A leading campaigner for women and against abuse in sport has died.

Celia Brackenridge was born in August 1950 in Hitchin, Hertfordshire and educated in London.?Academically gifted as well as a committed athlete, she surprised her headteacher by opting to study for a certificate in physical education at Bedford College (1968-71), although she then went on to an honours year ¨C and a first ¨C at the University of Cambridge (1971-72). She played cricket at county level and lacrosse at national level, as captain from 1979 to 1982, and later served as a coach at Harvard University.

After an MA in physical education at the University of Leeds, Professor Brackenridge taught in a girls¡¯ school and a college of physical education, which became part of Sheffield Hallam University (1974-94). She moved to the University of Gloucestershire as reader and then professor of sport and leisure (1994-2001) and, after some shorter appointments, ended her career at Brunel University London as director of the Centre for Youth Sport and Athlete Welfare (2005-12).

A pioneer in raising the status of sports science as a discipline, Professor Brackenridge faced much mockery and once recalled a letter in The Times asking ¡°Whatever next, coffee studies?¡± Yet she remained a tireless campaigner. She was the first chair of the UK Women¡¯s Sports Foundation (1984-88) and co-founded the research-based advocacy organisation? She was also a keynote speaker at the first world conference on women and sport, held in Brighton in 1994, which set out core principles for greater participation in

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Sarah Springman, rector of ETH Zurich, recalled Professor Brackenridge¡¯s ¡°inspired leadership¡± at the Women¡¯s Sports Foundation. ¡°She developed a strategic approach to the particular challenges of under-representation politically, financially and [in terms of] media recognition," said Professor Springman, herself a former triathlete for Great Britain. "She battled the entrenched perspectives to challenge those who were running sport to aspire to, and achieve, a more equitable sporting environment from which many of us have benefited greatly.¡±

Professor Brackenridge¡¯s willingness to ¡°battle entrenched perspectives¡± proved even more crucial when she took up the cause of child protection in sport. Although first dismissed by governing bodies as ¡°a troublemaker¡±, she won the support of Unicef and the NSPCC, chaired a task force on sexual harassment and abuse for Women Sport International (1994-2010) and, in 2014, became a co-chair of She was awarded an OBE in 2012 for services to equality and child protection in sport.

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Professor Brackenridge died of leukaemia on 23 May and is survived by her partner Diana Woodward and two stepsons.

matthew.reisz@timeshighereducation