Sixteenth International Conference on Sport & Society
- Global Sports Local Cultures
- 2-4 July 2025
- Monash University, Melbourne, Australia + Online
Associate Professor, Aarhus University, Denmark
Lecturer, Monash University, Australia
Lecturer, Monash University, Australia
Dean, Holmesglen Institute, Australia
Lecturer, Monash University, Australia
The Sixteenth International Conference on Sport & Society featured plenary sessions by some of the world’s leading thinkers and innovators in the field.
Professor, Leeds Beckett University, UK
"Online Hate and Sport: Tackling Global Concerns, Locally"
Professor Emeritus, La Trobe University, Australia
"Playing The Game: How Cricket Made Barbados"
Exploring Local Sporting Cultures: Reflecting on the Growth of Informal Sport Participation within Australia and Internationally
This panel will explore shifting sport participation trends and the growth of informal sport as an important site of sport participation within local communities. The panel will discuss the significance of informal groups in supporting participation within Multicultural communities and the role of informal sport in facilitating cultural belonging, social connection and supporting resettlement. The panel will also reflect on how informal contexts act as sites of resistance to Global and particularly Eurocentric models of sport. We’ll consider how groups reshape sporting practices locally to reflect their own needs and to generate health and social outcomes that are relevant for the groups and their wider communities.
Chaired by Dr Lucas Santos
Professor, Monash University, Australia
Professor, Victoria University, Australia
Centre for Multicultural Youth, Australia
Sport and the Environment: Communication and Politics in the Age of Climate Crisis
Sport has become a key site of popular culture, media and politics in which the future(s) of the climate and planet come into sharp focus for athletes, spectators, audiences and citizens. Sport events and activities contribute to the global climate crisis and are subject to its cascading impacts, including extreme heat, mega-fires, drought, floods, changing waterways, and deteriorating rates of snow and ice cover. Recent years have also seen a surge in climate protestors targeting high-profile sporting events and venues around the world, often in dramatic and highly disruptive ways. This panel examines how this crisis is understood and responded to by sportspeople, citizens and (sub)political actors.
Professor, Monash University, Australia
Director of the Monash Climate Change Communication Research Hub, Monash University, Australia
Vice Chancellor Senior Research Fellow, RMIT University, Australia
Re-Creating Global Sporting Cities Locally: Melbourne as a Case Study
Melbourne is a unique sporting city. It is the only city to stage a Grand Slam tennis tournament and a Grand Prix, yet for much of the year it is transfixed on a Melbourne-centric football code. This panel will discuss what makes Melbourne a unique sport city. Is it this blend of local and global sport? What role has the media played in constructing narratives of Melbourne’s uniqueness; and what does it mean to cover sport in a city that is localised and insular, but aspires to be a global player? How does a city with so much sporting action, use that to leverage social change, drive women's sport forward and highlight broader diversity and inclusion initiatives? The panel will examine how Australian rules football has shaped the social and cultural histories of Melbourne and how the city’s sporting landscape continues to evolve. It still has the Open, the Grand Prix and the Boxing Day Test, but has the cancellation of the Commonwealth Games tarnished the city’s global brand? Does Melbourne’s uniqueness now lie in its tribal attachment to a localised football code, and how does this sit in one of the world’s most ethnically diverse cities?
Chaired by Dr. Kasey Symons
Columnist, Guardian Australia, Australia
Retired Sports Journalist, Australia
Senior Writer, Good Weekend Magazine, Australia
Founder, Good Human, Australia
For each conference, a small number of Emerging Scholar Awards are given to outstanding graduate students and emerging scholars who have an active research interest in the conference themes. Emerging Scholars perform a critical role in the conference by chairing the parallel sessions, providing technical assistance in the sessions, and presenting their own research papers. The 2025 Emerging Scholar Award Recipients are as follows:
University of Melbourne, Australia
(In-Person)
University of Bath, UK
(In-Person)
Leeds Beckett University, UK
(In-Person)
University of Technology MARA, Malaysia
(In-Person)
University of Canterbury, New Zealand
(In-Person)
Malmö University, Sweden
(Online Only)
Princeton University, USA
(Online Only)
Wichita State University, USA
(Online Only)
University of Quebec in Montreal, Canada
(Online Only)
University of the Western Cape, South Africa
(Online Only)
University of California, USA
(Online Only)
University of Inland Norway, Norway
(Online Only)
University of Alberta, Canada
(Online Only)
Panjab University, India
(Online Only)
Melbourne, Australia