Professor Michael Silk

Michael Silk is a Professor in the 色花堂 Business School. His intellectual contribution is interdisciplinary and focuses on the various relationships between sport & physical activity (physical culture), mediated spectacles, inequality and urban spaces. He provides thought leadership for, and impact upon, organisations in the media, sport, heritage sectors and on governments, policy makers and charities. He has received funding from the British Council, the ESRC, the AHRC, the British Academy, Sport England, Women Win, and the Jiangsu Provincial Government (PRC). His current research focusses on urban renewal, social inequalities and disability. He is currently an investigator on the AHRC funded project: Gendered re-presentations of disability: Equality, empowerment and marginalisation in Paralympic media (AH/T006684/1). Past projects as PI include: "Sex work in the context of sports mega events: Examining the impacts of Rio 2016" (ES/N018656/1) collaborating with colleagues in Kent, Toronto & UFRDJ (Brazil) and an AHRC funded project (AH/P003842/1) focussing on the representation and cultural legacy of the Paralympics with colleagues at Loughborough, Bath, Nottingham and Western Ontario. He was a Co-Investigator on the AHRC funded "Romantic Scotland" grant (AH/P009808/1).

He was previously a Reader at the University of Bath and Associate Professor at the University of Maryland. He received his degrees from Southampton, Alberta (Canada) and Otago (NZ). As former Managing Editor of Leisure Studies, an Editorial Board member of a number of journals, and as Editor of the The Routledge Handbook of Physical Culture (2017), he has provided thought leadership across academic disciplines. Has has published over 125 academic articles, has appeared on BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Scotland, Sky News, CBC (Canada), TVNZ (NZ) and has written invited articles for The Guardian, Forbes, The Independent, the Financial Times, The Conversation and El Pais (Madrid, ESP).

Professor Silk welcomes potential PhD students aligned to his research expertise.

Publications

Journal articles

De Lisio, A., Silk, M. and Hubbard, P., 2024. Contested Terrains: Mega-Event Securities and Everyday Practices of Governance. Social Sciences, 13 (7).

Manley, A., Silk, M., Wang, Y.W., Chung, C., Bailey, R. and Craig, P., 2024. Navigating creative partnerships and cross-cultural collaboration: a case study between China and the UK. Cultural Trends.

Pullen, E., Mora, L. and Silk, M., 2023. Paralympic cripvertising: On the gendered self-representations of Paralympic athletes on social media. New Media and Society.

Silk, M., 1999. Local/global flows and altered production practices: Narrative constructions at the 1995 Canada cup of soccer. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 34 (2), 113-123.

Chung, C., Manley, A., Wang, Y.W., Silk, M. and Bailey, R., 2023. Cross-cultural collaboration and cultural production within China's public museums: examining the challenges and practices guiding administration. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 29 (3), 328-344.

Books

Francombe-Webb, J., Silk, M.L. and Bush, A., 2017, Critical corporeal curricula, praxis and change.

Silk, M. and Andrews, D., 2005, Sport and Corporate Nationalisms, Oxford: Berg.

Silk, M. and Mason, D., 2005, Qualitative Methods for Sports Studies, Oxfrord: Berg.

Markula, P. and Silk, M., 2011, Qualitative research for physical culture.

Chapters

Silk, M., 2021. Invoking the Other: Allegory in Theory, from Demetrius to de Man. Allegory Studies: Contemporary Perspectives. 41-65.

Silk, M., 2017. The phallus and the pariah: The cultural politics of the post-9/11 sporting body. Sport and Militarism: Contemporary Global Perspectives. 211-228.

Silk, M.L., 2013. Cities and the cultural politics of sterile sporting space. A Companion to Sport. 270-286.

Silk, M., Pullen, E. and Jackson, D., 2021. Communication, sport, disability, and the (able)national. In: Butterworth, M., eds. Communication and Sport. Berlin: De Gruyter.

