Sport Spaces, Places & People

Collectively, we take a broad and inclusive definition of sport as ranging from moving and living an active lifestyle, through play and recreation, to competition. This includes the provision, consumption, and prosumption of sport. We examine the cultural institutions through which practices that regulate sport and physical activities are established and consider the diverse and manifold organisations and providers that deliver, facilitate, or use sport to achieve strategic goals. These peopled organisations are usually formalised or structured spaces, encompassing the governance of policies, rules and regulations, values and belief systems, and have varying resource requirements and resourcing relationships. It is important to recognise that organisations are political, involve relations of power, and are culturally and socially situated. Recognising that sport takes place informally and spontaneously we are also keenly interested in those activities and practices happening in spaces alternative to such formal organisational settings.

Key areas of research activity include

• Social justice in and through sport; 
• Management, marketing, and innovation of and within sport organisations; 
• Community asset transfer and sustainability within third sector sport organisations; 
• Event leveraging and development; 
• Consumer and physical culture in a wide range of sport contexts.

Research Group Leader

• Dr John Hayton

PGRs / Thesis Title / Submission Year

• Mwende Munguti / The contribution of sports foundations to addressing social determinants of health, reducing inequalities, and their impact on health and well-being across the life course / 2027
• Truls Orneberg / An investigation of athlete awareness of and attitudes towards anti-doping policies and practices in new youth action sports / 2026
• Jamal McKenzie / Why are Black Britons less likely to volunteer in Sport? / 2024

PGR Alumni / Thesis Title / Submission Year

• Saara Lahti / Is there commonality to difference? Topical life histories of sexually diverse volunteers in sport / 2023
• Stuart Haw / Understanding capacity for successful Community Asset Transfer of leisure facilities: The essential role of human capital / 2023