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With sport and travel among his lifelong interests, becoming a lecturer in sports studies seemed a natural career path for Richard.
He started his career in academia as a research assistant at the Centre for Travel and Tourism at Northumbria University in 1999. After moving to Sheffield Hallam University a year later to work in their Sports Industry Research Centre for 12 months, Richard became a lecturer in sport, leisure, recreation and tourism at Croydon College. He joined BU in August 2002 as a Senior Lecturer in Sports Studies in the School of Tourism and is now is Programme Leader for the MSc Sport Management. He also teaches at both undergraduate and postgraduate level on programmes in Sport Management, Tourism Management and Events Management.
Among his current research interests are sport tourism, Olympic studies, the impacts and legacies of sport events, sport volunteering, health promotion, and sport ethnography. “I have a particular interest in Olympic tourism and research exploring the social impacts of the 2012 Games. This is influenced by having attended the previous three summer Games in Sydney, Athens and Beijing respectively, and also given that the 2012 Sailing events will be hosted in Weymouth and Portland in Dorset. I genuinely believe that attending the Olympic Games is a truly inspirational experience.”
In 2007 Richard was awarded the prestigious Winston Churchill Fellowship by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust to undertake an Olympic education project in Sydney, Australia. The project, titled ‘Using the Power of Olympic Sport in Education’, explored the educational legacy of the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Richard looked at the lessons learnt from previous Olympic Games and then investigated how they can be implemented for the London 2012 Games, in order to inspire the youth of Britain, using the unique power of sport. Olympics legacy also underpinned Richard’s previous work for the South West Regional Development Agency when he was commissioned to develop ‘From Parish to Podium’; the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games events research strategy for the South West of England.
This pursuit of knowledge and insight has allowed Richard to travel the world. In the past 12 months he’s been to South Africa, Korea, the USA and Australia to undertake research connected with sport tourism and sports events, as part of an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) project. Aside from his roles as a researcher and spectator, Richard is also an active participant in both domestic and overseas long distance running and other endurance events. So much so that it formed the basis of his PhD. In addition to his BA in Politics and Economics and MSc in Recreational Management both completed at Loughborough University, and a PGCE (Post Compulsory) from the Institute of Education at University of London, last year Richard completed his doctorate entitled ‘On the Run: Perspectives on Long Distance Running’. The research was an ethnographic look at the experiences of long distance runners and resulted in numerous journal articles and book chapters exploring the social world of the distance runner.
His talent for running has proven more than just a hobby. In the past Richard has won the Perth Marathon in Western Australia and has completed the world-renowned Comrades Ultra Marathon in South Africa, running over a distance of 90km / 56 miles in a time of six hours and 56 minutes – moments he cites as among his proudest achievements.
He adds: “The best thing about my job is being able to both research and lecture on areas which are also so closely aligned to my own lifelong hobbies and interests; travel to the world to further develop these projects, and to get paid for the privilege of doing so!”
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