David Fleischman

The pursuit of international sporting success has become a billion-dollar global enterprise, with nations striving to optimise their high-performance sport systems for sustained competitive advantage (De Bosscher et al., 2008). Central to this endeavour is the development of HPPs that consistently identify and develop athletes to achieve podium success at peak events such as the Olympic, Paralympic Games and World Championships.

While there is extensive research investigating the identification and development of elite athletes, there remains limited integration of this research to inform how HPPs can produce optimal system-level outcomes (Rees et al., 2016). Moreover, existing HPPs exhibit high attrition (Huxley et al., 2017), high incidences of injury and mental ill-health (Pilkington et al., 2024), and access barriers related to financial and social/cultural capital (Padya, 2021). Research exploring factors that influence both positive and negative HPP outcomes is therefore critical.

Systems thinking is presented as a theoretical approach to improve understanding of HPPs in Athletics. Systems thinking describes and understands complex problems by viewing them as emergent properties of interconnected systems rather than isolated parts (Salmon et al., 2023). In this case, it focuses on the whole athletics ‘system’ as the unit of analysis—its purpose, elements, and interconnections—and how these contribute to HPP outcomes. Systems thinking is emerging as an effective approach to address persistent, complex challenges in sport (McLean et al., 2025). As such, it provides a novel theoretical approach to understanding the interconnected systems underpinning HPPs.

Understanding the knowledge base to identify what is known about the factors influencing the identification, development, and success of athletes in Athletics HPPs is a key first step. Accordingly, this scoping review aimed to determine these factors.

Key account management (KAM) is essential for B2B firms navigating dynamic customer behaviour and competitive landscapes. In the current landscape, KAM is evolving and facing the challenge of optimising practices using novel technology to maintain and support customer relationships. This is an area where limited research exists. This paper aims to fill this gap by providing a conceptual backdrop for exploring how physical interaction and technological platforms – ‘phygital’ – are influenced by external environmental factors and subsequently impact essential KAM practices. Specifically, a theoretical framework integrating the Resource-Based View (RBV) and Social Exchange Theory (SET) is presented as a conceptual foundation for understanding how phygital practices interact to influence KAM's relational capability and outcome success. Integrating RBV and SET offers a novel theoretical lens through which to understand KAM strategies amidst external market volatility and complexity. It also provides practical insights for KAM practitioners, empowering them to optimise phygital KAM practices and foster competitive advantage through leveraging customer relationships as a resource.

This study takes an 'outside-in' approach by exploring the narratives of university alumni working in industry. The aim of the study is to understand how engaging with industry alumni supports and informs graduate skills and knowledge needed for future employability, and university career/future focused curriculum design. To achieve the aim, the study adopted an Appreciative Inquiry approach to guide a series of n=8 depth interviews recorded in a digital video format. This approach provided alumni with a platform to construct their unique professional narratives in a manner that was relatable and engaging to students, and that universities could use as an educational tool. Data from the interviews resulted in three main themes: 1) the necessity of soft-skills and work experience, 2) the importance of resilience, and 3) the willingness to constantly learn. Theoretically, the findings contribute externally validated support and extension of important and desirable graduate attributes, providing evidence for informing and extending career/future focused curriculum design. Practically, the findings provide students and universities with professional confirmation and foresight of the skills and knowledge needed to transition and navigate the professional workforce, along with an educational tool to implement into curriculum.

The aim of the presentation is to unpack the positioning of an elite student-athlete support program via a USC's Student Engagement Framework. As such, the presentation focuses on the importance of developing and cultivating internal partnerships to support a whole-of-university, education-centric, high performance student-athlete program. Taking an internal approach has helped establish a cultural shift towards elite sport within the University, ensuring that elite student-athlete needs are well understood and high quality learning and teaching and support are at the fore. In moving forward the program will look to multi-disciplinary perspectives and external partnerships to further enhance the high performance student athlete experience.

Consumer interest and demand for local food is growing rapidly. Increased levels of consumer health and environmental consciousness, along with popular media, have sparked this growth. Yet, little marketing specific research focuses on local food. The purpose of this conceptual paper was, therefore, twofold. First, it sought to explore some of the existing gaps in local food marketing research. Second, it aimed to offer fresh perspective on marketing local food as framed by the value co-creation concept. It was found that local food marketing is fragmented across multiple disciplines; little research exists in an Australian context; and that there is little cohesion in terms of how local food is defined in marketing contexts. The paper contributes to theory and practice by suggesting opportunities for value co-creation as a platform to enhance local food marketing strategies, and also encourages consideration of challenges that may arise.