Challenging sport integrity
We are building on university-wide expertise in athlete conduct, sport law and regulation, organisational psychology and management, and globalisation and development studies to inform the systems and policies shaping sport governance nationally and internationally.
Our work in this area is timely and urgent given longstanding and contemporary episodes of misconduct amongst individual athletes and across sporting institutions, including corruption, child abuse, doping, public disorder, sexism and racism.
Through innovative and rigorous research on the causes and consequences of these challenges to sport integrity we are inspiring and supporting relevant stakeholders to improve their organisational practices. This enables stakeholders to better safeguard those participating in sport, and fosters novel ways for sport to counteract problems experienced by individuals living in fragmented and violent communities across the world.
Protecting children’s rights in professional football
There is a long history of young people being trained for and contracted to work in the football industry.
Recent media revelations and policy reports have highlighted how this can expose children to emotional and physical harm, which contravenes or impinges their rights.
Children’s rights and the regulations of football transfers
UNICEF-funded research aims to identify any regions and clubs where effective mechanisms exist to protect children from rights violations associated with recruitment to the football industry. We aim to put forward regulatory recommendations and practical steps stakeholders within and beyond professional football can take to safeguard the rights of young players. Valuable insights have been shared at the 2018 World Sport Forum.
Meet the experts
The Role of Youth, Sport and Cultural Interventions
We are investigating the role that sport, cultural and educational programmes can play in enabling sustainable development in Cape Verde, Nepal and Timor-Leste.
New development frontiers
Funded by the ESRC and Department for International Development and in partnership with Kathmandu University and the University of California, we focus on how these programmes tackle poverty, conflict in fragile states, environmental sustainability, and gender inequality. Engaging with youth-led initiatives and NGOs in each site, we are co-creating a holistic model of development, which recognises the crucial role that young people, physical cultures, empathy and creativity can play in sustainable development.
Meet the experts
Mapping of corruption in sport in the EU
The complex and multidimensional nature of corruption in sport has created significant challenges for sport management and policymakers in identifying where problems lie and developing actions to safeguard the integrity of sport globally.
A report to the European Commission
We examined the state of play in 28 countries and identified potential actions to take forward as part of a report issued by the European Commission. The findings have been shared with EU member state representatives as well as key organisations such as the International Olympic Committee, FIFA, UEFA, INTERPOL, UNESCO, and the Council of Europe.
Two-part Experts in Sport Podcast
Examining corruption in sport