Glasgow to Host Pre-Olympic Sports Conference

Glasgow is confirmed as the venue for a world-wide sports and sports science conference, which will be held in the run-up to the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Professor Nanette Mutrie of Strathclyde's Faculty of Education said: "Winning the right to host this prestigious convention is a fantastic achievement for Glasgow. We at the University of Strathclyde are proud to have played a part in bringing the event to the city and will be equally proud to be involved in hosting it.

"Strathclyde is at the forefront of physical activity for health research in Scotland. Our mission is to train the future workforce, which includes coaches, physical educators and sport and physical activity professionals, to encourage increased levels of physical activity across the lifespan and to engage in research aimed at improving public health."

Celia Brackenridge, Professor of Sport Sciences and Director of the Centre for Youth Sport and Athlete Welfare at Brunel University in London who led the Consortium, said: "I am absolutely delighted that ICEMIS will be coming to Glasgow just prior to the Olympics in 2012. Glasgow City Marketing Bureau has been enormously supportive of the bid process and we look forward to working closely with them and all our partners over the next four years.

"Winning the bid is a great privilege and a considerable responsibility. We recognise that we are merely guardians of this event on behalf of the International Olympic Committee, International Paralympic Committee, International Federation of Sports Medicine and International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education.

"As a bid team we were always committed to spreading the benefits of the London Games to other parts of the UK and this is what we now plan to do."

Peter Clarke, Senior Lecturer in Sport Psychology, represented Strathclyde on the consortium delegation which put its case for its bid at the ICSEMIS conference in Guangzhou, shortly before the Beijing Olympics.

Steven Purcell, Chair of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau and Leader of Glasgow City Council, said: "This is another fantastic win for Glasgow and I would like to thank everyone who worked so hard to land this prestigious conference for the city.

"Glasgow's outstanding conference credentials and proud sporting heritage make it the ideal location for this pre-Olympic conference. And, of course, it's an excellent precursor to the Commonwealth Games in 2014."

Molly Doheny, Head of the Convention Bureau at GCMB who presented Glasgow's bid to the International Coordinating Committee for the convention alongside Professor Brackenridge, said: "We have been working with the Brunel Consortium for two years on this bid and it's extremely gratifying to see all our efforts paying off. I visited the convention while it was in Guangzhou last week and China has set the bar extremely high. But we are confident of delivering a successful event in Glasgow in 2012."

Working alongside Brunel and Strathclyde in bidding for the conference - and now delivering it - are Liverpool John Moores, the UWIC (Cardiff) and Ulster University, all five being recognized centres of excellence for physical education teacher training and sports science.

Glasgow-based professional conference organiser, Concorde Services, is also now working on delivering the convention.

The 3,000-delegate convention, which will take place at the Scottish Exhibition and  Conference Centre in Glasgow from July 19 - 27, 2012, will generate more than £5 million for the local economy in addition to strengthening the city's credentials for hosting major sporting events and conferences in the run up to the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

It is anticipated that delegates to the Glasgow convention will come from all over the world, with financial assistance provided to students from developing countries via a scholarship program. Closer to home, the Consortium plans to develop a programme of activities to engage members of the general public, and young people in particular, in the excitement of sport science.

Ben Goedegebuure, the Director of Sales at the SECC added: "The SECC will be playing an integral part in the 2014 Commonwealth Games when they come to Glasgow and this pre-Olympic conference represents further, our continuing commitment to supporting and staging major sporting events.

"We look forward to welcoming ICSEMIS delegates to Glasgow."