Dr Steve Mann has been appointed to the newly created position of head of healthy communities at social enterprise Places for People Leisure.

The research director has spent the past seven years working at the ukactive Research Institute, leading pioneering studies on how physical activity could be an effective health intervention when delivered within communities.

“The role of leisure services has evolved, with facilities playing an important part in tackling health inequalities as they’re often at the heart of their local communities,” said Mann.

“I’m excited to work more closely within the wide spread of local authority communities that Places for People Leisure partner and will be focusing on getting more of the inactive active through innovative solutions that really make a difference to individuals.”

Places for People supports 36 local authority partners in the UK, managing 117 leisure centres and six Places Gyms.

Rich Millard, partnership director at Places for People, said: “This exciting new role will mean we can support our local authority partners within their communities, and help tackle prevalent health issues through integrated health solutions accessible to all and based on the needs of the locality.”

Mann will continue to feed into ukactive’s research strategy and collaborating on projects of sector-wide significance.

ukactive CEO Steven Ward said: “After joining ukactive as our first PhD student, Steve has gone on to build the Research Institute into the sector-leading force it is today.

“In doing so, he’s helped to change the culture of the sector, to truly value the impact it can have on health.”