Dr Ross Walker

Lecturer in Sport Management

Sport Stirling

Dr Ross Walker

Contact details

About me

I am a former Scotland international athlete and currently a Lecturer in Sport Management at the University of Stirling, formerly of The University of Edinburgh and University of the West of Scotland. I have a rich background and expertise in athlete development/services, elite/performance sport, corporate social responsibility, event and competition management, the business of sport, sport development, sport history and sport management.

My primary area of research falls within the field of sport for development. It considers how sport can intentionally and purposefully be used as a tool to improve the life quality and build the capabilities of people, communities and nations worldwide. My work has been published in ranked, peer-reviewed journals, newspapers, magazines, seminal texts and at international conferences whilst I am currently the co-author of the newest edition of the Routledge book, ‘Sport, Culture and Society: An Introduction’, which will be available in 2025.

Through my work, I strive to help tackle social issues in society through sport and create social impact from sport. To do so, I seek to identify both economic and social initiatives to help develop humanistic opportunities whilst building the capacity of individuals and groups through sport to help them flourish in life and achieve their desired chosen lifestyle. Some of the areas that I have covered include, but are not limited to, disabilities, education, mental/physical health and social inclusion/exclusion.

To date, I have worked with numerous amateur/professional clubs, organisations, athletes/teams alongside national governing bodies and international federations on a range of sport-based initiatives from educational programmes to matters of corporate social responsibility and the optimisation of change/developmental outcomes for participants from sport. These sports include among others, badminton, basketball, boxing, cycling, Esports, football and golf. A sample of the projects can be found below:

• Football: More than a Game https://www.coursera.org/learn/football-more-than-a-game • Football: More than a Game https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/football • Eric Liddell 100 https://el100.ericliddell.org/#/ • Scottish Basketball Hall of Fame https://basketballscotland.co.uk/the-scottish-basketball-hall-of-fame/