Professor Paul Downward

Professor Paul Downward graduated from Staffordshire University (formerly North Staffordshire Polytechnic) with a first-class honours degree in Economics in 1988. He subsequently graduated with an MA in Economics from the University of Manchester in 1990 and a PhD in Economics from the University of Leeds in 1996.

Professor Downward has previously worked at Aston Business School and Staffordshire University, before coming to Loughborough in 2004.

In 2023, Professor Downward won the European Association of Sport Management's prestigious Chelladurai Award for lifetime achievement in the field of sport management. 

Professor Downward is an applied economist who examines the causes and consequences of engagement in sport, physcial activity and leisure, drawing implications for, and evaluating policy, management and strategy. He has published two books on the economics of sports, and edited two further handbooks on sports economics and management. He is currently coediting a handbook on sport in Europe and engaged in studies of the determinants and impacts of sport and physical activity, volunteering and sports officiating on health and well-being, social capital, inclusion and exclusion, human capital and labour markets, and the outcomes of sports contests. He also has an interest in the research philosophy, methods and ethics of economics, has published in these areas, and developed and delivered ESRC and other postgraduate training workshops in these areas.

He welcomes PhD applications in any of these areas.

Current PhD Supervisions

• Hwa Yeoung (Heather) Lee (2024) The determinants, impacts and sustainability of participation in types of women’s football (With Dr Ed Cope).
• Ian Barclay (2024) Ideology and Opportunity – the rise and fall (and rise?) of the private sector in the delivery of public sector leisure services (with Dr Susana Montserrat and Prof Ian Hodgkinson – Loughborough Business School).
• Martin Foster (2023) Evaluation of the implementation and impact of the Opening School Facilities programme (with Prof Lauren Sherar).
• Aycan Akoglu (2018 – part time) Labour Market Status and Well-being (with Dr Simona Rasciute – Loughborough Business School).
• Chengxiang (Viola) Lyu (2021) Volunteer motivation, experience and outcomes at Chinese major multi-sport events: Insights from the 19th Hangzhou Asian Games (With Dr Doyoung Pyun and Dr Jamie Kenyon).
• Laura Borrie (2019) Developing graduate attributes and employability through sport-based volunteering  (With Dr Jamie Kenyon and Cath Harvey - Loughborough Sport).

Recent PhD Completions

• Karen Hancock (2023) What Makes Life Worthwhile in Older Age? Three Studies of Eudaimonic Wellbeing in Older Adults (with Prof Lauren Sherar).
• John Hie (2021) The Impact of Management Corruption on Football Fandom (with Dr Elisavet Manoli, Dr Jamie Kenyon)
• My Diem Dinh (2020) The impact of travel mode choice and travel duration on health, well-being and job choice and satisfaction. A discrete choice modelling analysis (with Dr Simona Rasciute – Loughborough Business School)
• Tarryn Godfrey (2019) Partnerships, Policy and Practice: An examination of organisational capacity within Third Sector Sports Organisations in England (with Dr Carolynne Mason).
• Harish Kumar (2019) Does the UK sport delivery system’s approach to sport provision influence individuals’ sport participation and their outcomes differently? A case study of County Sport Partnership in England (with Prof Ian Hodgkinson – Loughborough Business School, and Dr Elisavet Manoli).

Funded Research and Consultancy

Professor Downward’s research and consultancy has been funded by the following stakeholders (in alphabetical order):

British Academy, DCMS, England Netball,Greenhouse Sports, Japanese Anti-Doping Agency, Sport England, StreetGame, Sustrans, The Commonwealth, The Health Foundation, The International Olympic Committee, UEFA, and UK Sport.

Professor Downward was the Editor of European Sport Management Quarterly between 2017-2023, and remains on the editorial board, also serving on the editorial boards of: International Sports Policy and Politics, The Journal of Global Sport Management, The Journal of Sports Economics, The Journal of Sport and Tourism, and Sport Management Review.

He is a member of UEFA’s Research Grants Jury and a member of the DCMS College of Experts. Paul also sits on the steering group of Sport England’s Social Value of Sport Project.

Whilst editor of European Sport Management Quarterly he served on the Executive Board of the European Association for Sport Management. He was a founding member of the European Sport Economics Association and was president between 2016-2019.

• Guan, J. & Downward, P. (2024). Government support, community recreation facilities and physical activity in China: a cross-sectional socio-ecological analysis. Journal of Physical Activity and Health. (In press). DOI: 10.1123/jpah.2024-0148
• Downward, P., Inoue, Y., Kumar, H., & Widdop, P. (2024). The Locality Challenges Facing the Levelling up of Sport Participation and Health Inequality in England. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. (In press). DOI: 10.1080/19406940.2024.2404949  
• Downward, P., Wicker, P. & Thormann, T.F. (2024). The Well-Being and Social Value of Playing Soccer for Women and Men. Journal of Sports Economics, 25(8) 1003-1024. DOI: 10.1177/15270025241233552
• Dawson, P., Downward, P., Hogan, V., & Massey, P. (2023). Re-evaluating the role of attendance on home advantage: Evidence from an international rugby tournament. International Journal of Sport Finance. DOI: 10.32731/IJSF/184.112023.03
• Hie, J., Kenyon, J. A., Downward, P., & Manoli, A. E. (2023). A digital ethnography of association football fandom responses to corruption. Managing Sport and Leisure, 1-20. DOI: 10.1080/23750472.2023.2205412
• Downward, P., Webb, T., & Dawson, P. (2023). Referee Abuse, Intention to Quit, and Well-Being. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. DOI: 10.1080/02701367.2023.2184459
• Rasciute, S., Downward, P., & Simmons, N. (2023). Valuation of subjective wellbeing and the role of marital status: Linear versus ordinal estimators. Economic Modelling. DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2023.106260.
• Manoli, A. E., Bandura, C., Downward, P., & Constandt, B. (2022). Does corruption in sport corrode social capital? An experimental study in the United Kingdom. Managing Sport and Leisure, 1-17. DOI: 10.1080/23750472.2022.2134913
• Downward, P., Rasciute, S., & Kumar, H. (2022). Mental health and satisfaction with partners: a longitudinal analysis in the UK. BMC Psychology, 10(1), 1-10. DOI: 10.1186/s40359-022-00723-w
• Dawson, P., Webb, T., & Downward, P. (2021). Abuse is not a zero-sum game! The case for zero tolerance of match official physical and verbal abuse. European Journal of Sport Science, 1-8. DOI: 10.1080/17461391.2021.1881619
• Castellanos-García P, Kokolakakis T, Shibli S, Downward P, Bingham J (2021). Membership of English sport clubs: A dynamic panel data analysis of the trickle-down effect. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 13:1, 105-122. DOI: 10.1080/19406940.2021.1877170
• Hancock, Karen E., Downward, Paul, & Sherar, Lauren B. (2021). Exploring Feelings of Pleasure and Purpose Associated with Older People’s Activities Using Ecological Momentary Analysis: An Observational Study. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity. 29(4), 670-677. DOI: 10.1123/japa.2020-0253