Biography
Dr Adam Benkwitz is a Reader in the Sociology of Sport and Health (ORCiD: 0000-0002-1155-5103); a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA); and a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health (FRSPH). He was formerly Head of Subject for Health and Social Care and Sport at Newman. He is a member of the NIHR Public Health Research Programme Funding Committee, and the Council of Deans for Health Research Strategy Group. In 2019 Adam won a national Advance HE Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE), along with colleagues and students for their work on mentoring and learning analytics. He has worked on a range of applied health research projects with partners including Rethink Mental Illness, Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Trust, Birmingham City Council, Birmingham Voluntary Service Council, Sport England, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust (BSMHFT, where he is Chair of the Recovery Committee), Aston Villa Football Club Foundation, Birmingham MIND, Birmingham and Solihull Recovery College, Sport Birmingham, West Midlands Combined Authority, as well as colleagues at numerous other HEIs. He acts as an External Examiner at Edge Hill University, acts as a reviewer of grants for the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), and Advance HE, as well as being a member of Birmingham City Councils Mentally Healthy City Forum. Adam teaches across a number of undergraduate and postgraduate modules, as well as contributing to the Universitys doctoral training programme. He currently supervises three PhD students, and he has been involved in numerous staff/student projects relating to student engagement, mentoring and enhancing the student experience via learner analytics.
Other Activities
Membership of Professional Organisations
- Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA).
- Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health (FRSPH).
- NIHR Public Health Research Programme Funding Committee Member.
- Member of the Council of Deans for Health Research Strategy Group.
- Member of the BIRCH Network (Community Research for Health in Birmingham and Solihull) and Academic Advisor as part of the Advisory Group for the Birmingham City Council Community Research Hub.
- Member of the Recovery Research Network (RRN).
PhD supervisor for the following:
- Kirsty Spencer (2024- ) Loneliness During the Transition to Adulthood for Young People with Autism Spectrum Disorder.;
- Kevin Wright (2024- ) How can we prevent physically active black men from smoking tobacco in Birmingham?.;
- Irfan Khawaja (2016-2020) Exploring Childrens Physical Activity Behaviours according to Location.;
- Imran Ali (2016- ) A study of泭the development of the BSMHFT Recovery College;
- Laura Scoles (2020-2023) Evaluating the Moving Lives, Healthy Minds project funded by Comic Reliefs Ahead of the Game fund.
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Grants & Funding Awarded:
- 瞿163,679 NIHR – Research Better Together (NIHR207060). October 2024 December 2025, in partnership with Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Trust, BVSC, University of Birmingham.
- 瞿239,281 BCC Public Health Tender Community Research Hub. January 2024 December 2026, in partnership with lead collaborators at BVSC and University of Birmingham.
- 瞿15,000 Rethink Mental Illness Research Evaluation of Physical Activity Navigator Project. January 2022 May 2023, in partnership with lead collaborators at Nottingham Trent University.
- 瞿424,457 Comic Relief Ahead of the Game fund, Moving lives, healthy minds project. January 2020 May 2023. In partnership with collaborators Sport Birmingham and Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust.
- 瞿10,000 MIND Sport and Physical Activity Regional Network Hub West Midlands. November 2019 December 2021. In partnership with lead collaborator Sport Birmingham.
- 瞿30,000 Rethink Mental Illness & Sport England: Movement For All Tender. September 2018-December 2021, in partnership with colleagues at Nottingham Trent University.
- 瞿34,579 Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust (BSMHFT) Research Evaluation of the BSMHFT Recovery College, November 2015-September 2019.
- 瞿48,027 Collaborative development of pedagogic interventions based on learning analytics, HEFCE Catalyst Fund: Innovations in learning and teaching, and addressing barriers to student success, December 2016-March 2018.
- 瞿2,500 Academic Development Fund (School of Human Sciences), Evaluation of Football for Mental Health Service, in partnership with Aston Villa Football Club Foundation, November 2016-June 2017.
- 瞿1,154 HEFCE Funded Learning Analytics Project (Using Student Engagement Data) Phase One, February 2017-June 2017.
- 瞿2,305 Academic Development Project Fund (Faculty of Arts, Society and Professional Studies), Student Mentoring in a Mental Health and Football Project, in partnership with Aston Villa Football Club Foundation, October 2017-June 2018.
Selected Academic Publications
Benkwitz, A., Ogundipe, E., and Spencer, K. (2024) ‘A step towards community inclusion for individuals experiencing mental health challenges: promoting social inclusion and social recovery through physical activity’, Mental Health and Social Inclusion, https://doi.org/10.1108/MHSI-06-2024-0100
Scoles, L.H., Myers, T.D., Benkwitz, A., and Holland, M. J. G. (2023) Exploring Mental Health Professionals Perceptions of Physical Activity Provision for Mental Health Service Users. Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Mental Health. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40737-023-00375-y
Healy, L.C., Benkwitz, A., McVinnie, Z., Sarkar, M., Islin, M., Brinded, A., Dodge, B., Opacic, S., Swithenbank, Z., Ranasinghe, S., Oliver, J., Karanika-Murray, M., and Nevill, M.E. (2023) Embedding Physical Activity into Community-Based Peer Support Groups for those Severely Affected by Mental Illness. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20, 2291. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032291
Attwood, C., Benkwitz, A., and Holland, M. (2022) We are the forgotten grievers: Bereaved family members experiences of support and mental ill-health following a road traffic collision. Death Studies, pp.1-8: https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2022.2160032
Ali, I., Benkwitz, A., and McDonald, P. (2022) Setting up a Recovery College: Exploring the Experiences of Mental Health Service-users, Staff, Carers and Volunteers. Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Mental Health, https://doi.org/10.1007/s40737-022-00295-3.
