Her Game Her Story

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Lecturers embark on India trip to empower inclusion in sport production

Thursday, 4 April, 2024

Three Bath Spa University lecturers recently made a trip to India in order to empower greater inclusion in sports production, with the aim being to set up a new training programme for aspiring media professionals.

The programme is called 'Her Game Her Story’ and is funded by the prestigious British Council Going Global Industry Academia Collaborative Grant 2023-24.

One of the key aims of the trip was to inculcate awareness and understanding of key issues on women’s sport, including inequalities in gender, identity, visibility, profile, participation, pay and inclusivity.

Dr Suman Ghosh, Subject Leader for Film & Media (Principal Investigator), Lizzie Powell, Programme Leader, Sports Media Production (Co-Investigator) and Peter Smith, Technical Demonstrator, visited Jadavpur Uni in Kolkata and SportzWorkz in Delhi for a series of meetings, symposia and industry interactions for designing and developing content for the Her Game Her Story programme.

Speaking about the trip, Lizzie Powell said:

"The trip was really valuable. Being able to meet not just students engaged by the project and contributing ideas but also to network with industry to ensure it is relevant. Both groups enthusiasm and ambition for the project showed just how much it is needed.

As the rise in women's sports continues the appetite for the stories surrounding the success is growing. There are voices that are still not being heard and the coverage is still not equal so the push for change is paramount."

The project draws on the specialist experience of 3 partners, Bath Spa University, with its new BA (Hons) Sports Media Production course, Jadavpur University, among India’s top ranked research-led universities with ground-breaking internationally funded research from the School of Media, Communication and Culture, and renowned India-based sports media production company SportzWorkz, credited with award-winning productions for media platforms.

Lizzie went on to highlight the importance of empowering greater inclusion for women in sport:

"Sport reflects life, the highs and lows, the unexpected journeys. So, just like in life, we need those stories to be told equitably be it men's or women's sport. One is not more important than the other so helping make the production process accessible is one of the key's to closing that gap and increasing visibility."

The next steps for the programme will now begin, with content set to be created in the coming months ahead of a launch later in the autumn.