Louise Platt is a Reader in Place Experiences at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her research interests centre on small-scale festivity and mundane leisure practice in relation to identities and place. She is co-editor of the International Journal of Event and Festival Management. Her work on processional cultures and urban events has been published in cultural geography and leisure journals. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Place Management. She has co-edited collections including Gendered Violence at International Festivals (2020, Routledge), The Routledge Handbook of Placemaking (2020, Routledge) and Research Methods for Critical Event Studies (2016). She has been invited to speak on panels addressing the value of community events and delivered keynotes on processions and parades in urban spaces. Rebecca Finkel is a Professor of Critical Event Studies at Queen Margaret University and Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy. Research frames critical event studies within conceptualisations of social justice, gender in/equality, and cultural identity. Co-Editor of Routledge Critical Event Studies Research Book Series as well as Transforming Leisure in the Pandemic: Re-imagining Interaction and Activity During Crisis (2022, Routledge); 'Multispecies leisure: human-animal interactions in leisure landscapes' (2021, Routledge); Gendered Violence at International Festivals (2020, Routledge); and Accessibility, Inclusion, and Diversity in Critical Event Studies (2018, Routledge); Research Themes in Events (2014). Published in gender studies, cultural management, urban geography, media, leisure, tourism, and events journals and books, including co-editing special issues on EDI-related topics in highly-rated journals. Rebecca has been invited to deliver keynotes, workshops and seminars throughout the UK, Europe, Trinidad & Tobago, Chengdu (China) and Austin (USA) on festivals and cultural events. Briony Sharp is a Lecturer in Events Marketing at the University of the West of Scotland and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her research focuses on the social impact and implications of events and leisure practices; including EDI, wellbeing, volunteering and therapeutic leisure. She is co-editor of Transforming leisure in the pandemic: Re-imagining interaction and activity during crisis (2022, Routledge) and Accessibility, Inclusion, and Diversity in Critical Events Studies (2018, Routledge). Briony is the Treasurer of Leisure Studies Association, Social Media Editor for the Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events and Executive Board Member of International Journal of Event and Festival Management. She is also an Associate Board member of the Association for British Professional Conference Organisers (ABPCO).
