Professor Jonathan Grix

My profile

Biography

Jonathan is a global leader in the field of sport and politics and has published widely on the politics of sports mega-events, governance and sports politics. He focuses in particular on why governments invest in sport and the rationale for hosting sports mega-events, leading a number of funded projects on the UK, Brazil, Russia, China, South Korea and emerging states. His work on the use of sports mega-events as part of states’ soft power strategies has been widely cited.

In addition to the above, Jonathan has also published on research methodology, including the highly successful ‘Foundations of Research’, which is in its 3rd edition and has been translated into a number of languages, most recently, Chinese. 

Current projects include a study of Germany’s contribution to the development of modern sport and the politicization of sport. Jonathan’s 1st degree was in German and his PhD was on German politics.

At MMU, Jonathan has built up the Sport Policy Unit from just 4 members of staff in 2017 to 19 staff today. He was instrumental in growing the existing undergraduate programmes and introducing 2 MSc programmes (Sport Business, Management and Policy - 1 on campus, 1 online) and building a doctoral cohort of sports-related scholars. 

Teaching

Why do I teach?

I believe in bringing world-class research into the classroom. I lecture on both the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes for sport. I run the Unit ‘Sport Policy and Politics’ on our flagship MSc in Sport Business, Management and Policy

Why study…

Sport and politics is one of the most interesting areas of study in society. Most people have strong opinions about both; when they come together, which is very often, the debates can be heated. The type of areas sport politics covers range from the politics of the Olympics (its hosting, its cost, its use as a political tool and the so-called legacy said to derive from investing in the event), government investment in sport (elite sport vs grassroots; school sport etc.) and the moral arguments around hosting key sporting events in states that have a poor record of upholding human rights. 

Postgraduate teaching

Jonathan teaches across a number of PG units and leads on ‘Sport Policy and Politics’, an MSc level unit covering the key areas touched on in his monograph ‘Sport Politics’ (2015/6).

Subject areas

Sport Politics and Policy

Supervision

PhD Completions since starting at MMU (2017):
1. Hyungmin Kim. Sustainability of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics
2. Tom Bason. Every Loser Wins - Using a failed Olympic bid to leverage for positive outcomes
3. Nina Kramareva. An Analysis of Russia’s ‘Alternative’ Soft Power Strategy and National Identity Discourse via Sports Mega-Events

4. Bongsoo Kang - The ‘Elite-Mass Sport’ Problematic. Policy Learning from the UK, Norway and Australia.
5. Brian Jeong - The Use of Sports Mega-Events as Part of States’ Soft Power Strategies: An East Asia Analysis.

6. Louisa Hallas - The Impact of Modernisation on Sport Policy Delivery in the Home Countries

Current students where Jonathan is Director of Studies:

Mike Green - Promoting Physical Activity through Sport in the Community Programmes.
Daniel Gallant (Olympian project) - Critical Incidences and Athletic Performance.
Callum Jones (Olympian project) - Athlete Transition to a Post-Athletic Career.
Edgar Kuijper – An Analysis of the Rugby Football League World Cup Hosting Strategy (2021).

Research outputs

Jonathan is a leading expert in the field of sport politics and sport policy with a particular speciality on sports mega-events and soft power. He has published 7 monographs, 8 edited books and 5 Special Issues of leading journals. In addition, he has published over 60 peer-reviewed articles and numerous chapters. 

Currently Jonathan is leading a project based on the life history of GB Olympians, ably assisted by 2 PhD students, Dan Gallant and Callum Jones. To date we have interviewed almost 60 Olympians and have just started to write up the first findings from the research.