Dr Matthew Holmes
Lecturer

Profile

Biography

Matthew Holmes is a Lecturer in Management. He joined the School for Business and Society in April 2022. He has held academic positions in the higher education sector for more than a decade. His research primarily focuses on the social impact of sport for people living in poverty, which is often termed sport-for-development and sport for social change. He has published his research findings in this area in journals such as the International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, World Leisure Journal, Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, and International Review for the Sociology of Sport. Matthew has recently been appointed an academic member of the Advisory Committee for the UNESCO Research Chair for Sport for Development, Peace and Environment.

Departmental roles

Undergraduate Admissions Tutor

Research

Overview

Matthew’s research is broadly about the social value that sport has in society and the potential it has to improve people’s lives. His work mainly focuses on the potential social impact of sport in community settings, specifically how sport and leisure activity can help people living in poverty avoid the negative effects that health and social issues have upon their lives.

Another branch of his research interest is the relationship between physical activity and ageing, especially in terms of how sport and physical activity can support healthy ageing. Currently, Matthew is leading a project that is a systematic review of the current body of knowledge about the use of health interventions to increase the physical activity and promote the health of elderly people living in residential care settings. In future, he plans to conduct research about healthy ageing in the context of China, with specific focus on the role of self-organised exercise among the elderly such as Tai Chi.

Matthew is an interdisciplinary researcher with an interest in applying a range of approaches. His work has drawn upon theoretical traditions found in development studies literature which includes the capabilities approach, principally through the work of Amartya Sen but also others like Ingrid Robeyns, and the postcolonial development theory of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, specifically her conceptualisation of third world subalternity and the implications this has for how knowledge is generated in research that is about the beneficiaries of internationally funded sport and leisure activity delivered in former colonies in the global South.

In a recent publication, Matthew drew upon the postcolonial theorists Paul Gilory and Achille Mbembe to examine the effects that global border regimes have upon migrant and border lying communities and how sport and leisure activity is used to reduce such effects. In some of his current work, Matthew has been drawn to the systems thinking literature, specifically the ecological systems theory found in the work of Urie Bronfenbrenner, for the frame it offers to help conceptualise the bidirectional nature of interaction that beneficiaries of sport and leisure activity have with their social and physical environment.

Key research interests:

The social value of sport, sport and social impact, sport in community settings, physical activity and healthy ageing, sustainable community sport, sport and marginal groups

Publications

Selected publications

Peer-reviewed journal articles

Holmes, M. and Norrito, A. (2026). Re-humanizing the liminality of borderlands through sport for development and peace: a comparison of two cases. World Leisure Journal, pp.1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/16078055.2026.2665654

Darnell, S.C., Chawansky, M., Marchesseault, D., Holmes, M. and Hayhurst, L. (2018) The state of play: Critical sociological insights into recent ‘sport for development and peace’ research. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 53(2), pp.133-151. https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690216646762

Banda, D. and Holmes, M. (2017) Sport-for-development and the struggle for subaltern voices to be recognised: A response to Manley, Morgan and Atkinson. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 9(4), pp.723-738. https://doi.org/10.1080/19406940.2017.1372794

Holmes, M., Banda, D. and Chawansky, M. (2015) Towards sustainable programme design? An examination of CSR initiatives within a Zambian SfD NGO. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 16(1-2), pp.36-51. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJSMM.2015.074926

Book chapters

Holmes, M. (2026) Teaching adolescent girls in rural Zambia about menstrual health, life choices, and well-being with the traditional Game Nsolo. In Menstruation and the menstrual cycle in sport, exercise, and physical activity (pp. 70-83). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003625407

Book reviews

Holmes, M. (2017). Book Review: Elite Sport and Sport-for-All: Bridging the Two Cultures? International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 52(7), 898-900. https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690217728729

Holmes, M. (2016). Book review: Beyond Sport for Development and Peace: Transnational Perspectives on Theory, Policy and Practice. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 51(7), 889-892. https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690216661183

Holmes, M. (2016). Book review: Sport Politics: An Introduction. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 51(7), 892-894. https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690216661706

Chawansky, M., & Holmes, M. (2015). Sport, social development and peace. Sport in Society, 18(6), 752–756. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2015.1050264

Holmes, M. (2015). Jules Boykoff, “Celebration Capitalism and the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics,” Olympika. International Journal for Olympic Studies XXII (2013), 39-70. Olympika. International Journal for Olympic Studies, 24, pp.133-136.

Conference proceedings

Holmes, M. & Norrito, A. (2026) ‘Re-humanizing the liminality of borderlands through sport for development and peace: a comparison of two cases’, International Association for the Sociology of Sport, June 15th-18th, Jyväskylä, Finland.

Holmes, M. & Norrito, A. (2025) ‘Understanding community sports contribution to livelihood development: a transnational comparative study’, European Association for the Sociology of Sport Conference, June 25th-27th, Warsaw, Poland.

Holmes, M. & Jeanes, R. (2024) ‘Decolonising sport-for-development research using a participatory approach? A methodological reflection’, European Association for the Sociology of Sport Conference, June 4th-7th, Madrid, Spain.

Dr Matthew Holmes Lecturer