Rate My Professor Toni Williams

Dr Toni Williams is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences at Durham University, a position she has held since January 2022. She previously served at Leeds Beckett University and as a Glendonbrook Doctoral Research Fellow at Loughborough University. Williams holds a BSc (Hons), MSc, and PhD. Her research centers on understanding the physical activity experiences of disabled people, effective physical activity promotion, barriers to participation, and how intersecting identities contribute to inequalities. She specializes in qualitative research methods and methodologies in sport and exercise psychology, including meta-synthesis, narrative inquiry, timelining, and story completion. Her work also addresses disability identities, co-production in research, and the application of these approaches to broader health and exercise contexts.

Williams has an extensive publication record in high-impact journals such as Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, Psychology of Sport and Exercise, and Disability and Health Journal. Notable works include 'Intersectionality and co-production in disability and physical activity research: Critical reflections on promise, negotiation and transformation' (2026, with Gabriel et al.), '25 years of qualitative research in sport and exercise Psychology: How did it Go? and what now?' (2025, with Smith et al.), 'School-based factors influencing physical activity participation in children and adolescents with disabilities' (2025, with Deng et al.), and 'Stories of physical activity and disability: exploring sport and exercise students’ narrative imagination through story completion' (2022). She has contributed chapters to key texts, including 'Research co-production' in The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research in Sport and Physical Culture (in press, with Smith) and 'Trauma and spinal cord injury' in Trauma Informed Research in Sport Exercise and Health (2024, with Brighton). A founding member and treasurer of the International Society for Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise since 2020, she co-chaired its 4th International Conference in 2014 and the 8th in Durham in 2022. Williams delivers qualitative training workshops at conferences worldwide, including in Denmark and Canada, enhancing methodological advancements in the field. Her scholarship has garnered over 1,100 citations, underscoring her impact on sport, exercise, and disability studies.