Barrie Houlihan BA(Hons)(Liverpool) MSc(Salford) PhD(Salford)
Professor of Sport Policy
Contact details
Room: JJ.0.21
Phone: +44 (0)1509 226364
Fax: +44 (0)1509 226301
Email: B.M.J.Houlihan@lboro.ac.uk
Background
Professor Houlihan has degrees from the Universities of Liverpool and Salford. He taught courses in government and sociology in a secondary school for a year before moving to Millbank College of Commerce where he taught public administration. In 1979 he was appointed as lecturer in public administration at Staffordshire Polytechnic. During his time at Staffordshire University he was Principal Lecturer in Public Policy and later Head of the Division of International Relations and Politics. In 1994 he became Associate Dean of the School of Social Sciences and later Associate Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. In 1994 he was appointed Chair in Public Policy. Professor Houlihan joined Loughborough University in September 1998. In addition to his work as a teacher and researcher, Professor Houlihan has sat on various committees for Sport England and most recently chaired the committee revising the SE, CCPR & NPFA Playing Pitch strategy. He has also undertaken consultancy work for the European Union, the Youth Sport Trust, The Department of Culture, Media and Sport, PEAUK, BAALPE, The Department for Education and Skills, the Council of Europe, UK Sport, Sport England and sportscotland. He is currently involved in monitoring the investment of the Big Lottery Fund in school sport facilities and activities, evaluating the impact of specialist sports colleges, the impact of sportscotland's Active Schools initiative, and the impact of School Sport Partnerships.
Research Interests
Professor Houlihan has degrees from the Universities of Liverpool and Salford. He taught courses in government and sociology in a secondary school for a year before moving to Millbank College of Commerce where he taught public administration. In 1979 he was appointed as lecturer in public administration at Staffordshire Polytechnic. During his time at Staffordshire University he was Principal Lecturer in Public Policy and later Head of the Division of International Relations and Politics. In 1994 he became Associate Dean of the School of Social Sciences and later Associate Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. In 1994 he was appointed Chair in Public Policy. Professor Houlihan joined Loughborough University in September 1998.
Research interests include: public policy for sport, particularly in the areas of sport development, elite sport development, anti-doping and youth sport; theorising the sport policy process; diplomacy and sport; and school-based sport policy.
Selected Publications
Sport policy: A comparative analysis of stability and change (with NA Bergsgard, P Mangset, SI Nødland & H Rommetvedt), Butterworth-Heinemann, 2007
Comparative elite sport development: systems, structures and public policy (edited volume with M Green) Butterworth-Heinemann (2008)
Sport and Policy (with Russell Hoye and Matthew Nicholson) Butterworth-Heinemann, 2010
Social capital and sport governance, M Groeneveld, F Ohl and B Houlihan (eds), Routledge: London, 2010
Public policy for Sport for All, M Nicholson, R Hoye and B Houlihan (eds), Routledge: London, 2010
A Handbook of Sport Development (with Mick Green) Routledge, forthcoming 2011
La gouvernance d’un comité d’organisation de jeux Olympic: le cas d’Sydney 2000 (with M Malfas & E Theodoraki). In Bayle, E. et Chantelat, P., La Gouvernance des organisations sportives, Paris: Eds L’Harmattan, forthcoming 2007.
Independence and accountability: The case of the Drug Free Sport Directorate, the UK’s national anti-doping agency (with Andrew Preece), Public Policy and Administration, Vol 22.4, 2007
The internationalisation of domestic policies: forces for change and institutional constraints, Stavanger, International Research Institute Stavanger, May 2007
Detection and education in anti-doping policy: A review of current issues and an assessment of future prospects, Hitotsubashi Journal of Arts and Sciences, December 2008
Developing the research agenda in sport policy (with D Bloyce and A Smith) International Journal of Sport Policy, 1.1, 1-12. 2009
Mechanisms of international influence on domestic elite sport policy, International Journal of Sport Policy, 1.1, 51-70. 2009
Modernisation and sport: the examples of UK Sport and Sport England (with Mick Green), Public Administration, 87.3, 2009
China and the Olympic movement (with Tien Chin Tan and Mick Green) Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 34.1, 2010
International perspectives on sport structures and policy. In W. Tokarski and K Petry (eds.) Hanhbuch sportpolitik, Schorndorf: Hoffman-Verlag, 2010
You can view a fuller publications list on the University Publications Database.
External Activities
Selected External Research-Related Roles
- Chair, UK Sport Anti-Doping Research Steering Group
- Member of the editorial board of Leisure Studies and Sport in Society (formerly Culture, Sport and Society); Associate Editor, Journal of Public Works Management and Policy
- Member of the English Sports Council Working Party on the Strategy for English Sport, 2000-2002
- Chair, Sport England Playing Pitch Strategy Review, 2002-2005
Selected Invited Conference Keynote and Speaker Presentations
- Sport policy and doping: A research agenda. Invited keynote at Norwegian Social Science Research Council conference on future research in sport, Oslo May 2001
- Dying to Win: an evaluation of the first draft of the World Anti-Doping Code. Invited section keynote at European College of Sports Science, Athens, July 2002
- Theorising sport policy analysis. Invited keynote at Korean Association for the Sociology of Sport annual conference, Busan, August, 2003
- The application of social science in anti-doping. Invited lecture at WADA-Council of Europe conference, Larnaca, Cyprus, 13th-14th April 2006
- The Doping Issue, EU Symposium, Bio-medical side effects of doping: Harmonising the knowledge. Invited lecture at Technical University of Munich, 21st October 2006
Selected Recent Research Projects and Sources of Funding
- An evaluation of specialist sports colleges, Youth Sport Trust and DfES. £185,000 (2002-2007). Project leader.
- New Opportunities Fund. An evaluation of projects designed to improve the quality of PE and sports facilities in schools (with four others). £1,200,000 over six years (2003 - 2009). Project team member.
- School Sport Partnership programme: An evaluation of the SSCo programme for DfES, DCMS, YST & Sport England (with four other colleagues) £650,000 over six years (2003-2009). Project leader.
- An evaluation of the location and status of the Drug Free Sport Directorate within UK Sport. In association with PMP Consultancy. £25,000. 2004. Project team member.
- An evaluation of the Active Schools initiative, sportscotland, (with four other colleagues) £193,000, 2004-2007. Project team member