Caron completed her undergraduate degree at the University of East Anglia and then moved to º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ where she graduated with an MSc in Recreation Management. She pursued a career as a practitioner, working in the areas of sport facility management, sports development, and sports regeneration. This included various roles within local authorities in Leicestershire, working as a Senior Regional Officer for Sport England in the East Midlands, and leading the work of the Braunstone Sport Action Zone embedded within the Braunstone New Deal for Communities Programme, the most deprived community in the East Midlands in the early 2000s.
From 2008 onwards, Caron worked as an independent researcher before returning to º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ in 2013 to undertake her doctoral thesis which was completed in 2017 (The role of selected football projects in implementing sports programmes for young people living in deprived areas, supervised by Professor Barrie Houlihan). Caron then joined the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences as a part-time Research Associate, and took on the additional part-time role of University Teacher in 2021.
Caron specialises in research into the prevention and reduction of serious youth violence through sport. She also teaches on several Sport Management undergraduate and postgraduate modules including Critical Perspectives of Sport (Part A), Sport Law, Equity and Inclusion (Part B), Sport Policy and Governance (Part C), Sport and International Development (MSc) and Research Methods (MSc), in addition to supervising both undergraduate and master’s students’ research projects and Doctoral Researchers.
Caron’s role as a Senior Research Associate, working with Dr Carolynne Mason, examines the use of sport as a means to prevent and reduce young people’s involvement in offending including Serious Youth Violence. This involves a focus on vulnerable young people living in areas of deprivation who are at risk of or involved in offending. She specialises in qualitative research methods and has an interest in the development of ChildFirst research methods to evidence the potential impact of sport.
Caron is currently exploring place-based collaboration between community sport and the criminal and youth justice sectors. She works closely with StreetGames, a leading sport for development charity in the UK that uses sport and physical activity to transform the lives of young people living in deprived communities. Her research has focused most recently on developing insight into sport referral mechanisms and SportPlus interventions to support the work of the StreetGames Safer team. She has co-produced a wide range of resources for policymakers and practitioners including a series of academic literature review summaries about sport and serious violence and more recently, about the competencies required by the SportPlus workforce. She has recently produced a sport referral guidance toolkit for Locally Trusted Organisations (LTOs) and referral agencies to support the referral of young people at risk of or involved in serious youth violence to positive sport opportunities. Caron also runs regular online dissemination seminars for policymakers and practitioners in partnership with StreetGames.
Caron also has a research interest in the benefits of sport volunteering for young people living in poverty and in particular, the development of social capital, the contribution to employability, and the use of youth voice and youth-led social action projects.
Examples of completed and ongoing projects include:
- Examining ‘Place-based responses to preventing youth violence through sport’. Funded by StreetGames. (2024-25).
- Evaluation of the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Violence Reduction Unit (NNVRU) Sports Diversion Programme. Funded by the NNVRU. (2023-24).
- Evaluation of the Essex Youth Crime and Sport – Positive Outcomes for Young People programme. (2022-25).
- Evaluation of the ‘Supporting Vulnerable Young People Through the Power of Sport Programme’ (Plymouth OPCC programme). (2020-21).
- Research into ‘Vulnerable Girls, Young Women, Sport and Crime’. Funded by the West Midlands Violence Reduction Unit. (2020).
- Evaluation of the Sport and Serious Violence Reduction programme. Funded by StreetGames. (2020).
- Evaluation of Sport England’s Serious Youth Violence Summer Programme. Funded by Sport England. (2020).
- Developing a Theory of Change for Sport and Youth Justice. Funded by the Youth Endowment Fund. (2020).
- Evaluation of the ‘Safer Through Sport’ programme. Funded by StreetGames. (2017).
- The Use of Sport to Bridge the Gap between Custody and the Community. Funded by StreetGames. (2017)
- Warwickshire multi-agency Serious and Organised Crime Joint Action Group (SOCJAG) Home Office funded ‘Get on Track’ Evaluation. Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner. (2017).
- Evaluation of the ‘Youth Crime Reduction in Sport Project’. Funded by Street Games, (2015).
