Dr Katie Liston is a critical thinker, researcher and lecturer at Ulster University, and the latest new entry on our list of 50 Women of Influence in Irish Sport for 2024. She has shaped public debate and policy on areas including concussion, gender equity, women in leadership, women in media, online hate, integration in Gaelic games, and the role of sport in reconciliation and peace-building on this island. She has worked across the sports sector, north and south, from community sports clubs through to strategic committees and Executive Boards of NGBs. She goes about her work quietly but with great authority. This is especially evident in how she takes on challenging issues. The most recent example of this being the work she did on Girls in Green, the joint Sunday Independent/RTE investigation into how sportswomen have been treated in Ireland, and the subsequent debate about adult safeguarding. She is recognised by peers as a world-leading researcher on sport. Her books have won international awards. Her research has been cited by organisations, worldwide, she is a skilled and empathic communicator and public speaker and she constantly treads new ground.
