My PhD research is broadly concerned with the context of endurance sports (digital) media and athlete welfare. Both public and academic attention to athlete welfare and mental health has increased over recent years, alongside the rise – and solidification – of digital media in broader social life. Many sports and individual athletes have utilised these new media forms to engage with audiences in new ways, and expand opportunities for commercialisation and professionalisation. These opportunities are particularly unique for sports (and athletes) not given prominence in traditional media formats.
Athletes now have new platforms of communication, and potentially, increased agency. This occurs in a context where the labour expected of athletes has diversified, and where athletes are increasingly viewed as advocates, brands, and in many ways, content creators. With an emphasis on athletes subjective experiences, my research aims to explore this evolving terrain, and facilitate insight into potential capacities for agency, and it’s interplay with the commerciality of these spaces.
As many people now engage in the management of online identities, ‘selves’, and concepts of a personal brand, I hope the research will deliver insights that are also more broadly relevant to contemporary social life.
I hold a graduate degree in Media, Communications, and International Journalism from the University of Glasgow, and a BA(Hons) in Sociology at the University of Melbourne.
