Claire is a Senior Lecturer in Sport Development at University of Hertfordshire. Prior to this, she was a Sport Management Lecturer at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia. 

Claire's research largely involves providing evidence based insight for sports organisations, mainly in sport for development (SfD), sports diplomacy and understanding community sport participation. She is currently working on research projects in sport for development and also sports diplomacy, with an array of organisations and academic colleagues. 

Her previous community sport participation research largely involved older adults, and also on women's participation.

Academically, Claire is the EASM (European Association of Sport Management) Conference Track Chair for Sport Development and Socio-Cultural Aspects, is the Copy Editor for the Journal of Sport for Development, and is an editorial board member for three journals: International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, Managing Sport and Leisure, and Frontiers of Sports Management and Marketing. Furthermore, she is the External Examiner for the Sport Development programme at Leeds Beckett University. 

Claire also engages widely with the sport development industry as the Co-Chair of the UK Sport Development Network (UKSDN), and is on the Sport for Development Coalition's working group for staffing in the UK.

She was previously on the advisory board for the British Council Wales 'Wales and the Soft Power of Sport' sports diplomacy project and in late 2020, was an invited expert at the 2020 DCMS Select Committee on the value of community sport. When in Australia, Claire was a former board member of the Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand (SMAANZ), and the Victorian Active Ageing Partnership (VAAP).

Prior to entering academia, she was a Sports Development Manager in London and also worked on sport for development projects in Zambia.

• Sport for development
• Sports diplomacy
• Community sport participation

Claire's current research projects include:

• Understanding the operationalisation of sports diplomacy in the sport for development sector
• Exploring long term, post-programme participation outcomes from a SFD programme

Previous research has included understanding the referral process of a SFD programme, a longitudinal exploration of engagement in a sport for desistance of crime project, and an in depth comparative case study of Australian and UK sports diplomacy. 

In community sport participation, previous research has involved understanding the benefits and barriers for older adults and evaluating walking sport programmes. She has also worked on research projects on community sport participation for people with disabilities, women and girls and evaluating sport for health programmes.

She supervises five PhD students for example, in sport for development, gender and sports diplomacy, and mental wellbeing and racial trauma in semi-professional football. These students are in the UK and Malaysia.  

Claire's main passions for research are in sport for development, sport for social change and sports diplomacy.

Claire teaches on the Sport Development strand of the Sport Studies programme. She coordinates the Insight and Evaluation in Sport Development, Global Perspectives of Sport Development, and Facilities and Funding in Active Communities modules, whilst also contributing to the Physical Activity and Sport Policy in Practice, and Research Methods modules. Furthermore, she supervises final year students on the Work Experience Learning and Research Dissertation modules.

Claire is available for research consultancy and media enquiries in the fields of community sport participation, sport for social change, sports diplomacy and sport management. 

An example of previous consultancy work was for Just, a FTSE 100 company. This was for their Just Get Active, a walking sport programme, campaign to get older adults more physically active, which involved media interviews and writing blogs.