Level 2 Investigator Grant. She has >20 years research experience developing effective programs to promote children’s physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour. She has been a Chief Investigator on >30 national and 14 international funded projects worth more than $28.8 million, and has supervised 26 PhD students to completion and 14 postdoctoral fellows. She has published her research extensively with over 400 publications. Jo is founding and current President of the Asia Pacific Society for Physical Activity (ASPA).

Dr Lawrence Foweather is a Reader in Physical Activity and Health in the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences at Liverpool John Moores University. He jointly leads the Children, Young People and Families interest group within the Institute for Health Research and is a member of the Physical Activity Exchange within the Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences. His research focuses on understanding factors and developing interventions to promote physical activity and sport participation among children and young people. Recently, Lawrence led the co-development of the Physical Literacy Consensus for England, which involved regional, national and international stakeholders.

Dr Spyridoula Vazou is an associate professor with the Department of Kinesiology at Michigan State University. Using a whole-child development approach, her research focuses on developing (a) physical activity programmes for the school classroom, integrated with the academic subjects, to promote learning, cognitive function, and social-emotional skills, and (b) interventions and strategies to motivate children and youth to be physically active. Her classroom-based physical activity and school wellness programmes are implemented in schools in Iowa (“Move for Thought”, “School Wellness Integration Targeting Child Health (SWITCH)”), as well as across several US states through the Save the Children SummerBoost camps (“Joy of Moving and Learning”).

Alex Ogden has worked in the education sector now for over 15 years. He spent 12 years teaching in primary schools across Yorkshire, leading PE, Sport and Physical Activity provision in those settings, before becoming an education consultant. As the founder of Burn2Learn, specialising in physically active learning, he has supported senior leaders nationwide to adopt a whole school approach to getting children moving across the wider curriculum. He now leads the education team at the Yorkshire Sport Foundation where he supports local authorities, academy trusts and senior leaders in schools across West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire to embed physical activity at a strategic level in schools. Alex is also the National Partnerships Manager for the pioneering Creating Active Schools Programme.

Dr Natalie Lander is a passionate educator with experience in secondary schools and tertiary settings and a Senior Research Fellow (Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition at Deakin University). Her research is informed by teachers and directly relevant to the teaching profession. Natalie has over 60 peer-reviewed papers and has presented her research at >30 international conferences. She has gained discipline-specific expertise in designing, delivering and evaluating interventions in education settings, using qualitative and quantitative analytic techniques to determine effectiveness, process evaluation, and implementation outcomes, and she has significant experience with population-level implementation trials in school and university systems.

Dr Collin Webster is an associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi in Texas, USA. His background is in physical education pedagogy and physical education teacher education. Dr. Webster is nationally and internationally recognized for his research and scholarship on youth physical activity promotion through school systems. His main areas of emphasis include comprehensive school physical activity programmes, classroom movement integration, and educator preparation specific to whole-of-school physical activity. Before working in Texas, Dr. Webster held academic appointments at the University of Birmingham Dubai, the University of South Carolina, and the University of Wollongong.

Dr Sally Barber is the Director of Physical Activity Research at Born in Bradford, Bradford Institute for Health Research. Her expertise is in the measurement of children’s physical activity and sedentary behaviour and designing, implementing and evaluating interventions to tackle children’s inactivity and reduce health inequalities.

Sally is currently a Director of Research for the Sport England Funded JU:MP Programme in Bradford where she leads the development and evaluation of a whole system physical activity intervention to improve physical activity and health outcomes for children aged 5-14 years old.

Ian Holmes is a former head teacher who ensured physical activity and its wide relating benefits sat at the heart of the school’s culture and ethos, in order to improve outcomes for the children they served. This led to his involvement in national and international research projects on whole school physical activity. He recently worked for the University of Bradford, ensuring research and practice were brought together in the implementation of the Creating Active Schools programmes at local, regional and national levels. He is now a co-director of Move & Learn Community Interest Company - providing programmes and support for those in education (and beyond) that focus on reducing sedentary time in teaching and training in order to improve both experiences and outcomes for all. He is also a European Mentoring & Coaching Council (EMCC) accredited coach at master practitioner level.

Dr Merike Kull is an associate professor of health education and the head of the Movement Lab in the Institute of Sport Science and Physiotherapy in University of Tartu, Estonia. She has been the initiator of the national level whole school physical activity program Schools in Motion and has been leading the interdisciplinary team in the development and co-creation process of the program with the schools since its beginning in 2016. She has extensive experience in cooperating with various stakeholders, including schools, ministries, sport organizations, financiers etc.

Steve is the Deputy CEO of the Association for Physical Education and an education consultant with significant leadership and teaching experience in secondary, further and higher education. He has also lead teacher training programmes for primary non specialists. He is a physical education specialist, the national lead for health and safety, and was a member of the group researching schools placing PE at the heart of the school (with the aim of it becoming a core subject). He has also been involved in school inspection for over twenty years and was a part of the team who produced the Ofsted PE subject survey report (September 2023)

Dr Katrin Mägi, is a researcher and program developer in Movement Lab in the Institute of Sport Sciences and Physiotherapy in University of Tartu, Estonia. Having a background in school psychology, she considers it important to contribute to the mental health and well-being of children and young people through more physically active school days. She has been one of the core developers of the Schools in Motion program from its start in 2016 in Estonia and has put her special effort in developing supportive trainings and tools for the teachers in the process of applying more physically active methods in their lessons.

Mr. Antti Blom has been working as programme director of Finnish Schools on the Move programme from 2010 to 2023, when the programme has evolved from a small pilot project of 45 schools into a national programme with more than 2000 schools. He also coordinates the entity of Finland’s 'On the Move programmes' for different age groups promoting an active and healthy lifestyle throughout the lifespan. These programmes are funded and carried out by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland. Antti Blom works at Finnish National Agency of Education in Helsinki

Dr. Tuija Tammelin works as a chief researcher at Jamk University of Applied Science, Likes, in Jyväskylä, Finland. Her expertise lies in the field of physical activity and health, and the current research projects focus on the role of physical activity in supporting well-being and learning. Since 2010 she has been responsible for the research related to Schools on the Move programme aiming to make the school day more physically active and pleasant in Finnish basic education.

Amika Singh leads the ‘Learn to Move’ research group with the Mulier Institute (Utrecht, the Netherlands) and works as a senior researcher at the Department of Movement, School & Sports.

Her research, which has a strong translational character, focuses on the development, evaluation and implementation of interventions and programmes that aim at improving healthy physical activity behaviours in children. Her research projects are practice- and policy-oriented and take place in various settings (i.e. schools, neighbourhoods). Examples of current research Amika is currently involved in focus on outdoor active play, evaluation of community-based complex obesity-prevention programs, and physical literacy.