Brett Smith BA (Leeds) MSc (Exeter) PhD (Exeter)
Senior Lecturer
Contact details
Room: JB.2.07c
Phone: +44 (0)1509 222737
Fax: +44 (0)1509 226301
Email: B.M.Smith@lboro.ac.uk
Research Interests
Brett’s research has two complementary themes:
- The empirical study of the psycho-social dimensions of disability, health, and wellbeing.
- The development of narrative theory and qualitative methodologies.
As examples of these themes, Brett is currently studying the role of physical activity / sport, narratives, and the natural environment (e.g. the blue gym) in promoting health and wellbeing among disabled people. This empirical research is underpinned by traditional and more innovative qualitative methods, such as auto-photography, mobile interviewing, timelining, and creative analytical practices. Brett’s research on disability, health, and qualitative inquiry has been published in numerous international journals and books. It has also been disseminated through many invited keynote presentations, workshops, and knowledge transfer talks. User groups regularly use his research to promote health and enhance quality of life in a variety of contexts. These include, spinal injury exercise rehabilitation, the outdoor environment, and hospitals. Brett is Co-Director of the Qualitative Digital Research Labs and leads the health and wellbeing strand within The Peter Harrison Centre for Disability Sport. He is also Editor of the international journal Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise & Health.
Brett’s past research projects have been funded by the, Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada, UK Spinal Cord Injury Research Network, and Canadian Institute of Health Research.
Current funded projects
- Developing a fit and healthy resource for disabled people: Rehabilitation to sporting performance and the promotion of physical activity. The Coca Cola Foundation (Co-I, led by Dr Vicky Tolfrey): £294,447.
- Understanding the health and well-being of spinal injured persons in a care home. ASPIRE (PI): £22,903.
- Physical activity among older people with sight loss: A qualitative study to inform policy and practice. The Thomas Pocklington Trust (PI with Cassandra Phoenix, European Centre for Environment & Human Health). £35,291.
- FREE: Football Research in an Enlarged Europe. The European Commission Seventh Framework Programme for Research (co-I, UK leg led by Dr Borja Garcia-Garcia): £2.1m.
Selected External Activities
- Editor-in-Chief: Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise & Health.
- Associate Editor: Psychology of Sport and Exercise.
- Editorial Board membership: Journal of Aging Studies; Narrative Works; European Federation of Adapted Physical Activity; Asian Journal of Educational Research and Synergy; The Open Rehabilitation Journal.
- Honorary Research Fellow of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Narrative, St Thomas University, Canada.
- Honorary Visiting Fellow of the School of Sport & Exercise Sciences, Chichester University, UK.
- Invited reviewer for a) various grant bodies & b) over 40 international journals.
Selected keynote and invited presentations
- The barriers, benefits, and motivators for access in relation to disabled people. Invited Keynote, ‘Knowledge transfer event: Enabling access to the environment’. European Centre for Environment and Human Health, 2012.
- Qualitative research: A critical exploration of creative ethnographic non-fiction. Invited Keynote, Conference: ‘Possibilities and limits of arts based qualitative research methodologies’. Crete, Greece, 2011.
- Narrative analysis as a turn to theory and angles of vision. Invited Workshop. Department of Physical Therapy, University of Toronto, 2010.
- The narrative shaping of lives. Invited Keynotes, ‘The British Psychological Society Flagship Lectures’. London, 2009 & Nottingham, 2010.
Selected Publications
Disability, health, and sport/physical activity
- Smith, B. (in-press). Disability, sport, and men’s narratives of health: A qualitative study. Health Psychology.
- Smith, B. & Sparkes, A. (2012). Disability, sport, and physical activity. A critical review. In N. Watson, A. Roulstone, & C. Thomas, & (Eds). Routledge Handbook of Disability Studies (pp. 336-347). London: Routledge.
- Smith, B. & Sparkes, A. (2011). Multiple responses to a chaos narrative. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness & Medicine, 15(1), 38-53.
- Smith, B. & Sparkes, A. (2008). Changing bodies, changing narratives and the consequences of tellability: A case study of becoming disabled through sport. Sociology of Health and Illness, 30(2), 217-236.
Qualitative methods and narrative inquiry
- Smith, B. & Sparkes, A. (in-press). Narrative analysis in sport and physical culture. In. K. Young & M. Atkinson (Eds). Research in the Sociology of Sport. Emerald Press.
- Smith, B. & Sparkes, A. (2012). Making sense of words and stories. Some strategies for consideration. In G. Tenenbaum, R. Eklund, & A Kamata (Eds). Handbook of Measurement in Sport & Exercise Psychology (pp. 119-129). Human Kinetics.
- Phoenix, C. & Smith, B. (2011). Telling a (good?) counterstory of aging: Natural bodybuilding meets the narrative of decline. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences, 66, 628-639.
- Smith, B. (2010). Narrative inquiry: Ongoing conversations and questions for sport psychology research. International Review of Sport Psychology, 3, 87-107.
- Sparkes, A. & Smith, B. (2009). Judging the quality of qualitative inquiry: Criteriology and relativism in action. Psychology of Sport & Exercise, 10, 491-497.
You can view a fuller publications list on the University Publications Database.