Benjamin Simpson

Benjamin is a doctoral researcher from Luxembourg. He obtained his BA in French and Italian from the University of Leicester, before completing a Master’s in International Relations at King’s College London and a Master’s in Strategic Communication at Loughborough University. 

He was awarded the McWilliam Memorial Prize for Best Performance in Italian (University of Leicester), and the prize for the highest scoring dissertation in strategic communication (Loughborough University).

Owing to his international background, he is passionate about language and culture and spent a year learning Modern Standard Arabic at the American Language Institute in Fes, Morocco.

Supervisors: Dr Michael Skey and Dr Argyro Elisavet Manoli

Benjamin’s PhD focuses on the under researched public relations subfield of crisis communication in professional sport. Drawing upon expertise from both the School of Social Sciences and Humanities and the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Science, this study involves developing a new framework (CCPS - Crisis Communication for Professional Sport) to aid our understanding of crises in sport, as well as how to manage them through communication.

It examines the most important stakeholders involved when a crisis arises, as well as the unique features of the sport industry that need considering. Furthermore, it incorporates communication and media insights that are largely overlooked in mainstream crisis communication theory.

Whilst this study offers a novel approach to crisis communication in sport, it also provides a unique perspective on the subfield as a whole.