IT sounds like the perfect job for football fans – a study of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
However, the new research has less to do about on-field play and more to do with how the tournament can be used to inspire social change in the country.
The project, which starts in December, will involve Edinburgh Napier University experts Dr Eleni Theodoraki, Dr Jane Ali-Knight and Dr Maktoba Omar working with Stenden University in Qatar to help organisers understand how the World Cup can help tackle high levels of obesity and reduce its carbon footprint.
Dr Theodoraki, from the university's Edinburgh Institute: Festivals, Events, Tourism, said: "Mega sporting events have the power to inspire social change.
"By engaging with experts in the UK and Qatar, which suffers from high levels of diabetes and obesity as well as a high per-capita carbon footprint, we aim to find out what opportunities exist in the nine-year run-up to the event, as well as during it, to promote habits of recycling, low carbon use and physical activity."
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