Dr Minhyeok Tak

Minhyeok Tak is a Senior Lecturer in Sport Management at the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences. He joined Loughborough University in 2019 as a Lecturer, after completing his PhD at the University of Otago, New Zealand, in 2018. Minhyeok obtained his BSc (Physical Education), BA (Sociology), and MSc (Sociology of Sport) at Seoul National University, South Korea.

Minhyeok’s research interest is in the socio-political analysis of sport. His current research focuses on two main themes:

• The politics of policy regimes around sports, gambling and the problem of match-fixing – how betting revenues, regulations and technologies change the way contemporary sports are experienced and consumed; and
• The institutional design of sport development systems behind the integrity issues, such as corruption, match-fixing, athlete safeguarding, etc.

Research projects

• ‘Is Safe Sport incompatible with high performance? Contextualising safeguarding policies within the South Korean elite athlete development system’ funded by the IOC’s 2021/22 Advanced Olympic Research Grant, The Olympic Studies Centre (PI with Dr Yoon Jin Kim & Dr Daniel Rhind).
• ‘Match-fixing monitoring system in play: Betting, data analysis technology and its effects on sport integrity’ funded by the 2019 IOC’s Early Career Academics Research Grant, The Olympic Studies Centre.

Editorial Board member of Sociology of Sport Journal (2024-).

Reviewer for grant applications (e.g., the IOC’s Advanced Olympic Research Grant) and academic journals, including Communication & Sport, Deviant Behavior, European Sport Management Quarterly, International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Sport in Society, Sport Management Review, Ethics & Behavior, Crime, Law & Social Change.

• Tuakli-Wosornu, Y. A., Burrows, K., Fasting, K., Hartill, M., Hodge, K., Kaufman, K., Kavanagh, E., Kirby, S. L., MacLeod, J. G., Mountjoy, M., Parent, S., Tak, M., Vertommen, T., & Rhind, D. J. (2024). IOC consensus statement: interpersonal violence and safeguarding in sport. British Journal of Sports Medicine. DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2024-108766
• Tak, M., Kim, Y. J., & Rhind, D. J. (2024). Rights-based policies for role-bearing people: Are geo-cultural norms a hindrance to cultivating safer sport? International Review for the Sociology of Sport, DOI: 10.1177/10126902241277225
• Tak, M., Kim, Y. J., & Rhind, D. J. (2024). Good use, non-use and misuse: safe sport reporting systems in context. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 16(2), 255-270. DOI: 10.1080/19406940.2024.2323011
• Kim, Y. J., & Tak, M. (2024). Coaching transitions across borders: The pursuit of individuals advancing coaching careers in the competitive global landscape of Olympic sports. International Sport Coaching Journal. DOI: 10.1123/iscj.2023-0058.
• Sam, M., Stenling, C., & Tak, M. (2023). Integrity governance: A new reform agenda for sport? International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 58(5), 829-849. DOI: 10.1177/10126902221125600
• Tak, M., Choi, C. H., & Sam, M. P. (2022). Odds-wise view: Whose ideas prevail in the global integrity campaigns against match-fixing? International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 57(7), 1001-1020. DOI: 10.1177/10126902211045681
• Tak, M. (2022). Sport, gambling, and match-fixing. In Wenner, LA (ed) The Oxford Handbook of Sport and Society, Oxford University Press, pp.1005-1024, ISBN: 9780197519042. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197519011.013.51
• Tak, M. (2021). Stakeholders around sports gambling governance: A comparison of the United Kingdom and South Korea. In Strittmatter, A-M, Fahlén, J, Houlihan, B (ed) Stakeholder Analysis and Sport organisations, Routledge, pp.127-148, ISBN: 9780367630164. DOI: 10.4324/9781003111917-10
• Tak, M. (2018). Too big to jail: Match-fixing, institutional failure and the shifting of responsibility. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 53(7), 788-806. DOI: 10.1177/1012690216682950
• Tak, M., Sam, M. P., & Jackson, S. J. (2018). The problems and causes of match-fixing: Are legal sports betting regimes to blame? Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice, 4(1), 73-87. DOI: 10.1108/JCRPP-01-2018-0006
• Tak, M., Sam, M. P., & Jackson, S. J. (2018). The politics of countermeasures against match-fixing in sport: A political sociology approach to policy instruments. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 53(1), 30-48. DOI: 10.1177/1012690216639748