Nicola has a career spanning twenty five years across government, national governing bodies of sport and the education sector. Her career has involved working for large public organisations at a senior executive level, including Cardiff and Newport City Councils as well as working for the Sports Council for Wales and the Open University.

She currently works for Cardiff Metropolitan University, in the Cardiff School of Sport. From 2008-2015 she was Programme Director for the MA in Sport Management and Leadership and is a member of the School’s Management Planning Team with responsibility for strategy and external engagement.

Nicola is currently a Director of British Gymnastics and the British Gymnastics Foundation and is on CIMSPA Wales. She was appointed as a Member of the Sports Council for Wales from 2004 to 2007.

She is an active researcher with published papers reflecting her interests in applied research and evaluation. Her particular subject interests include: public policy and sport policy; strategy; governance; community development, sport development and physical activity.

She is on the editorial board of Managing Sport and Leisure. Nicola led the independent national evaluation on the Free Swimming Initiative, for Welsh Government. She has also led programmes of research and evaluation for Sport Wales’ on ‘5X60,’ and Market Segments and was involved in ‘Do Activity, Stay Healthy’ (DASH) for the Somerset Activity and Sports Partnership.