Reforming the Games: Securing sustainability in the Olympic Games bidding process
Supervisory team: Dr Adam Talbot, Prof David McGillivray, and Dr Chloe Maclean
The University of the West of Scotland is offering an exciting opportunity for a fully funded PhD studentship to explore the sustainability of reforms to the Olympics bidding process. Interest in hosting mega-sporting events like the Olympic Games has declined in recent years, particularly in democratic contexts, as the scale of these events clashes with sustainability agendas. From the decision to award the 2024 and 2028 Games simultaneously to the pausing of the contest for the 2030 Winter Olympics, both due to a shortage of potential host cities, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) faces a serious challenge to its modus operandi. This project will examine the way the Olympic Games is responding to these challenges with changes to the bidding process. In particular, it will consider how the process of reform is shaped by those involved, whose voices are included in the process, and how discourses of sustainability are deployed.
The successful candidate will join the Centre for Culture, Sport and Events and be supervised by researchers from the centre with experience in sport management, event management, and sociology. The successful candidate will join a growing team of doctoral researchers working on themes of mega-events, sustainability and human rights and will have the opportunity to participate in international mobilities through the existing EU-funded EventRights project.
More details can be found at the following link: https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/reforming-the-games-securing-sustainability-in-the-olympic-games-bidding-process-vc23003/?p158022