Dr. Oliver Hooper is a Research and Teaching Associate in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University, United Kingdom. Oliver’s research explores young people’s experiences within physical education, health and youth sport contexts, with a specific focus on the experiences of marginalised youth. He is particularly interested in youth voice and the use of participatory methods to facilitate young people’s meaningful involvement in research. Oliver has published various papers, articles and book chapters in these areas and routinely attends international conferences to present on this work. Most recently, he has co-edited a book on ‘Critical Pedagogies within Physical Education, Physical Activity and Health’ to be published by Routledge. Oliver is a convenor for the Early Career Researcher (ECR) Network of the British Educational Research Association and the Research in Sport Pedagogy Network of the European Educational Research Association. He also sits on the Editorial Boards of Sport, Education and Society and the British Educational Research Journal.
At the AIESEP Conference 2021, Oliver’s paper entitled ‘Permission to speak freely? Facilitating young people’s voices in physical education and youth sport’ will seek to consider how youth voice might be (re)conceptualised within research in PE and youth sport. Oliver has been actively involved with AIESEP since the early stages of his academic career and is passionate about contributing to the organisation moving forwards. He is a strong advocate for ECRs and has taken on various roles – whilst an ECR himself – to support and promote their development:
“I feel that supporting the participation of ECRs is extremely important and would welcome the opportunity to work with AIESEP to build on the positive work they have already done to engage with this group.” Oliver was nominated for the Young Scholar Award by Dr. Rachel Sandford and Dr. Fiona Chambers.
