PhD Studentship - Evaluating Football Officiating Decision Support Systems

Decision support systems assist decision makers in instances when information available for decision making is vast and beyond human information processing capabilities. The Video Assistant Referee is a decision support system that enhances the informational resources and data available to football referees, allowing them to make more informed judgments in complex and potentially match-defining situations. FIFA’s innovation department has several academic collaborations developing a broader decision support system for helping match officials increase the certainty of decision making and to explore the potential broader impact of its integration into referees’ working practices. This framework aims to establish a proof of concept for enhancing on-field performance that would not replace the experiential knowledge of referees but rather increase the depth of contextual knowledge and, in turn, reduce uncertainty and enhance transparency when making complex decisions. 

The project forms part of an exciting new research and innovation partnership between Manchester Metropolitan University and FIFA’s Innovation Department and aims to develop ongoing work on the decision support system.

Project aims and objectives

Football officials’ support systems represent a type of complex intervention and understanding how the system contributes to change and interacts with its context, and the wider dynamic system is of equal importance to a binary assessment of effectiveness. As such, the aim of this PhD programme is to comprehensively evaluate football officiating decision support systems.

• Identify aspects of newly developed football officiating decision support systems for evaluation.
• Intervention development targeting components of the decision support systems.
• Explore intervention feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness.

Funding

Only home students can apply. Tuition fees will be covered for the duration of the three-year award, which is £5,238 for the year 2026/27. 

The student will receive a standard stipend payment for the duration of the award. These payments are set at a level determined by the UKRI, currently £21,805 for the academic year 2026/27. 

Specific requirements of the candidate

The PhD researcher will be embedded within Manchester Metropolitan University’s Institute of Sport as well as within FIFA’s Innovation Department.

Essential

• First class or upper second-class (2:1) degree (or equivalent) in a sport-related discipline.
• Active interest in decision-making in elite sports performance, ideally in football.
• Ability to undertake mixed methods research.

Desirable

• M.Sc. or Research Masters in a relevant discipline such as sport and exercise science, applied sports science, sports performance, and sport and exercise psychology.

How to apply

Dr Matthew Weston (m.weston@mmu.ac.uk) will lead this project as Principal Supervisor. Applicants are encouraged to apply for the project directly by following the steps outlined below. Should an applicant have any queries relating to the project, they should reach out to the proposed Principal Supervisor. 

To apply you will need to complete the online application form for a full time PhD in Sports & Exercise Science.

Please complete the Doctoral Project Applicant Form, and include your CV and a covering letter to demonstrate how your skills and experience map to the aims and objectives of the project, the area of research and why you see this area as being of importance and interest. 

Please upload these documents in the supporting documents section of the University’s Admissions Portal.

Expected start date: October 2026

Please quote the reference: SciEng-MW-October 2026-27-Football Officiating Support

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