Thoughts and Ideas
This section is a space for me to consider issues within society and contemporary culture.
Here, I’ll introduce and further develop ideas I like to work with, explain and expand on issues that stem from previous projects, as well as consider immersive research and developing practices.
Study a PhD with Dr. Christopher R. Matthews
I specialise in conducting and supervising immersive research, but I’m keen to discuss various projects and research methods with prospective students as well.
Two fully funded PhD projects
Two fully funded community-focused research projects with the University of Nottingham’s, and Nottingham Trent University’s Co(l)laboratory. They focus on sport as a tool for reducing violence and sport in relation to dementia care.
Join my team: Fully-funded PhD
Join my team! You could be working alongside me and two other PhD students studying interesting issues connected to health, wellbeing and sport.
Exploring drugs and doping with Dr. Paul Dimeo
Paul is a Reader at the University of Stirling and he’s a leader in the field of drug use in sport. Here, we discuss a bunch of issues connected to drug use, doping regulations and various logical inconsistencies regarding the ‘war on drugs’. We explore a range of examples and compare how drug use and users were, and are treated in very different ways to what has become normalised in the world of elite, and now sub-elite sport.
Synthesising theory with Dr. Alex Channon
Dr. Alex Channon of the University of Brighton and I talk through key ideas in the sociology of deviancy in sport. The goal was to outline the importance of theoretical synthesis, or as I term it; ‘bringing academic ideas together’ in order to frame our understanding of complex social issues.
OPD interview with Joe Jeffrey and Austin Stout
This is a recording of my appearance on the OPD (Optimal Physique Development) podcast with Joe Jeffrey and Austin Stout. We discussed critical thinking, social science, subcultures, performance enhancing, strength sports and bodybuilding.
Immersion in performance sport with Dr. Alex Culvin: Some findings from women’s football and men’s boxing
I was lucky enough to have Dr. Alex Culvin speak to me about her research in professional women’s football. Her career at the top end of the sport has resulted in her having fantastic access to elite players at a key time for the sport, so we consider how shared experiences can be a great way of gaining insight during interviews.
Structuring an analysis of complex problems
In this video I propose the idea of a complex of ideas, rather than complex ideas. This means we can bring together simple ways of thinking about a topic and structuring them in a way that helps us explain a complex issue.
In this regard, we’re talking about a complex (different things that are connected in some way) rather something being complex (confusing and hard to understand).
Getting immersed in football with Dr. Geoff Pearson
In this video I chat with Geoff Pearson from Manchester University about his ethnographic work in football. We cover a bunch of topics that will be useful if you’re considering doing similar work.
A different take on module development
I recorded this video after a week of external examining. It’s at this time of the academic year that colleagues will begin (hopefully after a break) thinking about next year's teaching. So I wanted to get a few thoughts recorded about how I encourage people to think about module development.
With most universities suggesting a move to a ‘hybrid’ between online and face-to-face teaching, now is a good time to start reconsidering some of the fundamentals of teaching and learning. This video focuses on a few of them rather than going into the specifics of moving courses online or whatnot.
Study skills with Dr. Alex Channon: The Importance of books, essay writing and engagement
This is the first study skills chat with my good friend Dr. Alex Channon from the University of Brighton. We talk about the importance of reading books (not simply papers), key elements of essay writing and the correlation between student success and engagement/attendance.
“What are YOU going to do?” Becoming genuinely student-centred
Over the 10 years or so I have been teaching in higher education, I’ve developed a variety of positive ways to engage students and help them develop personally and academically. While this is an ongoing process there are key events that have been important. In this article I describe one of these moments, which helps me to ensure that a genuinely student-centred approach stays at the heart of my teaching and learning.
Love Fighting Hate Violence: Engaging people in academic projects with emotion
Emotional language is often avoided in academic research, writing or teaching. In conforming to this academic norm, scholars hope to demonstrate that their research is isolated from personal attachments and the biases these might involve.
While this can be considered an important element of the scientific method, it does not capture the realities of human life more broadly. In this article I discuss this in relation to an anti-violence project that a colleague and I co-founded.
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