Prof. Marie Young is a staff member of the Department of Sport Recreation and Exercise Science,University of the Western Cape, for the past 9 years. She majored at undergraduate level with recreation and industrial psychology resulting in a career at the City of Johannesburg, the local authority in Johannesburg, South Africa, as a Sport and Recreation Officer. She developed a passion working with youth and decided to share her knowledge and expertise with the youth by becoming an academic. She obtained her Doctorate degree in 2014 with a focus on therapeutic recreation and was commended for her contribution to this field of study in African context. She lectures on the undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the field of sport and recreation management and has a research interest in community recreation, campus recreation and therapeutic recreation as a means to promote health, youth development and changing environments making communities more livable. Conducting research and supervision in the field of sport and recreation requires an individual to be diverse and to supervise postgraduate students across disciplines in the Faculty. The diversity of the field further leads to her involvement in various interdepartmental and inter-institutional projects nationally and internationally. She presented papers at conferences and submitted collaborative grant applications that have been successful. She further provides training to recreational workers in the City of Cape Town as part of a collaborating agreement with the four institutions in the Western Cape and the City for the development of community based recreational programs. Her contributions to these projects are aligned with her expertise in sport and recreation and more specific leisure and recreation, therapeutic recreation, health promotion and quality of life, physical activity, leisure education and youth development (especially focusing on youth at risk and persons with disabilities).

WL Committees involvement:

• Strategic Priorities Grant
• Research and Knowledge Transfer
• Youth Ambassadors