Benkwitz, A. (2022) The Case to Encourage Social Recovery in the Community through Sport and Physical Activity. The World Association for Psychosocial Rehabilitation Bulletin, Vol. 49, pp. 19-24 http://www.wapr.org/released-wapr-bulletin-psychosocial-rehabilitation-and-recovery-worldwide-49/.
Ali, I., Benkwitz, A., McDonald, P., Allen, K., and Glover, A. (2022) Reflections on Co-production, Lived Experience and the Shared Learning Environment within the Development and Early Delivery of a Recovery College. Journal of Recovery in Mental Health, 5(2) https://doi.org/10.33137/jrmh.v5i2.37890.
Healy, L., Benkwitz, A., McVinnie, Z., Sarkar, M., Nevill, M., and Islin, M. (2022) Final Evaluation Report: Impact of Embedding Physical Activity into Peer Support Groups. Rethink Mental Illness and Sport England, https://indd.adobe.com/view/c914ed0f-0c5b-4ca3-8d3d-15fb2efd3500.
Khawaja, I., Woodfield, L., Collins, P., Benkwitz, A., and Nevill, A. (2020) Tracking Childrens Physical Activity Patterns across the School Year: A Mixed-Methods Longitudinal Case Study. Children,7, (10), 78, https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9067/7/10/178
Parkes, S., Benkwitz, A., Bardy, H., Myler, K., and Peters, J. (2020) Being more human: Rooting learning analytics through resistance and reconnection with the values of Higher Education. Higher Education Research and Development Journal, 39(1), pp.113-126 https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2019.1677569
Khawaja, I., Woodfield, L., Collins, P., Benkwitz, A., and Nevill, A. (2019) Exploring Childrens Physical Activity Behaviours According to Location: A Mixed-Methods Case Study. Sports, 7, 240. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports7110240
Benkwitz, A., Morris, M., and Healy, L. (2019) An Ethnographic Study Exploring Football Sessions for Medium-Secure Mental Health Service-Users: Utilising the CHIME Conceptual Framework as an Evaluative Tool. Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Mental Health. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40737-019-00135-x
Benkwitz, A., and Healy, L. (2019) Think Football: Exploring a Football for Mental Health Initiative Delivered in the Community through the Lens of Personal and Social Recovery. Mental Health and Physical Activity. 17(1), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mhpa.2019.100292
Benkwitz, A., Parkes, S., Bardy, H., Myler, K., Peters, J., Akhtar, A., Keeling, P., Preece, R., & Smith, T. (2019) Using student data: Student-staff collaborative development of compassionate pedagogic interventions based on learning analytics
and mentoring. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport, and Tourism Education. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2019.100202
Benkwitz, A. (2016) The Perils of Ethnography: Studying Football Fan Rivalry in Birmingham. In: Purdy, L., and Molnar, G. Ethnographies in Sport and Exercise Research. London, Routledge, pp. 141-154.
Benkwitz, A., and Molnar, G. (2016) The Emergence and Development of Association Football: Influential Sociocultural Factors in Victorian Birmingham. Soccer and Society. DOI:10.1080/14660970.2015.1133409.
Miller, P., and Benkwitz, A. (2016) Where the Action is: Towards a Discursive Psychology of Authentic Identity in Soccer Fandom. Psychology of Sport and Exercise. 23(1), 40-50.
Benkwitz, A. (2016) Brief Encounters with Qualitative Methods in Health Research: Ethnography. Cumbria Partnership Journal of Research, Practice and Learning, 5(1), 3-7. Accessed from: https://www.cumbriapartnership.nhs.uk/health-professionals/the-journal/volume-5-issue-1-summer-2016
International Conference Presentations:
Scoles, L., Benkwitz, A., Holland, M., and Myers, T. (2024) A Personal Recovery Approach to Physical Activity for Community Mental Health Service-Users. European Conference for Mental Health Service Evaluations (ENMESH) International Conference, Versailles, France, 4th-6th July, 2024.
Benkwitz, A. (2023) Setting up a Recovery College: Experiences of Service-Users, Staff, Carers and Volunteers. European Conference for Mental Health (ECMH), Ljubljana, Slovenia, 12th-15th September 2023.
Parkes, S., Benkwitz, A., & Bardy, H. (2018) Student-Staff Partnerships: Responding Compassionately to Big Data. 6th International Academic Identities Conference (IAIC), Hiroshima University, Japan, 20th September 2018.
Benkwitz, A., and Healy, L. (2018) Utilising the CHIME Conceptual Framework to Explore a Co-Produced Football for Mental Health Initiative Delivered in the Community in Birmingham, UK. 6th International Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise (QRSE), University of British Columbia, Canada, 5th June 2018.
Parkes, S., Benkwitz, A., and Bardy, H. (2018) Learning Analytics in the Student Centred University: Perspectives and Partnerships at Newman University. European First Year Experience (EFYE), Utrecht University, The Netherlands, 26th June 2018.
Benkwitz, A. (2017) Mental Health and Sport: Reflecting on an Ethnographic Study of Football Therapy Sessions in the National Health Service (NHS) in Birmingham, UK. The European Conference on Mental Health (ECMH), Berlin, Germany, 4th-6th October 2017.
Benkwitz, A. (2014) Conflict and Rivalry between Football Fans in the City of Birmingham: Using Ethnography to Explore Territoriality. University of Bergamos (Italy) Etnografia e Ricerca Qualitativa, 5-7th June 2014.