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Apologies for cross posting Faculty of Business and Law, Leeds Beckett University Title: Integrity and sports-related corruption In autumn 2014, David Howman, director-general of the World Anti-Doping Agency, suggested organised crime controls at least 25 per cent of world sport in one way or another. This opinion includes use of prohibited drugs, match fixing and bribery. The fight against corruption is on top of the international agenda in sport and is very much an issue of the moment. A series of high profile cases focused on extreme forms of gamesmanship, doping or financial impropriety, have recently reignited the debate about integrity in sport, not least in cricket, football, tennis and cycling. There are different views of integrity at play, focusing on sport itself but also on the governance of sport, in the debate. In recent years major International Sports Federations have developed monitoring and compliance bodies, such as the Tennis Integrity Unit or UEFA’s ‘Early Warning System’ managed by the commercial company Sportradar; industry trade bodies have emerged such as the European Sports Security Association (ESSA); new bodies such as the Qatari state-funded, International Centre for Sports Security; NGOs such as ‘Play the Game’ and Transparency International; law enforcement agencies such as Interpol; governmental bodies such as the Council of Europe and the UK’s Sports Betting Integrity Unit of the Gambling Commission. These bodies comprise what can be termed the ‘sports integrity industry’. The focus of the project, in the context of establishing effective regulatory approaches to restrict criminal activity and corruption of sport, will be to attempt to find conceptual clarity by examining the different philosophical and psychological views of integrity. Different actors within and without the sports industry use the term ‘integrity of sport’ in different ways. Sometimes it means simply 'honesty', and sometimes it is used as a catch-all phrase for an amalgam of a range of sports-related values including ‘unpredictability of outcome’ and ‘a level playing field’. Further, distinctions can be made between forms of personal, sporting, organisational (both moral and behavioural) and commercial integrity. This project will contribute to strengthening conceptual clarity and a clearer methodological footing around this issue by arguing that sport needs to look beyond its own experience and be conscious of the wider societal debate concerning integrity and governance. The objective will be to develop a model of integrity that helps sport develop more robust regulatory and preventive regimes to protect sport from the manipulation of organised crime. This is an extremely topical issue and will support research, currently being carried out by the proposed supervisory team and world-leading external experts including Professor Jim Parry at Charles University, Prague. Please contact Professor Simon Gardiner for further details: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> Closing date is midnight on 30th June 2015. Details of how to apply can be found at: http://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/research/research-degrees/research-studentships-and-fees-only-bursaries/