Esmé Scantlebury

Fellow’s Profile

Esmé Scantlebury

Fellow’s Profile

Esmé Scantlebury

Integrating Support and Sport for Refugees in New Communities

Fellowship

Themes

Focus

Helping refugees find care, confidence and community through inclusive sport.

Countries

Fellowship year

2025

Locality

London

Biography

I manage multiple inclusive programmes at Bloomsbury Football Foundation, including initiatives for forcibly displaced young people, young people with disabilities and Muslim girls. My role focuses on creating safe spaces in football where young people feel welcome, confident and connected.

My Fellowship explores how inclusive sport can support the well-being of young refugees and asylum seekers, and how the UK's sport and support sectors can work together more effectively. I'll be learning from organisations in Latin America that use psychosocial approaches to deliver sport programmes grounded in care, structure and with emotional support at their core.

I am driven by the belief that football - and sport more widely - can be transformational for young people's confidence and development. Its impact is even greater when delivered in trauma-informed, intentional ways, where progression and high-quality delivery are paired with meaningful support. I hope to bring back practical insights to strengthen support for displaced youth in the UK and to help scale inclusive models across other sports.

Disclaimer

All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.

Disclaimer

All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.

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