PhD Studentship - From Fan to Father: Exploring the Role of Football Fan Communities in Supporting New Fatherhood

We are pleased to announce the opportunity for a funded PhD project within the Faculty of Business and Law. The project will explore the role of football fan communities in supporting new fathers as they start their fatherhood journey. While many men aspire to greater involvement in childcare, they often feel excluded from traditional parenting support, which is frequently oriented towards mothers. The project will explore whether football fan communities, which provide strong social bonds and a sense of belonging for many men, can act as sources of support during early fatherhood.   

While scholarship has explored how parenthood impacts sports fandom, this has often prioritised the voice of mothers. This project will use qualitative research methods to explore the transformative potential of sports fan communities to support new fathers in their parenting roles and practices. The project has potential to make a significant impact, informing practice within sports clubs and governing bodies. 

Objectives

The project will explore the role of football fan communities as sites of social support during the transition to first-time fatherhood. Specifically, the project is organised around three interrelated strands of inquiry: identity transformation, social support, and masculinity and belonging.

• To explore how first-time fathers negotiate and reconstruct their identities as both football fans and parents during the transition to fatherhood.

• To identify what forms of support (e.g., emotional, informational and practical) football fan communities provide to first-time fathers, and how these forms of support are experienced by fathers themselves.

• To explore how football fan communities shape, reinforce or challenge understandings of masculinity and fatherhood during the transition to first-time parenthood.

Funding

This studentship is open to home and international applicants. Home and international tuition fees will be covered for the duration of the 3-year award.

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.

Candidate requirements

Essential:

• An undergraduate degree (UK first or upper-second class honours, or equivalent) or Masters degree in sport management, marketing, sociology or related disciplines.

• An interest in issues surrounding parenthood, sport and fandom.

How to apply

If you have any questions, please contact the proposed Principal Supervisor, Dr. Leah Gillooly (l.gillooly@mmu.ac.uk).

To apply you will need to complete the online application form for a full-time PhD in Marketing. Please note that you are not required to submit a research proposal through the online application portal.

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 or email the requested documents to pgradmissions@mmu.ac.uk.

Expected start date: October 2027.

Please quote the reference: FoBL-LG-2027-28-Fandom and Fatherhood

This PhD project is one of six independent projects open for applications, with only three funded studentships available. All applications will go through an initial review stage conducted by the project supervisors. Candidates selected from this stage will be invited to a second-round interview, where final funding decisions will be made based on performance across all projects.

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