Professor Fiona Chambers
A Catalyst for Change
Based in the School of Education at University College Cork in Ireland, Fiona is a Full Professor of Education with 30+ years global experience in education, sport and innovation. For Fiona, the triple intensity point of her teaching, research and civic engagement is always about social impact. Fiona is a teacher educator, a Hasso Plattner Institute certified design thinking coach, and a LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® facilitator. Fiona is the co-founder of the Postgraduate Diploma in Innovation through Design Thinking at University College Cork, which is funded by the Irish Government to upskill the Irish workforce in innovation practice. During the pandemic, she founded the first global innovation competition for sport - the Global Design Challenge for Sport and Physical Activity (GDC), which has UNESCO patronage. The GDC crowdsources ideas for incubation and impact using design thinking and has the support of global organisations across the innovation journey.
Fiona is the elected President of AIESEP (Association Internationale des Écoles Supérieures d’Éducation Physique) and elected Vice President of CEREPS (the European Research Council for Physical Education and School Sport). She was the recent winner of the 2023 Irish Sport Industry Awards inaugural ‘Women in Business in Sport’ award, which recognised her leadership in sport innovation nationally and internationally. She was also named as one of the 50 most influential women in sport in 2023 and in 2024 by Sport for Business. She is a passionate educator and has given two TEDx talks: In 2023 - Our Moonshot on Educating the Next Two Billion People and in 2024 - Ariadne, Georgie & Georgie: Striving for equity in sport for women.
Fiona’s other interests include performing choral music; art appreciation; oil painting; jogging; walking her two Cavalier King Charles dogs; travelling; photography and reading. In 2019, she founded a chamber choir – MusiCórum Cork. She is also a founder member of the Fleischmann Choir of the Cork School of Music (1992). She has been performing on stage for 48 years (in musicals, choirs, as a backing singer and as a soloist).
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drfionacatherinechambers/
Bluesky: proffionachambers.bsky.social
Website: https://.professorfionachambers.ie
Research Profile: http://publish.ucc.ie/researchprofiles/A013/fchambers
Email: f.chambers@ucc.ie