Lecture series
A series of lectures held by the LDA between October and December 2008 around the legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games proved to be extremely useful for both participants and panellists alike, with over 200 people attending and contributing to the legacy debate.
The lectures were devised following feedback from the successful summer of public consultation events where it became apparent that there was a large amount of interest from academic institutions and higher education students in the legacy of the 2012 Games. This group was particularly keen to explore with academic rigour the fundamental basis of the Games and the legacy surrounding it. In response to this, the LDA, the ODA and LOCOG developed a series of interactive lectures that ran from October to December 2008 to provide students and academics with relevant information to support their work and interest.
It was great to see familiar faces, many of whom had attended the Legacy Now roadshow over the 2008 summer and had provided the impetus for the event, as well as students and academics from institutions across London, and international representatives from universities within Europe.
The lectures offered the opportunity for students and academics to find out first hand how the legacy benefits of the 2012 Games are being delivered and are already creating for London, and the lecture topics provided the audience with the broadest sense of the work being completed by the LDA and its partners, including the ODA and LOCOG.
Over the course of the three lectures, we received some interesting questions from the audience which generated some lively discussions during the organised breakout sessions. It was great to see the enthusiasm among participants and hear the many interesting debates between the panel and members of the audience throughout each presentation.
Feedback from all participants was extremely positive, including:
Jennifer Chan, University of Greenwich:
"A fantastic, well organised and informative evening, which gathered all experts with academics and students who share the common interests about London 2012. The event had some of the most interesting debates which made an enjoyable and lively discussion with all the participants and the panel throughout the session."
Presentations from most of the panellists involved in all three lectures are now available to download from this website for anyone interested in viewing them:
Following feedback from the students and institutions involved in the lecture series, we look forward to hopefully running a further series of lectures in 2009.