Selected external activities
- The MoJ £5m Youth Justice Sport Fund: Member of the evaluation panel and co-author of the evaluation report for the Youth Justice Sport Fund programme (2023)
- National VRU/PCC Sport, Youth Crime and Serious Violence Prevention Board: Providing academic insight and knowledge (ongoing)
- The StreetGames Practice and Innovation Group: Insight and knowledge (ongoing)
- Youth Endowment Fund: Member of the Sports Review Panel (2021)
External evaluation and research work
- Evaluation of the Role of Volunteering in Preparing Young People for Employment. Funded by StreetGames (2016)
- Evaluation of the Royal Society for Public Health’s Youth Health Champion programme. Funded by StreetGames (2017)
- Evaluation of the Co-operative StreetGames Young Volunteer programme. Funded by StreetGames (2008-2015)
- Evaluation of the YSDF funded ‘Friday and Saturday evening sports activity programme’ for Sporting Futures, Derbyshire. Funded by the Youth Sector Development Fund (2010/11)
- Feasibility study for providing outdoor gyms, food growing and walking programmes in open spaces. Funded by NHS Stoke on Trent (2010)
- Needs assessment for increasing the sports participation of ‘hard to reach’ adults. Funded by Southwark Primary Care Trust (2009)
- Evaluation of Community Cohesion and Sport in six Olympic Boroughs, London. Funded by StreetGames (2008-9)
Invited Presentations
- Morgan, H., Mason, C. and Walpole, C. (2024) Getting on Track: Reducing youth offending and re-offending through sport and physical activity. Invited presentation at the Youth Endowment Fund Virtual Learning Cafe
- Walpole, C. (2024) The use of volunteering as a pathway to employment for Locally Trusted Organisations working with young people at risk of or involved in offending. Invited presentation at the national VRU/PCC Sport, Youth Crime and Serious Violence Prevention Board
- Walpole, C. (2024) Developing a ‘SportPlus’ Workforce Competencies Framework. Invited presentation at the West Midlands Violence Reduction Partnership (VRP) Sport Partnership Board
- Walpole, C. and Khan, C. (2023) The Use of Sport. Invited presentation at the Serious Violence: Research and Evaluation Conference
- Walpole, C. (2021) The evidence base for the use of sport for preventing and reducing serious youth violence. Invited presentation at the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Sport and Physical Activity in the Criminal Justice system
- Mason, C. and Walpole C. (2020) Sport and youth crime research. Invited presentation at the Community Safety roundtable for the Sater-Batson Commission on Poverty, Place and Sport at Houses of Parliament
- Mason, C., Downward, P. & Walpole, C. (2019) How effective can sport interventions be in reducing youth crime and anti-social behaviour? Invited presentation at the Child Centred Policing Conference.
- Mason, C., Downward, P. & Walpole, C. (2017) Learning from the StreetGames Youth Sport and Crime Reduction Pilot Programme, Invited presentation at StreetGames Annual Conference.
- Mason, C., Downward, P. & Walpole, C. (2017) The effectiveness of sport interventions in reducing youth crime and anti-social behaviour? Invited presentation at the Leicestershire Police Evidence Based Policing Event.
Featured publications
- Mason, C. and Walpole, C. (2023) ‘Using child-centred approaches to enhance the evidence base around using sport-based interventions to reduce youth offending’ in Morgan, H. and Parker, A. (Eds) Sport, Physical Activity and Criminal Justice: Politics, Policy and Practice, (pp 66-78) Routledge
- Mason, C., Walpole, C. and Case, S. (2020) Using Sport to enhance positive outcomes for young people in the context of Serious Youth Violence: A Theory of Change
Resources produced for policymakers and practitioners
- Referral guidance for the use of sport to prevent and reduce Serious Youth Violence
- Summary reviews of the academic literature for policymakers and practitioners:
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- Workforce competencies and skills for practitioners delivering ‘SportPlus’ Sport-Based Interventions (2024) Author: C. Walpole
- Vulnerable Girls and Young Women and Sport in the context of Violence Reduction (2021) Authors: C. Walpole and C. Mason
- The Use of Sport-based Mentoring Programmes as an intervention for preventing and reducing youth offending (2021) Authors: C. Walpole and C. Mason
- Sport and Serious Youth Violence (2020) Authors: C. Walpole, C. Mason, S. Case and P. Downward
- Safer Together: Creating partnerships for positive change (2019) Authors: C. Walpole, C. Mason, S. Case and P. Downward