Fellowship Opportunity in Investigating the Social Impact of Sport

As we celebrate our 200th year of Manchester Met, we are delighted to be launching our ‘Third Century Fellowship Scheme’.

The Fellowship Scheme is aimed at exceptional researchers, in the early stages of their post-doctoral career, who aim to make their mark in the field of independent research. You will have extensive experience and a notable track record of research outputs in your area of research. 

What are we offering as part of the Third Century Fellowship Scheme?

By joining our Fellowship Scheme, you’ll play a leading part in our global research offering and join our community, working collaboratively across multidisciplinary and diverse teams with state-of-the-art facilities and work environment. 

Successful applicants will benefit from:

• An exceptional research environment and facilities to support YOUR ambitions and research interest
• A competitive salary, excellent pension and holiday entitlement, enhanced family leave and more
• A three-year development programme, underpinned by the Leadership Lens on the Vitae Researcher Development Framework, a well-established sector-wide tool for the career and professional development of research leaders. 
• Mentorship throughout the programme and access to coaching sessions
• Diverse teams, colleagues and staff networks 

During the term of the fellowship, you will be publishing internationally excellent and world-leading outputs and will be pursuing external funding opportunities to realise your future research ambitions. You will also have the opportunity, when relevant, to prepare and deliver short courses.

The Scheme begins with an initial appointment to a fixed-term post with the expectation to transition to a permanent Senior Lecturer or as a Reader, after three years, dependant on your performance and potential as assessed through the scheme.

These fellowship opportunities are being offered across our four faculties: Science & Engineering, Arts & Humanities, Business & Law and Health & Education. We will be making up to 15 appointments onto the cohort, based on application and assessment performance, and best fit to our preferred areas of research, across our four faculties. 

Further details about the fellowship and research areas can be found here

You can explore our Fellowship Opportunity in Investigating the Social Impact of Sport, below.

Sport Policy Unit at Manchester Metropolitan:  

MMU’s Sport Policy Unit (SPU), based in our award-winning, triple accredited Business School, consists of 20 scholars researching a wide range of topics that coalesce around the social impact of sport, including the roles of sport participation, spectatorship and volunteering in promoting mental health and wellbeing, social and ecological sustainability, and diversity, equity and inclusion.  SPU members are a multi-disciplinary group with backgrounds in sport policy, sport management, sport sociology, applied economics, political science and international relations.  

Our work has been funded by UK Sport, Sport Scotland, the Japanese Foundation, the International Olympic Committee, UEFA, FIFA and the Rugby Football League. This research has led to an excellent track-record of outputs that contributed to MMU’s ‘Sport’ submission to the UK’s REF 2021, where the institution ranked 6th overall in the UK for ‘research power’. SPU members also regularly publish their work in leading academic journals in sport and related disciplines, including leisure, business, health, and political science. Our researchers have expertise in both quantitative and qualitative research methods, including sector-leading work in the analysis of the economic and social impact of sporting events.   

About the role:   

• To undertake world-leading and internationally excellent research using latest and innovative methodologies, as relevant in your area of research.    
• To prepare, present and publish research outputs through the appropriate forums e.g. research workshops, conferences, seminars, exhibitions, portfolios, academic journals etc.    
• To develop ideas for generating income to ensure the continued success and growth of research portfolio.     
• To disseminate findings of research widely to further the institution’s standing in the HE and research community and strengthen the impact of the research.   
• To engage in scholarly activities conducive to a long-term successful academic career that will support and enhance the research culture within the Department/ School, Faculty and University.   

About the candidate:  

Your research interests will be working in sports policy either on the social impact of sport or on the relationship between the economic and social benefits of sport as it relates to climate change. Our research would be particularly complemented with your background in sport policy and management and with a particular interest in the use of sport and sporting events for social good.   

Requirements:  

• Doctoral level qualification in a related research area.    
• Possess breadth or depth of specialist knowledge and demonstrate potential for research independence.   
• Excellent track record of relevant research outputs.    
• Significant research experience in the chosen field of research, which should include where appropriate:   
• leading the work of a team, co-ordinating effort and resources to meet objectives   
• developing partnerships with internal and external agencies   
• preparing funding proposals and applications to external bodies   
• using initiative, creativity and judgement to develop appropriate approaches to research   
• synthesising complex data from different sources and communicating findings via written reports and articles   
• presenting at national and/or international research meetings   
• supervising student work and providing appropriate support and feedback.    
• Experience of managing and monitoring performance of research projects in multi-disciplinary teams.   
• Ability to manage projects involving academic institutions and funding bodies.    

Please refer to the Job Description & Person Specification for a full list of essential & desirable criteria.    

Academic Contact: Professor Jonathan Grix (J.grix@mmu.ac.uk) or Professor Yuhei Inoue (Y.Inoue@mmu.ac.uk) to discuss the fellowship opportunity in detail.   

Closing Date: 29 May 2024   

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us on researchfellowships@mmu.ac.uk    

To return to the main fellowship page, click here