Commonwealth Games 2014

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Research at Glasgow

Researchers at the University of Glasgow are engaged in significant activity related to the preparation for, management of and legacy arising from the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Glasgow is also home to a large number of researchers working on sports science, health and wellbeing subjects.

Researchers and projects include:

Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014: The Security Legacy

Professor Burman is Principal Investigator of a project funded by a research award from the European Commission (Freedom, Justice and Security) which is researching the planning for and the governance of security arrangements in relation to Glasgow 2014.  One strand of this research focuses on security legacy: both in terms of how other mega–event security legacies have influenced Glasgow 2014 planning and the security legacy of Glasgow 2014 itself. Alongside this project (which is based at Glasgow but also involves colleagues from other universities), Professor Burman and colleagues have also secured a knowledge exchange grant from SIPR ( Scottish Institute for Policing Research ) to run 6 inter-sectoral symposia involving international speakers to discuss security of mega events with Glasgow 2014 stakeholders. These events will run through 2013 and into 2014.  Professor Burman and her colleague, Professor Simon Mackenzie, have secured a co-funded PhD studentship from the Economic & Social Research Council and the Scottish Government to undertake research on the security impact of Glasgow 2014 on local communities.

Expanding Horizons? Investigating the Commonwealth Games 2014 Legacy for Young People in the East End of Glasgow

As part of the GoWell Programme: a planned ten-year research and learning programme investigating the impact of investment in housing, regeneration and neighbourhood renewal on the health and wellbeing of individuals, families and communities; Professor Kearns and colleagues are undertaking a major study for the Scottish Government of the impacts of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow upon the communities in the East End of the city. The study runs from 2012 to 2017. The core of the research is a three-part survey, which will observe how residents relate to their environment, how they feel about themselves, and their level of participation in sports and cultural activities. They will be asked questions about their circumstances, including pride of place, physical activity and health. The first phase of this survey is now complete and the next two phases will take place in 2014 and 2016, to capture reaction during the Commonwealth Games and the related regeneration and then again when the Games are over.

Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games 2014: envisioning employment futures with young people in the East End

The University’s Chancellor’s Fund is supporting this project, the purpose of which is to influence the development of policy and practice concerning the legacy of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and prepare the ground for future large-scale research around the legacy. To do so, the project has 3 key elements: a synthesis of evidence through a review of the literature and existing research on the legacies of major sporting events; workshops with young people in the East End to explore their labour market needs and aspirations related to the legacy; and knowledge transfer through an international symposium and report to shape key policy decisions for Glasgow.

The Centre for Rehabilitation Engineering

  • Dr Henrik Gollee: Lecturer in Rehabilitation Engineering, The Centre for Rehabilitation Engineering

Glasgow 2014 will see the biggest-ever number of Para-Sports Medals in Commonwealth Games History: 22 medal events in total; and will showcase the first Commonwealth Para-Sport Cycling (Track) event. The University’s Centre for Rehabilitation Engineering (CRE) has been active in fundamental and applied research into the application of engineering technology within spinal cord injury medicine for many years. The group is part of the Scottish Centre for Innovation in Spinal Cord Injury and has a close and long-standing research partnership with the Queen Elizabeth National Spinal Injuries Unit at Glasgow's Southern General Hospital.

The focus of CRE’s research is primarily on using engineering technology to improve the health and quality of life of people with a spinal cord injury. Our activities range from investigations into the fundamental principles of balance control and the modelling of bone and muscle, over clinical applications such as abdominal muscle stimulation for cough and respiratory function in tetraplegia, to the development and evaluation of systems to allow functional training and exercise for people with spinal cord injury, using lower-limb paraplegic cycling, assisted arm-cranking and active treadmill therapy with robotic assistance. Emerging fields of research include the use of brain-computer interface technology in combination with virtual reality in neuro-rehabilitation and pain therapy.

Find out more: The Centre for Rehabilitation Engineering

There are also various Games-related pieces of published research by Glasgow researchers available for reference. These include: