Sustainable management of community sport organisations

A fully funded PhD studentship to investigate the sustainable management of local community football organisations.

The Centre for Health and Wellbeing Across the Lifecourse at Brunel University London invites applications from highly motivated individuals with a strong academic record for a fully funded PhD studentship to investigate the sustainable management of community football organisations.

The study involves a participatory action research strategy and focuses on sustainable community development and management. Sustainable community development is characterised by duality because it represents both a normative and an analytical concept that offers simultaneously a way of understanding the world and a method for solving problems.

The project will also harness the power of digital technology by co-developing with a local football club an interactive prototype of a digital open infrastructure for collecting and disseminating knowledge.

Based in and funded by the College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, this studentship offers a full-time annual London rate stipend estimated at £21,237 plus Home tuition fees, for a maximum of 36 months.

The start date will be 1 January 2025 or 1 April 2025.

Overview

The PhD studentship will involve systematically reviewing relevant literature and practices in the field, working with a local community football club and developing an innovative model of sustainability management of community football clubs.

This model is concerned with understanding and shaping the interactions between complex adaptive natural systems and sports organisations at individual, organisational and societal levels.

A key feature that distinguishes sustainability sport management from its current mainstream understanding and practices as a business is its explicit prioritisation of all types of sports participants as citizens as opposed to treating them as consumers.

The successful candidate will be supervised by an expert interdisciplinary team of researchers who will provide full training for the research.

For informal discussions, please contact Professor Vassil Girginov by emailing vassil.girginov@brunel.ac.uk.

Eligibility

Candidates should have an undergraduate degree (first or upper second class) or equivalent qualification in sport development/business/management and sociology of sport or a related field.

A Masters qualification in a relevant area would be highly desirable.

Experience in working with community sport organisations and football clubs in particular will be advantageous.

Knowledge of UX design, data-driven web/mobile application development and participatory design methods or willingness to learn would be highly desirable.

Applicants who have not been awarded a degree by a university in the UK will be expected to demonstrate English language skills to IELTS 7.0 (minimum 6.5 in any section).

How to apply

If you wish to apply, please e-mail the following to chmls-pgr-officestaff@brunel.ac.uk by 30 September 2024:

an up-to-date CV
a single-page A4 single-spaced personal statement describing why you are a suitable candidate (outlining your qualifications and skills)
one example of your academic writing (e.g. an essay, a section from a dissertation)
a summary of your teaching experience or your willingness to support teaching activities
names and contact details for two academic referees
a copy of your highest degree certificate and transcript
a copy of your English language qualification, where applicable

Shortlisted applicants will be required to attend an interview the week commencing 21 October 2024 and submit a formal online application via Admissions.

For further information about how to apply, please contact the College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences Postgraduate Research Office on chmls-pgr-officestaff@brunel.ac.uk.

Meet the Supervisor(s)

Vassil Girginov - Dr Vassil Girginov is Professor in Sport Management/Development. Previously he has worked as advisor to the Chairman of the Bulgarian Sports Union, on the Sofia bids for the Winter Olympic Games and in higher education institutions in Bulgaria and Canada. He has been researching the sports development legacy of the 2012 London Olympic Games and the relationship between the culture of national sports governing bodies and participation in sport. Vassil is the editor of the two volume collection on the London 2012 Games published by Routledge, and is also an Executive Editor of the 2012 Routledge Special Olympic Journals Issue that involves some 40 journals from a range of academic disciplines. Vassil’s current research projects include: ‘Creation and transfer of knowledge within the Sochi Organizing Committee of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games’ (supported by the Russian International Olympic University), and ‘UK National Governing Bodies of sport leveraging of the London Olympics for capacity building’. His research interests, publications and industry experience are in the field of Olympic movement, sport development, comparative management and policy analysis. His most recent books include Sport Management Cultures (Routledge, 2011), The Olympics: A Critical Reader (Routledge, 2010), Management of Sports Development, (Elsevier, 2008), The Olympic Games Explained (Routledge, 2005, the book has been translated in 5 languages) and Handbook of the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games (Vol. 1 & 2 - 2012-3). Dr Girginov is Visiting Professor at the Russian International Olympic University, the University of Johannesburg and the KU Leuven. Professor Girginov is the President of the European Association for Sport Management.