Scottish Student Sport are delighted to unveil Jordan Dawson as our new head of Development: Jordan Dawson.

As he comes to the end of his first week at 48 Pleasance, we caught up with our new signing to learn more about the man tasked with leading our excellent Development team through into the new year.

What most excites you about joining the SSS team?

Aside from the great team of people that I’ve met over the last few days, one of the things I’ve been most excited about is being able to combine several of my passions together in sport, students and development. Having come across SSS briefly in other roles and seeing the impact that the organisation has on its members across Scotland is something I’m particularly excited to be able to contribute to going forward.

Take us back to your student days. Where did you study and how were you involved in student sport?

Initially I graduated from Brunel University with an undergrad degree in Sports Science before moving up to Loughborough to study and MSc in Globalization and Sport followed by a PhD looking at the legacy of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on East London.

I’d been intermittently involved in student sport throughout from Wednesday afternoons to campaigning in elections for Sports Officers but it was in my last few years that I got more heavily involved with all thing’s unions and particularly the role that physical activity had on student wellbeing.

Co-founding a support and social network for PhD students, it was incredibly empowering to the see the benefit that even a walk across campus had on people’s wellbeing. It was brilliant to see the years of theory put into practice!

What have you been doing/where have you been working since those student days?

I’ve bounced around a fair bit since my student days working largely in the TE sector across student unions and universities in the UK. That included roles in advocacy, advice and campaigns, sabb support and then running the full gamut of activity at satellite student unions in London for both Loughborough and the Coventry University Group.

That included setting up sports programmes in the Olympic Park and building partnerships with local sport stakeholders to support student engagement.

I moved to Glasgow in 2019 to join the University of Glasgow working in student experience with similar responsibilities focused around wellbeing, internationalisation and student development. Those roles have all been incredibly rewarding in different ways and allowed me to see development in people throughout.

For the past few years, I have been working on high-potential talent development programmes in the Civil Service supporting their pastoral, wellbeing and development needs as they move into senior management roles across government.

What are your sporting highlights, both as a participant and fan?

Competitively, not very much recently! As a fan, (this might not endear me anywhere), my first experience of a live football match was England vs Scotland at Euro 96, sits fondly in my memories of how fantastic live sport can be than anything else. It was a thrill that continued of attending live sport of all kinds including being able to watch Leeds not just playing but doing well in the Champions League that has made the last decade much easier as a fan!

Aside from that being able to attend a couple of different events at the recent Paris 2024 Games was incredible and to see how differently the Games were hosted after my experience at London 2012.

Do you have any exciting sports plans coming up?

At the moment, I’m working back to bigger distances slowly training and rebuilding towards the 2025 London Marathon after struggling through a couple of injuries this year that derailed a few of my plans. It won’t be my first marathon but it certainly will be my last!*

*Unless I finally succeed in a ballot place for Berlin at which point I may pull the trainers back on once again…

What is your ideal holiday destination?

I’d love to see Cuba but the holiday that is being partially planned at the moment is waiting on more information coming about the Lions Women’s Team tour in 2027 so New Zealand is pretty high up on the ideal place right now.

Tell us your best joke

Why do pancakes always win at cricket? They have the best batter

Pineapple on pizza – yes or no?

An emphatic and resounding yes. And peach too… but not together.

An impressive array of answers from Jordan there, though we’re yet to see how his opinions on fruity pizzas will play out in the office.

If you want to reach out to Jordan, you can email him at: jordan@scottishstudentsport.com