About Me

I am a former elite athlete for Canada – I was on the national rowing team for almost 7 years (World Championships and World Cup silver medallist). I am a doctoral candidate at the University of Edinburgh, specialising in sport policy through the School of Social and Political Science. I have a Master of Science degree in molecular anthropology (University of Toronto), and a Master of Public Policy (The University of Oxford). 

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I am doing my PhD part time – I work as a policy consultant to sport federations, countries and programs on developing and tracking holistic sport policies that place the athlete first. 

 

Prior to rowing full time as an elite athlete, I was a genetics and health researcher. I worked with minority and Indigenous groups in Canada to determine their understanding of chronic diseases, and to assess their educational needs to make informed decisions about their health.

 

During my time rowing for Canada, I was an elected athlete representative for my fellow athletes and became aware of the gap between what the athletes felt they needed to perform and to be healthy, and what the national governing body felt or decided they needed. 

 

This tension was a constant struggle for me, and for other athletes. There were power imbalances between us as athletes, and the coaches/sports administrators in charge. Some athletes felt this imbalance more than others. Some athletes seemed to get every advantage and to be favoured (we can probably all think of an athlete like this). Some athletes seemed to fall through the cracks, and regardless of their potential, just never made it. Some athletes suffered from mental health problems, some were plagued with injuries that should have been prevented, and some athletes were abused and mistreated. No two athletes had the same experience. And that was just in rowing. 

 

Following my retirement from rowing in 2016, I completed a Master of Public Policy at The University of Oxford, specialising in sport and health policy. I worked with the UK Government on the tailored review of UK Anti-Doping, on the planning of the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, and with EY as a consultant assisting professional and elite athletes with transition from sport. I am an established researcher having worked with The University of Oxford, tracking global policies on COVID-19. Currently, I assist the Global Observatory for Gender Equality in Sport on tracking international policies to prevent violence against women and girls in sport. I have also worked with UNESCO by peer reviewing and making recommendations to their handbook on “Tackling Violence against Women and Girls in Sport”. I sit on the Maltreatment in Sport Sanctions Council, part of the Abuse-Free Sport program in Canada - a nationally mandated program to investigate and address abuse and maltreatment in sport. 

 

If you have any questions for me, or about how this research is going to be conducted, please get in touch. 

 

e.a.cameron-blake@sms.ed.ac.uk

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