Lead researcher
Lead researcher
The International Network for Online Harms in Sport is a multi-disciplinary group of researchers and stakeholders from sport, industry and civil society. The network has established a distinctive expertise in social media data analysis on the topic of hate speech and online abuse and in stakeholder engagement with federations, clubs, coaches, athletes, media and fans. This network is impacting discourses and policies that reduce online harms in sport and extending academic knowledge on this subject.
The network has attracted both academic and industry funding. Dr Gary Sinclair is the Principal Investigator of the Tackling Online Hate in Football a research project (2021-2025) funded by UK Research and Innovation-Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Irish Research Council. He is also the co-PI of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile United Against Online Abuse research project.
Research Themes
- Online Harms: We study hate speech in social media spaces. A wide range of harmful behaviours, actions, or content experienced in digital spaces cause distress, damage, or risk to individuals or groups. Specifically, in sport the emotional characteristics associated with sport are provocative ingredients for proliferating hate speech in social media spaces
- Social media data analysis: Our network is currently in the development of policies and educational resources to assist sporting stakeholders (e.g. sporting federations, media broadcasters, clubs) with the fight against online harms
- Sporting governance and employee well-being: Our network is currently in the development of policies and educational resources to assist sporting stakeholders (e.g. sporting federations, media broadcasters, clubs) with the fight against online harms
