Call for Papers

The 10th International Sport & Discrimination Conference examines the intersectional nature of discrimination in and through sport. Taking place on 10–11 June 2027 at Université Paris-Saclay, France, the conference invites contributions from academics, postgraduate researchers, students, practitioners, policy makers and professionals from a wide range of disciplinary and professional backgrounds.

The 2027 edition will focus on a central question: how can discrimination in and through sport be effectively tackled? While the identification, documentation and analysis of discrimination remain essential, this edition seeks to move beyond diagnosis towards operational responses, examining not only what organisations do, but also whether, how and under what conditions their interventions produce meaningful and lasting effects. Over recent years, sport organisations, federations, clubs, public authorities and civil society organisations have developed a growing range of awareness campaigns, educational programmes, training initiatives, reporting systems, monitoring tools, safeguarding procedures and regulatory responses. Yet the multiplication of initiatives has not always been accompanied by equivalent progress in assessing their effectiveness. Awareness-raising and training are particularly widespread, while evidence regarding behavioural change, organisational transformation and longer-term impact often remains limited.

This raises important questions of social accountability for sport federations and governing bodies. Increasingly, organisations are expected not simply to adopt anti-discrimination policies or demonstrate that activities have taken place, but to show that their interventions are appropriately designed, accessible to those concerned, capable of producing measurable outcomes and subject to transparent evaluation. Developing robust, evidence-based evaluation frameworks is therefore becoming central to both organisational learning and institutional accountability.

The conference welcomes contributions addressing all forms of discrimination across sporting contexts. In particular, submissions may explore:

• the evaluation and impact of anti-discrimination policies, programmes and interventions;
• the effectiveness of awareness-raising campaigns and the conditions under which they may contribute to behavioural or organisational change;
• training strategies for athletes, coaches, officials, volunteers, supporters, safeguarding professionals and sport managers;
• methods, indicators and longitudinal approaches for assessing short-, medium- and long-term impact;
• the articulation between prevention, detection and action, including monitoring, reporting, safeguarding, disciplinary and regulatory mechanisms;
• intersectional approaches and the capacity of interventions to address overlapping forms of discrimination;
• the use of digital technologies, artificial intelligence and monitoring tools in detecting and responding to discrimination and online abuse;

• organisational responsibility and the social accountability of federations, leagues, clubs, public authorities, platforms and other sport governing bodies;
• examples of effective practice, implementation failures, unintended consequences and the transferability of interventions between sporting and national contexts;
• theoretical and methodological contributions capable of advancing the study and evaluation of anti-discrimination action in sport.

As in previous editions, the conference remains open to contributions examining the nature, extent and experience of discrimination in sport, as well as broader theoretical, historical, sociological, cultural, legal, managerial and policy-oriented approaches.

Proposals should be submitted in English for 15-minute presentations and should include a title, a 200-word abstract, the name and institutional affiliation of the presenter(s), and a concise biography of approximately 100 words.

All submissions and enquiries should be sent to: SportDisc@leedsbeckett.ac.uk

Key dates

2 September 2026: Call for Papers

4 December 2026: Deadline for submission of abstracts

11 December 2026: Notification of acceptance

10–11 June 2027: 10th International Sport & Discrimination Conference

For more information, please check out the S&D website: https://sportanddiscrimination.com/ To join the S&D LinkedIn Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13290202/

Venue

Université Paris-Saclay (Gif-sur-Yvette, 91190)

Organising Committee

Prof. Daniel Kilvington (Leeds Beckett University, UK) Dr John Price (University of Sunderland, UK)

Dr Yann Descamps (Université Gustave Eiffel, France) Marloes Ekkelboom (German Sport University, Germany) Dr Noemi Garcia-Arjona (Universite Paris-Saclay, France) Lise Ramon (Universite of Rennes, France)

Dr Ross Ensor (Leeds Beckett University, UK).