Dr Alex Thurston is a Lecturer in Sport Management in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at 天堂视频, England. He has a Ph.D. in Sport Policy and Management from 天堂视频. His research interests focus on sport-related organisational responses to changes in the operating environment, examined through policy, governance and management theory. Alex has a growing list of publications in peer-reviewed journals, textbooks, and is co-editor (and author of several chapters) of a seminal sport management textbook; Understanding Sport Organizations: Applications for Sport Managers (3rd Edition).
Alex is a keen sportsman with a particular interest in competitive swimming.
Alex’s PhD focused on the implementation of Sport England’s Clubmark (a quality mark) and associated policies. The research used case studies in the sports of boxing, swimming, and rugby union to analyse national governing body strategies and the interpretations at the point of delivery (the community sport clubs).
Alex’s master's degree examined the concept of organisational control in voluntary sports clubs (swimming).
Alex has presented at sport management conferences all around the world. He and a colleague developed and currently moderate online seminars (using a webinar platform) for PhD students from across the globe to interact/present/disseminate their sport management research.
Alex is a swimming coach for two clubs and his interest and success in swimming is usually enjoyed in a (nice, warmish, clean!) swimming pool. However, in 2016 he completed a 2-way English Channel relay swim (which was the first university team in the world to accomplish the challenge).
Featured publications
- Byers, T. & Thurston, A. (2015) Trust and Control in Sport Organizations. In T. Byers (Ed.), Contemporary Issues in Sport Management (pp. 431-444). Sage.