Award Winner

Dr. McDonough Smith is an Assistant Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University’s (VCU) Center for Sport Leadership and serves as UNESCO International Faculty at Pennsylvania State University. She brings together training in urban affairs and public policy (PhD, University of Delaware) and social work (Master of Social Work, University of Pennsylvania), with her scholarship sitting at the intersection of sport for development, youth justice, sport policy and social justice through sport, as community engagement runs through it both as a method and commitment.

Much of her work has focused on the role sport can play in the lives of young people involved with justice systems, covering a range of topics governing sport program implementation. Her doctoral research examined the scope and implementation of sport in juvenile correctional facilities across the United States and laid the groundwork for a sustained body of inquiry since. Through peer-reviewed work in publications including JSFD, Sport in Society, and Health Promotion International, as well as book chapters and policy briefs, she has helped to surface key issues related to sport for justice-involved youth. Her national survey of sport programmes in long-term, secure juvenile correctional facilities (in collaboration with the Council of Juvenile Justice Administrators) is one of the few examples of sport for development research feeding directly into a national body of administrators in this space.

Her body of work is also reflected in practice. Her research informed the creation of the Youth Justice Sport Partnership – a sport-based university-community partnership between CSL and Virginia’s Department of Juvenile Justice’s Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Facility – which she founded and leads. The programme is implemented on-site twice weekly by a collaborative team of Bon Air recreation staff, CSL graduate assistants, and VCU undergraduate students, and has engaged around 400 young people across approximately 500 hours of programming over three years. Further, her international work, including her Fulbright Future Scholarship in Australia and a culturally informed lacrosse pilot with Queensland’s West Moreton Youth Detention Centre, extends the core of her work across contexts.

On receiving the award, Dr. McDonough Smith said: “ I am honored and grateful to be the recipient of the 2026 JSFD Early Career Scholar Award. This recognition reflects the mentorship, collaboration, and support of so many who have guided and inspired me in sport for development and youth justice- most importantly the young people we work with. I am incredibly thankful for the opportunities I have had to learn, grow, and contribute to a field that I care so deeply about.”

The evaluation process was overseen by the JSFD Early Career Scholar Award Committee. All committee members reviewed each nomination. Any member of the award committee who declared a conflict of interest with a particular candidate was excluded from providing an evaluation for that candidate, and other committee members or additional evaluations were utilised to undertake the review process.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. McDonough Smith.