Women’s sport is growing at speed. The Lioness effect, sparked by the success of the women’s national football side, has seen the number of women and girls’ football teams double. At a professional level, women’s sport is forecast to generate revenues of £1.82 billion globally this year, according to analysis by Deloitte.
Which is why Loughborough University’s groundbreaking Women in Sport Research and Innovation Hub, launched in partnership with Vitality in March 2025, is so timely. The hub, which brings together leading academics, industry partners, national governing bodies and athletes, is delivering cutting-edge research and innovation designed to create positive change for women across the sporting spectrum, from grassroots to elite level.
Currently, just 6% of sports science research is undertaken exclusively on women in sport, and the hub’s purpose is to fill that gap across the disciplines. In a coup for the university, Prof Leanne Norman, who has spent almost 20 years leading landmark national and international research projects into equity, inclusion and social change in sport, was recently named professor of women in sport – believed to be the first appointment of its kind, globally – and the hub’s academic lead.
“Loughborough’s position as the world’s leading university for sport means it has an incredible wealth of expertise across different disciplines,” she says. “The hub combines that knowledge and work to take a holistic approach to driving real change that will benefit women engaging in sport and exercise at every level.”
The hub’s remit is wide-ranging, including: advancing the health of athletes and exercising women; supporting them through major life changes; accelerating technological innovations; advancing research on issues such as representation and governance; developing research with women in the workforce; and advancing the role of the workforce in delivering women and girls’ sport, exercise and activity experiences.
Norman, whose studies have focused on sport workforces, will continue her own research alongside leading the hub to the next level. “We are addressing the systemic issues that hold women back,” she says. “For instance, women’s coaching is under-resourced, underpaid, voluntary-led and precarious, and we want to change that.”
Women who are not professional athletes or coaches and face obstacles to exercising are also central to the hub’s mission. And this ties into another major area of research – access to exercise during pregnancy. Dr Emma Pullen, a reader in social science and sport, has previously worked with UK Sport on research that supported the development of maternity guidance for the rapidly increasing numbers of elite athletes who want to continue their careers after starting a family. Now, she has widened her focus to women who aren’t in that category but want to exercise during pregnancy but face barriers to doing so.
“There is a lack of qualitative research exploring women’s experiences of exercise engagement throughout the pregnancy, particularly how they navigate fear or anxieties related to different types of exercise across the pregnancy journey,” says Pullen.
She is working with Dr Aimée Mears, senior lecturer in sports technology and biomechanics, to examine the issue from every angle, from physical to psychological. Their research is shaping practical innovations, including sportswear, such as leggings and sports bras, that better supports pregnant women. “The idea came from my own experiences,” says Mears. “When I was trying to maintain exercise during pregnancy and in the postpartum period, there weren’t many options on the market which I felt confident would meet my needs.”
The team discovered that most women were simply making do with garments they had from pre-pregnancy, which weren’t supportive enough to meet the challenges of the biomechanical changes that take place during pregnancy. “In the postpartum period, pain in the lower back and pelvis is a common reason given by women for avoiding exercise,” says Mears.
The research has shown how compression garments can improve women’s balance, as well as how the use of additive manufacturing techniques – printing on the surface of a material to change its mechanical properties – could provide compression and support on, for example, the waistband of a pair of leggings. “Our intention is to inform the design and engineering of sports apparel and equipment to alleviate some of the fear women have about exercising,” she says. “It’s about removing one of the barriers to access.”
Research has also found that barriers to female participation in sport and exercise begin from an early age, with a “gender play gap” being reported among children by the age of five, by which point girls are already moving less than boys. By the time they are aged 14-16, 56% of girls say they enjoy PE compared with 80% of boys, according to a 2024 report from the Youth Sport Trust.
The potential implications are far-reaching, from health and fitness levels in adulthood to professional success: one recent study found girls who play after-school sport are 50% more likely to work in senior jobs in later life, due to the resilience, confidence and adaptability sport instils.
Dr Oliver Hooper is a senior lecturer in physical education and youth sport at Loughborough University, whose research focuses on improving young people’s experiences of sport and promoting positive development. He has recently completed a project with England Netball, looking at how the number of players in a girls’ netball game affects their engagement and enjoyment.
The study involved groups of under-nines and under-11s, who played the game in a variety of different-sized formats. “We found that for under-nines, four-a-side was the version that best facilitated their engagement, and for under-11s, it was five-a-side,” he says. The girls wanted to be active, have fun and to develop their netball skills, and the study showed that in small-sided games (eg four or five-a-side), there was more opportunity to do so. That research “underscored the need to adopt child-centred approaches that meet girls’ needs, as well as for them to have voice and choice within sessions,” he says. It now informs England Netball’s Bee Netball programme for children aged five to 11.
“At Loughborough, we have the expertise and evidence to move from describing gender inequity to offering solutions, and that’s so exciting,” says Norman. “Over the next few years, we want to grow the hub into a global centre for women’s sport. The possibilities here are limitless.”
Find out more about research in sport, health and wellbeing at Loughborough University – and why it’s a gamechanger
