Welcome to our new Professor of Sports Diplomacy and Management

Welcome Simon, can you tell us about your career journey to date and what attracted you to the Carnegie School of Sport?

I was attracted to the Carnegie School of Sport as the first Professor of Sports Diplomacy and Management for three reasons: 1. The global reputation of the School; 2. The opportunity to work with colleagues on a wide variety of projects; and 3. To engage with quality students.

My career has taken a number of twists and turns - here are the Match of the Day highlights version:

I didn't get great A-Levels, and began my academic career at Keele University studying American Studies with a great group of interdisciplinary scholars – the highlight was time spent in Ohio as part of the degree.

A Masters’ and PhD followed, and my first academic job - alongside others I’d had including working as a lifeguard - was with Kings College London at the UK Defence Academy. A wonderful experience; challenging certainly and one where I learnt a great deal - again in an interdisciplinary environment. Amongst the gems, I learnt working with military officers from around the world was that arriving ‘on time’ was actually late. So for a 0900 meeting you needed to be there for 0855. A further academic job at University of Leicester, and then to SOAS University of London at the end of 2011. Almost 12 years there collecting academic roles: Global Diplomacy Programme Director (for the full stretch), Director of Online Learning (2016-2020), Director of Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise (2020-22) and Director of the Centre for Online and Distance Education (2019-2022) before moving to Yorkshire in 2022. Four years in the School of Politics and International Studies at the University of Leeds before heading along Otley Road to join CSS at LBU.

In more recent times - particularly prompted by my son's engagement in youth sport, I’ve taken up coaching in various capacities: I hold a UEFA C License in football, and level 3 Core Coach Qualification in cricket – and am a coach developer for the Football Association and England and Wales Cricket Board.

To note, I have never been a sportsman of any quality: I try, and get injured, frequently!

You have just written the first book to explore the emerging field of sports diplomacy – can you explain what the discipline encompasses and why it is so important?

So, what is Sports Diplomacy? The academic definition is as follows: Sports Diplomacy is an enabler for nations, federations, regions, teams, and individuals to demonstrate values, capabilities and opportunity, including commercial dimensions. It does so by harnessing the powers of sport to ‘Communicate, Represent and Negotiate’ across sporting and diplomatic landscapes.

Essentially, its about people and the convening power of sport to hold conversations that you wouldn’t hold otherwise.

Why does it matter? Being a good sports diplomat matters because it is:

• Impactful and engages people at all levels of society;
• Cost-effective – set against the costs of everything else in society;
• Builds communities of practice in and across societies who
• Can facilitate conflict resolution in difficult circumstances;
• Provides for Non-Sport outcomes e.g. Health, Education;
• Gives hope - The fixture list: i.e. next time there is hope.

Happy to share more needless to say over a coffee!

What are your research ambitions for the next academic year?

I am really looking forward to working with, learning from, and supporting my new colleagues. I aim to have at least a couple of projects on the go with LBU colleagues within the year. Particularly Dr Jo Clark and colleagues from Participate World, Tom Williams and Chris Lomax in Community Sport.

I plan to consolidate the impact of the Handbook: given the opportunity that bringing 40 plus authors together presents - I'll be reaching out to all the authors to conduct a brief podcast with them all and sharing them through the year.

I'm delivering a keynote lecture in Lausanne - home of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) - on National Sports Diplomacy Strategies - and that will be the basis of a new article and potentially my inaugural lecture.

And I will continue to provide my academic expertise as the independent expert to the UK Government’s Sports Diplomacy Working Group.

What has been your career highlight to date?

• Working with great students is a highlight every day. Genuinely.
• Working at The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) in 2012 was great.
• Getting to talk and research something that connects people.

How did your academic interest in diplomacy and international relations begin? and what prompted your progression into applying this to the field of sports?

A great question: there is a much longer version of the answer. It began, like all of life's pursuits, out of necessity and curiosity. Essentially, it's a question about people. Diplomatic practice rests on three key functions: representation, negotiation, and communication. These are things that we as humans do all the time - what diplomacy does is make them explicit; operating under certain frameworks, or protocols as they are known, at certain points in time.

I progressed from understanding diplomacy into sport; I saw a need in sport to appreciate the value of diplomatic practice. 2012 was a catalyst for sure, and ever since I've spent a lot of time and effort - abley supported and supporting others - to share the relevance of Sports Diplomacy with practitioners, scholars and students. My position as Professor is a good example of the progress we've made, given it’s the first one in the world and consolidates – momentarily at least – the establishment of Sports Diplomacy as a legitimate field of study: there's still lots more to do needless to say.

Can you tell us something about yourself that we may not know?

• I've performed in a professional capacity at Lords, Twickenham and Wembley - giving lectures rather than on the pitch!
• I've given a lecture in the middle of the Drake Passage on my way to Antarctica.
• I'm a level 1 Flag Football coach.
• I have a GCSE in Home Economics (A - in the years before A*s 🙂)
• I've cycled 10000kms + in each of the last three years.