Bridging Academia, Policy and Practice Virtual Conference

Bridge: A MindSport for All (BAMSA) aims to establish the Sociology of Mind-Sports as a new academic field with the card game bridge as the key case study. To do this, we draw on social interactionist and post structuralist theory to discuss research on bridge as a mindsport and leisure activity. With more than 80 presenters and panelists across 20 countries, there will be lively discussions on definitions of sport, mindsport, serious leisure and recreation specialisation; the role of bridge in positive psychology and wellbeing; deviance (i.e., cheating) and the interference of COVID-19; and the interaction between people of different gender, ages and generations.

The conference runs over four days with a single stream of papers (no concurrent sessions). This gives participants the opportunity to share ideas and understandings from different perspectives and enter collaborative discussions about mindsports and the conceptual approaches used to make sense of them.

The conference is convened by Prof Samantha Punch and includes many contributions from within the Faculty. The keynote will be delivered by US Prof Martin Seligman, world renowned for his work on wellbeing and happiness, who will be linking his PERMA framework to mindsport and bridge for the first time on 28 June at 4.30pm.

See registration details for the conference.

We look forward to welcoming you to #BAMSA2021