Kinesiology professor Scott Martyn has just returned to campus after delivering the keynote address at the World Sports Leisure Science and Industry Summit in Xiamen, China. Despite his brief visit, he also found the time to meet with senior representatives from the Chinese government and a number of academic institutions.

In his talk, entitled “A Global Dialogue about the Future: Responding to Changing Demographics and their Impact on Sport and Leisure Studies,” Dr. Martyn called for an increase of scholarship on sport and leisure within the cultural contexts of various nations around the world. He stated that his goal was to “enhance interdisciplinary and international dialogue between sport and leisure researchers, educators, practitioners, policy makers, and those in industry.”

The first step during his keynote address was to “establish a working definition of sport, leisure, and recreation” before “focusing their attention on the six drivers of change in society today,” he said, giving special consideration to changing demographics on national and international levels.

Finally, Martyn argued that “demographic complexity, expressed as age complexity, income complexity, gender complexity, and life stage complexity, must be embraced if sport and leisure professionals are to serve the public in the future.”

Following his visit, Martyn has received a number of invitations to continue the dialogue he initiated while in the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Xiamen. He will also be working with officials from government and the World Leisure Sports Association to help identify collaborative opportunities in higher education.