De Lisio, A., Br锚tas, T., Silk, M. and Hubbard, P., 2017. Shadow Host Economies: Sex Work and the Sport Mega-Event. Mega-Event Footprints: Past, Present and Future. Engenho.

Conferences

Pullen, E., Jackson, D. and Silk, M., 2019. "(Re-)presenting the Paralympics: Affective Nationalism and the 'able-disabled'. In: International Communication Association annual conference 24-28 May 2019 Washington DC.

Jackson, D., Pullen, E. and Silk, M., 2019. "(Re-)presenting the Paralympics: Sports journalism, marginal bodies and the 'able-disabled'. In: Future of Journalism Conference 12-13 September 2019 Cardiff.

Pullen, E., Jackson, D. and Silk, M., 2020. Beyond the shadow of the supercrip: A new framework for understanding the gendered cultural (re)production of Paralympic media narratives. In: Sport, Media and Gender 2020 Annual Conference 15 January 2020 University of Northumbria, London campus..

Pullen, E., Jackson, D. and Silk, M., 2020. Paralympic broadcasting and social change: An integrated mixed-method approach to understanding the Paralympic Audience in the UK. In: IAMCR Annual Conference 21-23 July 2020 Tampere, Finland.

Munteanu, D., Silk, M. and Hubbard, P., 2018. Silk, M., Hubbard, P., & Munteanu, D. G. (2018). 'Re-framing Rio: The Re appropriation of Utopic National Fantasies'. Brazilian Studies Association Conference (BRASA), 14th International Conference, 25-28 July 2018, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In: Silk, M., Hubbard, P., & Munteanu, D. G. (2018). 'Re-framing Rio: The Re appropriation of Utopic National Fantasies'. Brazilian Studies Association Conference (BRASA), 14th International Conference, 25-28 July 2018, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 25-28 July 2018 Silk, M., Hubbard, P., & Munteanu, D. G. (2018). 'Re-framing Rio: The Re appropriation of Utopic National Fantasies'. Brazilian Studies Association Conference (BRASA), 14th International Conference, 25-28 July 2018, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil..

Grants

Suzhou Heritage & Leisure Management. (Jiangsu Provincial Government (PRC), 1 June 2013). Awarded
British Council: Sport & Social Transformation in Brazil. (British Council, 1 March 2015). Awarded
BRIC Visitors to British Museums. (British Council, 1 February 2015). Awarded
Using Sport to Address Gender Based Violence. (Women Win, 1 December 2010). Awarded
Three: 30 Club: Enhancing Student Participation. (Sport England, 1 May 2011). Awarded
Three: 30 Club: Enhancing Student Participation. (Sport England, 1 May 2011). Awarded
The Symbolic Orchestration of Spectacularized Tourist Space. (British Academy, 1 May 2009). Awarded
Sex work in the context of sports mega events: Examining the impacts of Rio 2016. (Economic and Social Research Council, 1 September 2016). Awarded
Producing/Consuming 'Romantic Scotland': Exhibitions, Heritage, Nation & the Chinese Marke. (Arts and Humanities Research Council, 1 October 2016). Awarded
Re-presenting para-sport bodies: Disability & the cultural legacy of the Paralympics. (Arts and Humanities Research Council, 1 February 2017). Awarded
Gendered re-presentations of disability: Equality, empowerment and marginalisation in Paralympic media (AH/T006684/1). (Arts and Humanities Research Council, 1 July 2020). Awarded

Outreach & engagement

External responsibilities

Leisure Studies Journal, Guest Editor (2015)
Journal of Sport & Social Issues, Editorial Board Member (2004)
Journal of Sport & Tourism, Editorial Board Member (2006)
Leisure Studies, Editorial Board Member (2010)
Qualitative Research in Sport & Exercise, Editorial Board Member (2011)
Communication & Sport, Editorial Board Member (2012)
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Canada, Grant Reviewer (2010)

Public engagement & outreach activities

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