Professor Gayle McPherson holds a Chair in Events and Cultural Policy within the School of Business and Creative Industries at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS) and is the Director of the Centre for Culture, Sport and Events. Her research interests revolve around the interventions of the local and national state and wider agencies in events and festivity of all types and the social and cultural impacts of large-scale events on communities.  A key area of her work examines soft power, cultural diplomacy and the contribution of culture in fragile contexts. She is also conducting research in the role of events and para events for social change and the impact of bidding for cultural events on cities and public engagement. She has acted as an expert advisor to the OECD on their Recommendation for Global Events and Local Development adopted by 37 member countries. More recently she is leading a project on the social value of community events on behalf of Spiritof2012 and Local Trust.  She has co-authored Event Policy: From Theory to Strategy (2012), and Leveraging Disability Sport Events: Impacts, Promises and Possibilities (2018). She is also co-editor of Music Entrepreneurship (2015), National Days: Constructing and Celebrating National Identity (2009) and Digital Leisure Cultures: Critical Perspectives (2017). She is Speciality Chief Editor of Frontiers Journal of Sport and Active Lifestyle: Sport, Leisure and Tourism and publishes and reviews for a range of international journals. She is a member of the UK REF panel 24: Sport, Exercise Science,  Leisure and Tourism, 2021.