Ruth Mwandumba

Ruth Mwandumba is a professional GB athlete competing in the sport of target shooting. Based in Liverpool, Ruth has British-Malawian dual citizenship, and at only 28-years-old she has already achieved firsts in her sport.

In 2018 she became the first Black female athlete to represent England and become English Champion in target shooting – she has been English Champion and the British record holder twice. She is a role model and a massive advocate for diversity within sport, working with media outlets like the BBC to share the challenges that she has faced and to positively make change to the sport so that it is inclusive for all, regardless of race, creed or age.

“When I first started shooting competitively, it quickly became apparent to me that I was the only Black shooter competing at an elite level in Britain. With only 0.5% of competitors like me, I knew straight away that I wanted to change, and ever since, I have been campaigning to increase diversity within shooting sports, both within the UK and internationally.”

Ruth completed a master’s in international public health at LJMU in 2018 and was supported through our Sport Scholarship Programme, allowing Ruth to keep competing while undertaking her studies. She is now supported through the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS) allowing her to access strength and conditioning, physiotherapy, nutrition, performance lifestyle and psychology experts within LJMU’s School of Sport and Exercise Sciences as she strives to compete at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games in the future.

Ruth has also given back to the LJMU community as a guest speaker and presenter at many universities and students’ union, JMSU, activities. They include the Virtual Global Citizenship Conference attended by hundreds of delegates from several nations, including alumni and community representatives, alongside staff and students from the higher education sector, where Ruth reflected on her professional life and university experience in a powerful way.

“The reason I stay in touch with LJMU as an alumna is that I’m so grateful for the opportunities I was able to get there; from my sports scholarship to my amazing degree, I don’t think that I’d be where I am today without LJMU (both sporting and academically!). I still have a brilliant relationship with my lecturers and also, I have truly made some of my best friends at John Moores and I love that it’s an experience we all got to go through together.”