RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND ADVOCACY

Transforming the sport landscape toward gender equality for all.

See my Power to Play, Period site for menstrual health education for coaches & athletes.

sarahzipp@powertoplayperiod.com

RESEARCH

Journal articles, books, chapters & awards.

Research Profile

CV – Sarah Zipp (2025)

Journal of Sport for Development announces Early Career Scholar Award – Dr Sarah Zipp.

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Peer-reviewed publications include articles in the Journal of Sport Management, Sport in Society and the Journal of Sport for Development.

Recent articles (2023 & 2024)

They seem to only know about bleeding and cramps… (Goorevich & Zipp, 2024)

Menstrual Health Education in Sport for Development: A Case Study from Zambia (Zipp & Mwambwa, 2024)

Go with the Flow; Menstrual health experiences of athletes and coaches in Scottish swimming. (Zipp & Hyde, 2023)

New Book Chapters in 2024! Research Handbook on Gender and Diversity in Sport Management: Ch. 7 The ‘Motherhood Penalty’ and sport leadership (Zipp & Sutherland, 2024)

Experiences of Menstruation from the Global South and North: Ch. 6 – Menstruation in Motion. Understanding menstrual health and sport in Zambia (Zipp & Mwambwa. 2024)

Handbook of Sport and International Development: Ch. 8 – Gender – Sport, development and gender: expanding the vision of what we can be and do (Zipp, Mwambwa & Goorevich, 2023)

From 2022: See my chapter with Lilamani de Soysa and Dr Sasha Sutherland in the latest SfD book from Routledge Publishers – Social Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Sport for Development and Peace.

Collaborative research project with the National Organisation for Women in Sport, Physical Activity and Recreation (NOWSPAR) of Zambia on menstrual health education in sport for development.

Research Associate for the Observatory for Sport in Scotland.
Routledge Handbook of Global Sport (2020)
Edited by John Nauright and Sarah Zipp

Global Markets and Global Impact of Sports (2018) – Edited by John Nauright and Sarah Zipp
Changing the game or dropping the ball? Sport and human capability development for at risk youth in Barbados and St. Lucia (2017)

Education

Speeches, workshops, presentations & taskforces.

May 2025 – Menstrual Health in Sport coaching education modules are live! Go to CoachingHer.com and check out our podcast on Spotify or Apple.

October 2024 – Invited expert contributor to the Global Observatory for Gender Equality in Sport conference. (Lausanne, Switzerland).

June 2024 – Led the Olympic Movement study abroad seminar in the home of the IOC. (Lausanne, Switzerland)

March 9th 2024 – Keynote speaker at the Female Athlete Summit (Minneapolis, MN)

July 2023 – Society for Menstrual Cycle Research conference (Alexandria, VA)

July & August 2023 – The Business and Development of Women’s Football Conference (University of Sydney) at the FIFA World Cup! I presented academic research and conducting a workshop with coaches on Menstruation + Sport.

Presenting at the International Working Group for Women in Sport (IWG) conference in Auckland, New Zealand (November 2022). Leaders in gender equality from around the world attended AND we got to cheer on the #BlackFerns as they won the rugby World Cup title!

We hosted the ground-breaking workshop on menstrual health and sport at the OIympic capital – Lausanne, Switzerland. Coaches, athletes and leaders in internatoinal sport attended from around the globe. We will continue our work through Power to Play, Period.

Power to Play, Period team -Lausanne workshop in June 2022.

Hosting the Go with the Flow workshop on menstrual health and sport – UK Menstruation Research Network funded by the Wellcome Trust Foundation.
(University of Stirling, UK).
Keynote Speaker on gender equality and sport for development for the GETZ project. Norwegian media coverage of the GETZ conference.
(Molde, Norway)
Sport as foreign policy at the Big Tent Festival 2019 – British Foreign Policy Group.
(London, UK)
Teaching about gender in sport at the Tsukuba International Academy for Sport (TIAS) master’s program in Japan. TIAS is the official Olympic Legacy education program for the Tokyo Olympics. (Tsukuba, Japan)

ADVOCACY

Media, consultancies, projects & campaigns.

Power to Play, Period.

Articles in The Conversation.

Featured in Changing the Narrative – HerStory campaign.

Consultancy with Nike Inc. to review Real Talk articles on menstruation and sport. The articles are a corporate collaboration between Nike and Dove. I also delivered a workshop presentation to the Women Win Foundation.

Contributor to the Coaching Her education modules, an open-access platform funded by Nike Inc. and the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport at the University of Minnesota. Coming soon – my menstrual health modules will launch May 2024!

Working with Irise International to deliver coach education workshops on menstrual health to football clubs across the UK.

Interviews for the Mail + and BBC Scotland on the movement to change uniforms/kit for women and girls in sport.

Speaker on menstrual health and sport for the Sheerose Foundation (India) Women in Sport Conference 2020.
Interview with the National
newspaper in the UAE on the new Rajasthan Royals “Let’s Talk Periods” campaign and sponsorship. The Royals are a club in the Indian Premier League for cricket.
Collaborating with the Saudi Arabian Olympic Academy on increasing participation of girls and women in sport and supervising a PhD on gender and sport in Saudi Arabia.
(Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)
Discussing gender equality in the Olympic Solidarity program at the International Olympic Committee.
(Lausanne, Switzerland)

JSFD Early Career Scholar Award – My research and advocacy goals, my journey and advocating for gender equality in sport for development.
CURRICULUM VITAE

Invited Consultancy, Speeches, Workshops, other Presentations 

  1. Gender Equality Toolkit for Generation Z (GETZ) Conference – Keynote Speaker (Norway) – Delivered Keynote speech on Gender equality and sport for development for the GETZ project (Erasmus funded project).
  2. International Working Group on Women in Sport (IWG) (Switzerland) – Invited to contribute to research team for a feasibility study on the establishment of a Global Observatory for Women and Sport. This is a project directed by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and funded by the Switzerland government.
  3. Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee (SAOC) (Saudi Arabia) – Consultant for SAOC to develop content, speak/moderate and organise speakers for the inaugural Saudi Arabia Games Forum (March 2020).
  4. UK Government Period Poverty Taskforce (UK) – Consultant for research workshop (October 2019). This taskforce is chaired by the Minister for Women & Equalities, Plan International and Procter & Gamble. Participation in the taskforce is an ideal opportunity for my research to have impact on policy.
  5. Wellcome Trust Foundation (UK) – Consultant for Public Engagement team to advise on a study about adolescent girls, menstruation and sport and physical activity (July 2019).
  6. Big Tent Ideas Festival (UK) – Invited to present on panel “Sport and soft power,” (August 2019). This  event was sponsored by the British Foreign Policy Group.
  7. Festival of Research (UK) – University of Stirling. Presented “Voices from the field – researching in developing countries (May 2019).
  8. University of Tsukuba (Japan) – Invited to collaborate on research and deliver lectures at the Tsukuba International Academy for Sport Studies (TIAS) (April 2019).
  9. Being Human festival (UK) –Invited as “expert” panelist on menstrual health at Liverpool John Moores University Being Human Festival (LJMU) (November 2018).
  10. Washington and Lee University National Girls & Women’s Sports Day (USA) – Presented to women’s athletic teams in celebration of National Women’s Sports Day. Delivered radio interview on International Education (February 2013).